Hybrid simulations of wave propagation and ion cyclotron heating in the expanding solar wind

Details Hybrid simulations of wave propagation and ion cyclotron heating in the expanding solar wind Hybrid simulations of wave propagation and ion cyclotron heating in the expanding solar wind

Jun 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999aipc..471..449l&link_type=abstract

The solar wind nine conference. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 471, pp. 449-452 (1999).

Physics

1

Solar Wind Plasma, Sources Of Solar Wind, Magnetohydrodynamics And Plasmas

Scientific paper

We present results from hybrid (particle ions, fluid electrons) simulations of the evolution of Alfvén waves close to the ion cyclotron frequency in the solar wind, which take into account the basic properties of the background solar wind flow, i.e., the spherical expansion and the consequent decrease in magnetic field and cyclotron frequency with increasing distance from the Sun. We follow the evolution of a plasma parcel in a frame of reference moving with the solar wind using a 1D expanding box hybrid model; use of the hybrid model yields a fully self-consistent treatment of the resonant cyclotron wave-particle interaction. This model is related to a previous MHD model (1), which allows the use of a simple Cartesian geometry with periodic boundary conditions. The use of stretched expanding coordinates in directions transverse to the mean radial solar wind flow naturally introduces an anisotropic damping effect on velocity and magnetic field. We present results for the evolution of a 1/k spectrum of circularly polarized Alfvén wave propagating radially. Initially, most of the wave energy is below the cyclotron frequency for both the alpha particles and protons. As the wind expands, the wave frequencies decrease more slowly than the cyclotron frequencies and the waves come into cyclotron resonance. When only protons are present, significant perpendicular heating is observed as the dominant wave frequencies approach the proton cyclotron frequency. When both alphas and protons are present, the alphas, which come into resonance first, are observed to be preferentially heated and accelerated. In both cases, the cyclotron damping leads to a steepening of the wave spectrum.

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