Wind/SWE observations of firehose constraint on solar wind proton temperature anisotropy

Physics – Plasma Physics

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Space Plasma Physics: Waves And Instabilities, Space Plasma Physics: Wave/Particle Interactions, Interplanetary Physics: Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

The proton resonant firehose instability may arise in collisionless plasmas in which the proton velocity distribution is approximately bi-Maxwellian with T∥p/T⊥p > 1, where ⊥ and ∥ denote directions relative to the background magnetic field B∘. Linear theory and one-dimensional simulations predict that enhanced field fluctuations from the proton resonant firehose instability impose a constraint on proton temperature anisotropies of the form 1 - T⊥p/T∥p = Sp/β∥pαp where β∥p ≡ 8πnpkBT∥p/B∘2, and the fitting parameters Sp ~ 1 and αp ~= 0.7. Observations from the Wind spacecraft are reported here. These measurements show for the first time with a comprehensive plasma and magnetic field data set that this constraint is statistically satisfied in the solar wind near 1 AU, with best-fit values of Sp = 1.21 +/- 0.26 and αp = 0.76 +/- 0.14.

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