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The interaction between interplanetary small-scale magnetic flux ropes andthe magnetic field in the ambient solar wind is an important topic tounderstand- ing the evolution of magnetic structures in the heliosphere.Through a survey of 125 previously reported small flux ropes from 1995 to 2005,we find that 44 of them reveal clear signatures of Alfvenic fluctuations, andthus classify them into Alfven wave trains rather than flux ropes. Signaturesof magnetic reconnection, generally including a plasma jet of ~30 km/s within amagnetic field rotational region, are clearly present at boundaries of about42% of the flux ropes and 14% of the wave trains. The reconnection exhausts areoften observed to show a local increase in the proton temperature, density andplasma beta. About 66% of the reconnection events at flux rope boundaries areassociated with a magnetic field shear angle larger than 90 deg and 73% of themreveal a decrease by 20% or more in the magnetic field magnitude, suggesting adominance of anti-parallel reconnec- tion at flux rope boundaries. Theoccurrence rate of magnetic reconnection at flux rope boundaries through theyear of 1995 to 2005 is also investigated and we find that it is relatively lowaround solar maximum and much higher when ap- proaching solar minima. Theaverage magnetic field depression and shear angle for reconnection events atflux rope boundaries also reveal a similar trend from 1995 to 2005. Our resultsdemonstrate for the first time that boundaries of a substantial fraction ofsmall-scale flux ropes have properties similar to those of magnetic clouds, inthe sense that both of them exhibit signatures of magnetic reconnection. Theobserved reconnection signatures could be related either to the formation ofsmall flux ropes, or to the interaction between flux ropes and theinterplanetary magnetic fields.

Signatures of magnetic reconnection at boundaries of interplanetary small-scale magnetic flux ropes