Observational evidence for solar wind proton heating by ion-scale turbulence
| Title: | Observational evidence for solar wind proton heating by ion-scale turbulence |
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| Authors: | Zhao, G. Q., Lin, Y., Wang, X. Y., Wu, D. J., Feng, H. Q., Liu, Q., Zhao, A., Li, H. B. |
| Publication Year: | 2020 |
| Collection: | Astrophysics Physics (Other) |
| Subject Terms: | Physics - Space Physics, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Physics - Plasma Physics |
| More Details: | Based on in-situ measurements by Wind spacecraft from 2005 to 2015, this letter reports for the first time a clearly scale-dependent connection between proton temperatures and the turbulence in the solar wind. A statistical analysis of proton-scale turbulence shows that increasing helicity magnitudes correspond to steeper magnetic energy spectra. In particular, there exists a positive power-law correlation (with a slope $\sim 0.4$) between the proton perpendicular temperature and the turbulent magnetic energy at scales $0.3 \lesssim k\rho_p \lesssim 1$, with $k$ being the wavenumber and $\rho_p$ being the proton gyroradius. These findings present evidence of solar wind heating by the proton-scale turbulence. They also provide insight and observational constraint on the physics of turbulent dissipation in the solar wind. Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters |
| Document Type: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2020GL089720 |
| Access URL: | http://arxiv.org/abs/2009.00120 |
| Accession Number: | edsarx.2009.00120 |
| Database: | arXiv |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2020GL089720 |
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