Review of Solar Wind Heating: Observations and Theory

Details Review of Solar Wind Heating: Observations and Theory Review of Solar Wind Heating: Observations and Theory

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsh44a..03s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SH44A-03

Physics

2134 Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, 2149 Mhd Waves And Turbulence, 2152 Pickup Ions, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

Observations from Helios, Pioneer 11, and the Voyager 1/2 spacecraft provide clear evidence for heating of the solar wind protons. Several sources of energy to drive the heating are now recognized, from residual waves originating in the low solar corona that may be at least partially responsible for heating the inner heliosphere, to wind shear and shocks that provide energy to heat the solar wind inside 10 to 20 AU, to waves generated by newborn interstellar pickup ions that heat the outer heliosphere. These processes imply the need for a theory to convert energy associated with large-scale structures into the small-scale fluctuations that can interact with the protons via familiar plasma processes. We will briefly review such a theory and test it against the observations. We will examine several formalisms for computing an inferred turbulent heating rate from magnetic field measurements and compare their predictions with observations. We will also review past and recent attempts to identify the plasma processes responsible for converting magnetic energy into heat. This involves studying the so-called dissipation range and resolving its properties in comparison with the more familiar inertial range of interplanetary magnetic fluctuations. While this will not lead to a final decision on what plasma processes heat the solar wind, it will provide a list of diagnostics and observations that constrain the discussion.

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