Parker Solar Probe observations of proton beams simultaneous with ion-scale waves
J. L. Verniero, D. E. Larson, R. Livi, A. Rahmati, M. D. McManus, P. Sharma Pyakurel, K. G. Klein, T. A. Bowen, J. W. Bonnell, B. L. Alterman, P. L. Whittlesey,… 展开作者
J. L. Verniero, D. E. Larson, R. Livi, A. Rahmati, M. D. McManus, P. Sharma Pyakurel, K. G. Klein, T. A. Bowen, J. W. Bonnell, B. L. Alterman, P. L. Whittlesey, David M. Malaspina, S. D. Bale, J. C. Kasper, A. W. Case, K. Goetz, P. R. Harvey, K. E. Korreck, R. J. MacDowall, M. Pulupa, M. L. Stevens, T. Dudok de Wit
Parker Solar Probe (PSP), NASA's latest and closest mission to the Sun, is on a journey to investigate fundamental enigmas of the inner heliosphere. This paper reports initial observations made by the Solar Probe Analyzer for Ions (SPAN-I), one of the instruments in the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument suite. We address the presence of secondary proton beams in concert with ion-scale waves observed by FIELDS, the electromagnetic fields instrument suite. We show two events from PSP's 2nd orbit that demonstrate signatures consistent with wave-particle interactions. We showcase 3D velocity distribution functions (VDFs) measured by SPAN-I during times of strong wave power at ion-scales. From an initial instability analysis, we infer that the VDFs departed far enough away from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) to provide sufficient free energy to locally generate waves. These events exemplify the types of instabilities that may be present and, as such, may guide future data analysis characterizing and distinguishing between different wave-particle interactions.
The solar wind undergoes significant heating as it propagates away from the Sun; the exact mechanisms responsible for this heating remain unclear. Using data from the first perihelion of the Parker Solar Probe mission, we examine the properties of proton and electron heating occurring within magnetic coherent structures identified by means of the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) method. Statistically, regions of space with strong gradients in the magnetic field, $PVI \geq 1$, are associated with strongly enhanced proton but only slightly elevated electron temperatures. Our analysis indicat…
The velocity of alpha particles relative to protons can vary depending on the solar wind type and distance from the Sun (Marsch 2012). Measurements from the previous spacecraft provided the alpha-proton's differential velocities down to 0.3 au. Parker Solar Probe (PSP) now enables insights into differential flows of newly accelerated solar wind closer to the Sun for the first time. Here, we study the difference between proton and alpha bulk velocities near PSP perihelia of Encounters 3-7 when the core solar wind is in the field of view of the Solar Probe Analyzer for Ions (SPAN-I) instrument. …
The hot and diffuse nature of the Sun's extended atmosphere allows it to persist in non-equilibrium states for long enough that wave-particle instabilities can arise and modify the evolution of the expanding solar wind. Determining which instabilities arise, and how significant a role they play in governing the dynamics of the solar wind, has been a decades-long process involving in situ observations at a variety of radial distances. With new measurements from Parker Solar Probe (PSP), we can study what wave modes are driven near the Sun, and calculate what instabilities are predicted for diff…
The SWEAP instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has detected numerous proton beams associated with coherent, circularly polarized, ion-scale waves observed by PSP's FIELDS instrument suite. Measurements during PSP Encounters 4-8 revealed pronounced complex shapes in the proton velocity distribution functions (VDFs), in which the tip of the beam undergoes strong perpendicular diffusion, resulting in VDF level contours that resemble a `hammerhead.' We refer to these proton beams, with their attendant `hammerhead' features, as the ion strahl. We present an example of these observations occ…
Stability Analysis of the Proton Hammerhead Distribution Observed by Parker Solar Probe: Linear Theory and Fully Kinetic Simulations under Idealised Conditions
KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台）；Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy（比利时皇家空间气旋学研究所）；Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；Comisión Chilena de Energía Nuclear（智利核能委员会）；Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯贝略大学）
A polytropic process describes the transition of a fluid from one state to another through a specific relationship between the fluid density and temperature. The value of the polytropic index that governs this relationship determines the heat transfer and the effective degrees of freedom during the process. In this study, we analyze solar wind proton plasma measurements, obtained by the Faraday cup instrument on-board Parker Solar Probe. We examine the large-scale variations of the proton plasma density and temperature within the inner heliosphere explored by the spacecraft. We also address a …
Parker Solar Probe Observations of Preferential Heating of Protons over Alpha Particles near Turbulent Coherent Structures
Yunnan University（云南大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London（穆拉德空间科学实验室，伦敦大学学院）；University of Delaware（特拉华大学）；CNR, Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (ISTP)（意大利国家研究委员会等离子科学与技术研究所（ISTP））；KTH - Royal Institute of Technology（瑞典皇家理工学院）；China University of Petroleum (East China)（中国石油大学（华东））；State Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China)（中国石油大学（华东）深油气资源与地质国家重点实验室）；Beihang University（北京航空航天大学）；National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China（中国应急管理部自然灾害防治研究院）；National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学）
Drifts in the Parker spiral interplanetary magnetic field are known to be an important component in the propagation of galactic cosmic rays, while they are thought to be negligible for Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs). As a result they have so far been ignored in SEP propagation modelling and data analysis. We examine drift velocities in the Parker spiral within single particle first-order adiabatic theory, in a local coordinate system with an axis parallel to the magnetic field. We show that, in the presence of scattering in interplanetary space, protons at the high end of the SEP energy rang…
We examine Alfvén Wave Solar atmosphere Model (AWSoM) predictions of the first Parker Solar Probe (PSP) encounter. We focus on the 12-day closest approach centered on the 1st perihelion. AWSoM (van der Holst et al., 2014) allows us to interpret the PSP data in the context of coronal heating via Alfvén wave turbulence. The coronal heating and acceleration is addressed via outward-propagating low-frequency Alfvén waves that are partially reflected by Alfvén speed gradients. The nonlinear interaction of these counter-propagating waves results in a turbulent energy cascade. To apportion the wave d…
Recent in-situ observations from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission in the inner heliosphere near perihelia show evidence of ion beams, temperature anisotropies, and kinetic wave activity, which are likely associated with kinetic heating and acceleration processes of the solar wind. In particular, the proton beams were detected by PSP/SPAN-I and related magnetic fluctuation spectra associated with ion-scale waves were observed by the FIELDS instrument. We present the ion velocity distribution functions (VDFs) from SPAN-I and the results of 2.5D and 3D hybrid-particle-in-cell (hybrid-PIC) mod…
We report proton temperature anisotropy variations in the inner heliosphere with Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations. Using a linear fitting method, we derive proton temperature anisotropy with temperatures measured by the Solar Probe Cup (SPC) from the SWEAP instrument suite and magnetic field observations from the FIELDS instrument suite. The observed radial dependence of temperature variations in the fast solar wind implies stronger perpendicular heating and parallel cooling than previous results from Helios measurements made at larger radial distances. The anti-correlation between proton…
Modeling hot, anisotropic ion beams in the solar wind motivated by the Parker Solar Probe observations near perihelia
The Catholic University of America（美国天主教大学）；Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（NASA戈达德太空飞行中心日球物理科学部）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）；Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, University of Maryland（马里兰大学戈达德行星日球物理研究所）；Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室）；Physics & Astronomy Department, Georgia State University（佐治亚州立大学物理与天文系）；Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学月球与行星实验室）
Scalable Machine Learning Analysis of Parker Solar Probe Solar Wind Data
University of Delaware（德克萨斯大学）；Boston University（波士顿大学）；Catholic University of America（美国天主教大学）；Georgia State University（佐治亚州立大学）；Southwest Research Institute（西南研究院）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局戈达德飞行中心）；Drexel University（德雷塞尔大学）
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons experiment on the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission measures the three-dimensional electron velocity distribution function. We derive the parameters of the core, halo, and strahl populations utilizing a combination of fitting to model distributions and numerical integration for $\sim 100,000$ electron distributions measured near the Sun on the first two PSP orbits, which reached heliocentric distances as small as $\sim 0.17$ AU. As expected, the electron core density and temperature increase with decreasing heliocentric distance, while the ratio of el…
We present the first PSP-observed CME that hits a second spacecraft before the end of the PSP encounter, providing an excellent opportunity to study short-term CME evolution. The CME was launched from the Sun on 10 October 2019 and was measured in situ at PSP on 13 October 2019 and at STEREO-A on 14 October 2019. The small, but not insignificant, radial (~0.15 au) and longitudinal (~8 deg) separation between PSP and STEREO-A at this time allows for observations of both short-term radial evolution as well as investigation of the global CME structure in longitude. Although initially a slow CME, …
We use multi-spacecraft observations of invididual type III radio bursts in order to calculate the directivity of the radio emission, to be compared to the results of ray-tracing simulations of the radio-wave propagation and probe the plasma properties of the inner heliosphere. Ray-tracing simulations of radio-wave propagation with anisotropic scattering on density inhomogeneities are used to study the directivity of radio emissions. Simultaneous observations of type III radio bursts by four widely-separated spacecraft are used to calculate the directivity and position of the radio sources. Th…
In this study we examine the radial dependence of the inertial and dissipation range indices, as well as the spectral break separating the inertial and dissipation range in power density spectra of interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations using {\it Parker Solar Probe} data from the fifth solar encounter between $\sim$0.1 and $\sim$0.7 au. The derived break wavenumber compares reasonably well with previous estimates at larger radial distances and is consistent with gyro-resonant damping of Alfvénic fluctuations by thermal protons. We find that the inertial scale power law index varies betwee…
The Solar Probe Cup (SPC) is a Faraday Cup instrument onboard NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft designed to make rapid measurements of thermal coronal and solar wind plasma. The spacecraft is in a heliocentric orbit that takes it closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, allowing measurements to be made where the coronal and solar wind plasma is being heated and accelerated. The SPC instrument was designed to be pointed directly at the Sun at all times, allowing the solar wind (which is flowing primarily radially away from the Sun) to be measured throughout the orbit. The instru…
A series of solar energetic particle (SEP) events were observed at Parker Solar Probe (PSP) by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (\ISOIS) during the period from April 18, 2019 through April 24, 2019. The PSP spacecraft was located near 0.48 au from the Sun on Parker spiral field lines that projected out to 1 au within $\sim 25^\circ$ of near Earth spacecraft. These SEP events, though small compared to historically large SEP events, were amongst the largest observed thus far in the PSP mission and provide critical information about the space environment inside 1 au during SEP even…
Recent observations have shown that coronal shocks driven by coronal mass ejections can develop and accelerate particles within several solar radii in large solar energetic particle (SEP) events. Motivated by this, we present an SEP acceleration study including the process that a fast shock propagates through a streamer-like magnetic field with both closed and open field lines in the low corona region. The acceleration of protons is modeled by numerically solving the Parker transport equation with spatial diffusion both along and across the magnetic field. We show that particles can be suffici…
Electrostatic analyzers of different designs have been used since the earliest days of the space age, beginning with the very earliest solar wind measurements made by Mariner 2 en route to Venus in 1962. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission, NASA's first dedicated mission to study the innermost reaches of the heliosphere, makes its thermal plasma measurements using a suite of instruments called the Solar Wind Electrons, Alphas, and Protons (SWEAP) investigation. SWEAP's electron Parker Solar Probe Analyzer (SPAN-E) instruments are a pair of top-hat electrostatic analyzers on PSP that are capab…
Simulation results from a global magnetohydrodynamic model of the solar corona and solar wind are compared with Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations during its first five orbits. The fully three-dimensional model is based on Reynolds-averaged mean-flow equations coupled with turbulence transport equations. The model includes the effects of electron heat conduction, Coulomb collisions, turbulent Reynolds stresses, and heating of protons and electrons via a turbulent cascade. Turbulence transport equations for average turbulence energy, cross helicity, and correlation length are solved concurre…
This paper presents a stochastic three-dimensional (3D) focused transport simulation of solar energetic particles (SEPs) produced by a data-driven coronal mass ejection (CME) shock propagating through a data-driven model of coronal and heliospheric magnetic fields. The injection of SEPs at the CME shock is treated using diffusive shock acceleration of post-shock superthermal solar wind ions. A time backward stochastic simulation is employed to solve the transport equation to obtain the SEP time-intensity profile at any location, energy, and pitch angle. The model is applied to a SEP event on 2…
Large solar proton events (SPEs) affect the solar-terrestrial space environment and become a very important aspect in space weather research. In this work, we statistically investigate 78 solar proton events of 1996-2011 and find that there exists a longitudinally asymmetric distribution of flare sources of the solar proton events observed near 1 AU, namely, with the same longitude separation between magnetic field line footpoint of observer and flare sources, the number of the solar proton events originating from sources located at eastern side of the nominal magnetic footpoint of observer is…
In the near future, Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter will provide the first comprehensive in-situ measurements of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere since the Helios mission in the 1970s. We describe a reprocessing of the original Helios ion distribution functions to provide reliable and reproducible data to characterise the proton core population of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. A systematic fitting of bi-Maxwellian distribution functions was performed to the raw Helios ion distribution function data to extract the proton core number density, velocity, and temperatures par…
As fundamental parameters of the Sun, the Alfvén radius and angular momentum loss determine how the solar wind changes from sub-Alfvénic to super-Alfvénic and how the Sun spins down. We present an approach to determining the solar wind angular momentum flux based on observations from Parker Solar Probe (PSP). A flux of about $0.15\times10^{30}$ dyn cm sr$^{-1}$ near the ecliptic plane and 0.7:1 partition of that flux between the particles and magnetic field are obtained by averaging data from the first four encounters within 0.3 au from the Sun. The angular momentum flux and its particle compo…
During the Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) first perihelion pass, the spacecraft reached within a heliocentric distance of \(\sim 37~R_\odot\) and observed numerous magnetic and flow structures characterized by sharp gradients. To better understand these intermittent structures in the young solar wind, an important property to examine is their degree of correlation in time and space. To this end, we use the well-tested Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) technique to identify intermittent events in FIELDS and SWEAP observations of magnetic and proton-velocity fields (respectively) during PSP's fir…
Suprathermal ions in the corona are thought to serve as seed particles for large gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events associated with fast and wide coronal mass ejections (CMEs). A better understanding of the role of suprathermal particles as seed populations for SEP events can be made by using observations close to the Sun. We study a series of SEP events observed by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (IS$\odot$IS) suite on board the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) from 2020 May 27 to June 2, during which PSP was at heliocentric distances between $\sim$0.4 and $\sim$0.2 au. The…
We investigate the solar wind energy flux in the inner heliosphere using 12-day observations around each perihelion of Encounter One (E01), Two (E02), Four (E04), and Five (E05) of Parker Solar Probe (PSP), respectively, with a minimum heliocentric distance of 27.8 solar radii ($R_\odot{}$). Energy flux was calculated based on electron parameters (density $n_e$, core electron temperature $T_{c}$, and suprathermal electron temperature $T_{h}$) obtained from the simplified analysis of the plasma quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectrum measured by RFS/FIELDS and the bulk proton parameters (bulk speed …
Protons and alpha particles in the fast solar wind are only weakly collisional and exhibit a number of non-equilibrium features, including relative drifts between particle species. Two non-collisional mechanisms have been proposed for limiting differential flow between alpha particles and protons: plasma instabilities and the rotational force. Both mechanisms decelerate the alpha particles. In this paper, we derive an analytic expression for the rate $Q_{\mathrm{flow}}$ at which energy is released by alpha-particle deceleration, accounting for azimuthal flow and conservation of total momentum.…
The Integrated Science Investigations of the Sun (IS$\odot$IS) instrument suite includes two Energetic Particle instruments: EPI-Hi, designed to measure ions from ~1-200 MeV/nuc, and EPI-Lo, designed to measure ions from ~20 keV/nuc to ~15 MeV/nuc. We present an analysis of eight energetic proton events observed across the energy range of both instruments during PSP's first two orbits in order to examine their combined energy spectra. Background corrections are applied to help resolve spectral breaks between the two instruments and are shown to be effective. In doing so we demonstrate that, ev…
Parker Solar Probe Observations of Compound Reconnection Exhaust Boundaries and Mirror-Mode Structures in the Near-Sun Heliospheric Current Sheet
Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College（达特茅斯学院物理与天文学系）；Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan（密歇根大学气候与空间科学与工程系）；Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, and Institute of Geophysics and Space Physics, University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校地球、行星与空间科学及地球物理与空间物理研究所）；Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学天体物理科学系）
The Solar Electron and Proton Telescope (SEPT) aboard the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is designed to provide the three-dimensional distribution of energetic electrons and protons with good energy and time resolution. Each SEPT instrument consists of two double-ended magnet/foil particle telescopes which cleanly separate and measure electrons in the energy range from 30 keV to 400 keV and protons from 60 keV to 7000 keV. Anisotropy information on a non spinning spacecraft is provided by two separate but identical instruments: SEPT-E aligned along the Parker spiral magnetic …
A solar energetic particle event was detected by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) on 2019 April 4 when the spacecraft was inside of 0.17 au and less than 1 day before its second perihelion, providing an opportunity to study solar particle acceleration and transport unprecedentedly close to the source. The event was very small, with peak 1 MeV proton intensities of ~0.3 particles (cm^2 sr s MeV)^-1, and was undetectable above background levels at energies above 10 MeV or in particle detectors at 1 au. It was strongly anisotropi…
The scope of this study is to model the solar-wind environment for the Parker Solar Probe's unprecedented distances down to 9.86 Rs in its mission phase during 2018-2025. The study is performed within the CGAUSS project which is the German contribution to the PSP mission as part of the WISPR imager on PSP. We present an empirical solar-wind model for the inner heliosphere which is derived from OMNI and Helios data. The sunspot number (SSN) and its predictions are used to derive dependencies of solar-wind parameters on solar activity and to forecast them for the PSP mission. The frequency distr…
The acceleration of the solar coronal plasma to supersonic speeds is one of the most fundamental yet unresolved problem in heliophysics. Despite the success of Parker's pioneering theory on an isothermal solar corona, the realistic solar wind is observed to be non-isothermal, and the decay of its temperature with radial distance usually can be fitted to a polytropic model. In this work, we use Parker Solar Probe data from the first nine encounters to estimate the polytropic index of solar wind protons. The estimated polytropic index varies roughly between 1.25 and 1.5 and depends strongly on s…
Does Diffusive Shock Acceleration Reach Steady State? Insights from a Near-Sun Shock Observed by Parker Solar Probe
University of Turku（图尔库大学）；University of California, San Diego（加州大学圣迭戈分校）；Eureka Sci.（尤里卡科学公司）；KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学数学等离子体天体物理学中心）；Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv（基辅塔拉斯舍甫琴科国立大学）；The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）
The first-year results from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) reveal a gradual decrease of F-coronal dust from distances of $D=0.166-0.336$ AU (or the inner elongations of $\sim 9.22- 18.69~R_{\odot}$) to the Sun (Howard et al. 2019). Such a F-corona decrease cannot be explained by the dust sublimation scenario of the popular silicate composition that implies a dust-free-zone of boundary at heliocentric radius $R\lesssim 4-5R_{\odot}$, but may be explained by appealing to various dust compositions with different sublimation fronts. In this paper, we present an additional explanation for the F-coron…
Parker Solar Probe (PSP) achieved its first orbit perihelion on November 6, 2018, reaching a heliocentric distance of about 0.165 au (35.55 R$_\odot$). Here, we study the evolution of fully developed turbulence associated with the slow solar wind along the PSP trajectory between 35.55 R$_\odot$ and 131.64 R$_\odot$ in the outbound direction, comparing observations to a theoretical turbulence transport model. Several turbulent quantities, such as the fluctuating kinetic energy and the corresponding correlation length, the variance of density fluctuations, and the solar wind proton temperature a…
The interpretation of solar radio bursts observed by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in the encounter phase plays a key role in understanding intrinsic properties of the emission mechanism in the solar corona. Lower time-frequency resolution of the PSP receiver can be overcome by simultaneous ground-based observations using more advanced antennas and receivers. In this paper we present such observations for which the active active region 12765, begetter of type III, J, and U solar bursts, was within sight of ground-based instruments and behind the solar limb of the PSP spacecraft. We used a subarray …
Observations of plasma waves by the Fields Suite and of electrons by the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation (SWEAP) on Parker Solar Probe provide strong evidence for pitch angle scattering of strahl-energy electrons by narrowband whistler-mode waves at radial distances less than ~0.3 AU. We present two example intervals of a few hours that include 8 waveform captures with whistler-mode waves and 26 representative electron distributions that are examined in detail. Two were narrow; 17 were clearly broadened, and 8 were very broad. The two with narrow strahl occurred when ther…
Shear interaction and acceleration of a corotating stream detected by Parker Solar Probe
Universitá degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学）；INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切特里天文台）；Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (IAPS), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)（意大利国家天体物理研究所空间天体物理学和行星学研究所）；Northumbria University（诺森比亚大学）；Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院大气物理研究所）；Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）
