Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
The solar wind is an ionized gas which, as a consequence of a hot solar corona and a low fluid pressure in the interstellar space, continuously emanates from the Sun into space to define a region known as the heliosphere. Since the electrical conductivity of the solar wind is very high, diffusion of the magnetic field through the plasma is not taken into account. In this picture (the frozen-in approximation) one imagines that the solar magnetic field is dragged into the heliospheric space by the radially outflowing solar wind. The structure of the solar wind is therefore intimately related to the structure of the solar corona and the solar magnetic field. The solar wind plasma itself is composed of protons, electrons, alpha particles, and a minor fraction of heavy ions.