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EVOLUTION OF THE PROTON VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION DUE TO STOCHASTIC HEATING IN THE NEAR-SUN SOLAR WIND
Author | Klein, Kristopher; Chandran, Benjamin; |
Keywords | Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; parker solar probe; Physics - Plasma Physics; plasmas; Solar Probe Plus; Solar wind; turbulence; waves |
Abstract | We investigate how the proton distribution function evolves when the protons undergo stochastic heating by strong, low-frequency, Alfv\ en-wave turbulence under the assumption that β is small. We apply our analysis to protons undergoing stochastic heating in the supersonic fast solar wind and obtain proton distributions at heliocentric distances ranging from 4 to 30 solar radii. We find that the proton distribution develops non-Gaussian structure with a flat core and steep tail. For r\gt 5 RS, the proton distribution is well approximated by a modified Moyal distribution. Comparisons with future measurements from Solar Probe Plus could be used to test whether stochastic heating is occurring in the solar-wind acceleration region. |
Year of Publication | 2016 |
Journal | The Astrophysical Journal |
Volume | 820 |
Number of Pages | 47 |
Section | |
Date Published | 03/2016 |
ISBN | |
URL | http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/820/i=1/a=47?key=crossref.3bba6a0e184137847bf77cde72a2fe1f |
DOI | 10.3847/0004-637X/820/1/47 |