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arXiv 2109.03255astro-ph.SRphysics.plasm-phphysics.space-ph
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由低频turbulence触发的太阳风高频加热

High-frequency heating of the solar wind triggered by low-frequency turbulence

Jonathan Squire, Romain Meyrand, Matthew W. Kunz, Lev Arzamasskiy, Alexander A. Schekochihin, Eliot Quataert

摘要:

快速太阳风的高速和非热特性要求在太阳表面上方发生显著的加热。两个主要的理论似乎是不相容的:低频“阿尔夫维尼克”湍流,它向外传输能量,被航天器普遍观察到,但难以解释所观察到的离子对电子加热的主导作用;高频离子回旋波(ICW),它解释了离子的非热加热,但缺乏明显的来源。在这里,我们认为,最近提出的“螺旋障碍”的影响,限制电子加热抑制湍流级联的能量到最小的尺度,可以统一这两个范例。我们的六维模拟显示了螺旋度障碍如何导致大尺度能量随时间增长,从而从低频湍流中产生小平行尺度和高频ICW加热。由此产生的湍流和离子分布函数也与帕克太阳探测器和其他航天器的现场测量结果密切匹配,解释了在磁波动光谱中观察到的陡峭的“过渡范围”长达数十年的难题。该理论预测了等离子体膨胀和离子-电子加热比之间的因果关系。考虑到风速和膨胀之间的观测关联,我们认为螺旋度障碍可能在调节太阳风的双峰速度分布中起着关键作用。

英文摘要:

The fast solar wind's high speeds and nonthermal features require that significant heating occurs well above the Sun's surface. Two leading theories seem incompatible: low-frequency "Alfvénic" turbulence, which transports energy outwards and is observed ubiquitously by spacecraft but struggles to explain the observed dominance of ion over electron heating; and high-frequency ion-cyclotron waves (ICWs), which explain the nonthermal heating of ions but lack an obvious source. Here, we argue that the recently proposed "helicity barrier" effect, which limits electron heating by inhibiting the turbulent cascade of energy to the smallest scales, can unify these two paradigms. Our six-dimensional simulations show how the helicity barrier causes the large-scale energy to grow in time, generating small parallel scales and high-frequency ICW heating from low-frequency turbulence. The resulting turbulence and ion distribution function also closely match in-situ measurements from Parker Solar Probe and other spacecraft, explaining, among other features, the decades-long puzzle of the steep "transition range" observed in magnetic fluctuation spectra. The theory predicts a causal link between plasma expansion and the ion-to-electron heating ratio. Given the observational association between wind speed and expansion, we argue that the helicity barrier could play a key role in regulating the bimodal speed distribution of the solar wind.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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