Parker Solar Probe Finds Unexpected High-Energy Protons From Near-Sun Magnetic Reconnection

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe crossed the solar corona during perihelion and recorded protons at energies far above what existing reconnection-driven acceleration models at the heliospheric current sheet could predict, linking magnetic island merging in the reconnection exhaust to a near-Sun source of high-energy particles and prompting questions about the limits of current particle-acceleration theories and implications for coronal heating.