Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh31a1465z&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH31A-1465
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2139] Interplanetary Physics / Interplanetary Shocks, [7511] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Coronal Holes, [7526] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Magnetic Reconnection, [7851] Space Plasma Physics / Shock Waves
Scientific paper
A long standing problem of the solar corona is that heavy ions in coronal holes are preferentially heated, that is, their temperature is larger than the proton temperature in a way that is more than mass proportional, T_i/T_p > m_i/m_p. Supercritical collisionless shocks can be generated in the reconnection outflow region due to the merging of small magnetic dipoles with the unipolar magnetic field of coronal holes. We present a new model which shows that preferential heating of heavy ions can be caused by ion reflection off quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks. The ion energization is due to the motional electric field in the shock frame, which is perpendicular to the magnetic field by definition: this can explain the observed temperature anisotropy with large perpendicular temperature. In turn, the temperature anisotropy can cause ion cyclotron emission, as observed in proximity of the Earth's bow shock. In this respect, the paradigm of preferential heating by ion cyclotron resonance is turned upside down. Experimental evidence of heavy ion heating at interplanetary shocks by a number of spacecraft is discussed, as well as the possibility to have a sufficient number of collisionless shocks in the polar corona. The cross-disciplinary character of this study is also emphasized.
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