Size and energy distributions of interplanetary magnetic flux ropes

Abstract

In observations from 1995 to 2001 from the Wind spacecraft, 144 interplanetary magnetic flux ropes were identified in the solar wind around 1 AU. Their durations vary from tens of minutes to tens of hours. These magnetic flux ropes include many small‐ and intermediate‐sized structures and display a continuous distribution in size. Energies of these flux ropes are estimated and it is found that the distribution of their energies is a good power law spectrum with an index ∼−0.87. The possible relationship between them and solar eruptions is discussed. It is suggested that like interplanetary magnetic clouds are interplanetary coronal mass ejections, the small‐ and intermediate‐sized interplanetary magnetic flux ropes are the interplanetary manifestations of small coronal mass ejections produced in small solar eruptions. However, these small coronal mass ejections are too weak to appear clearly in the coronagraph observations as an ordinary coronal mass ejection.