Alfven waves, alpha particles, and pickup ions in the solar wind

Details Alfven waves, alpha particles, and pickup ions in the solar wind Alfven waves, alpha particles, and pickup ions in the solar wind

Jun 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995sowi.confq..77g&link_type=abstract

International Solar Wind 8 Conference, p. 77

Computer Science

Alpha Particles, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves, Solar Wind, Space Plasmas, Ions, Ulysses Mission, Solar Wind Velocity, Velocity Distribution, Propagation Velocity, Protons, Anisotropy

Scientific paper

Past studies of the properties of Alfven waves in the solar wind have indicated that (1) the amplitude of the velocity fluctuations is almost always smaller than expected on the basis of the amplitude of the field fluctuations, even when the anisotropy of the plasma is taken into account, and (2) the alpha particles do not participate in the wave motions because they 'surf' on the waves carried by the proton fluid. Ulysses data are used to demonstrate that (1) the discrepancy between the velocity and field fluctuations is greater at high heliographic latitudes than in the ecliptic plane, and (2) the alphas do participate in the waves, being either in phase or out of phase with the proton motions depending on whether the differential flow speed between the alphas and protons is greater than or less than the 'observed' wave speed, Bo(delta v squared / delta B squared)exp 1/2, as determined from the ratio of the amplitudes of the velocity and magnetic fluctuations. It is proposed that the modification of Alfven wave propagation speed is due to pressure anisotropies resulting from asymmetric distributions of interstellar pickup ions. If the proposed explanation is correct, it indicates that scattering of pickup ions onto a (bi)spherical shell may not be as complete as generally supposed.

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