Related papers: Collisionless Isotropization of the Solar-Wind Pro…
Large-scale compressive slow-mode-like fluctuations can cause variations in the density, temperature, and magnetic-field magnitude in the solar wind. In addition, they also lead to fluctuations in the differential flow $U_{\rm p\alpha}$…
Particle velocity distributions measured in the weakly collisional solar wind are frequently found to be non-Maxwellian, but how these non-Maxwellian distributions impact the physics of plasma turbulence in the solar wind remains…
The proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind is known to be constrained by the theoretical thresholds for pressure anisotropy-driven instabilities. Here we use approximately 1 million independent measurements of gyroscale magnetic…
We present the first statistical study of the anisotropy of the magnetic field turbulence in the solar wind between 1 and 200Hz, i.e. from proton to sub-electron scales. We consider 93 10-minute intervals of Cluster/STAFF measurements. We…
A variety of nonthermal characteristics like kinetic, e.g., temperature, anisotropies and suprathermal populations (enhancing the high energy tails of the velocity distributions) are revealed by the in-situ observations in the solar wind…
The proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind exhibits apparent bounds which are compatible with the theoretical constraints imposed by temperature-anisotropy driven kinetic instabilities. Recent statistical analyses based on…
Many questions remain about the compressibility of solar wind turbulence with respect to its origins and properties. Low plasma beta (ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure) environments allow for the easier generation of compressible…
The solar wind is a magnetized and turbulent plasma. Its turbulence is often dominated by Alfv\'enic fluctuations and often deemed as nearly incompressible far away from the Sun, as shown by in-situ measurements near 1AU. However, for solar…
A well-known property of solar wind plasma turbulence is the observed anisotropy of the autocorrelations, or equivalently the spectra, of velocity and magnetic field fluctuations. Here we explore the related but apparently not well-studied…
The first observed connection between kinetic instabilities driven by proton temperature anisotropy and estimated energy cascade rates in the turbulent solar wind is reported using measurements from the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU. We find…
Characterizing compressible fluctuations in the solar wind is essential for understanding their role in solar wind acceleration and heating, yet their origin and evolution across different turbulence regimes remain poorly understood. In…
Important efforts are currently made for understanding the so-called kinetic instabilities, driven by the anisotropy of different species of plasma particles present in the solar wind and terrestrial magnetosphere. These instabilities are…
Unraveling the origin of proton beams and ion Bernstein waves is important to understanding kinetic dissipation in the solar wind. Here we focus on their generation mechanisms, rather than their well-studied roles in instabilities and…
Turbulence is a ubiquitous process that transfers energy across many spatial and temporal scales, thereby influencing particle transport and heating. Recent progress has improved our understanding of the anisotropy of turbulence with…
Hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulations are employed to investigate the role of kinetic effects in a two-dimensional turbulent multi-ion plasma, composed of protons, alpha particles and fluid electrons. In the typical conditions of the solar-wind…
We use magnetic helicity to characterise solar wind fluctuations at proton-kinetic scales from Wind observations. For the first time, we separate the contributions to helicity from fluctuations propagating at angles quasi-parallel and…
Solar wind is probably the best laboratory to study turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. In addition to the presence of magnetic field, the differences with neutral fluid isotropic turbulence are: weakness of collisional dissipation and…
Turbulence in space plasmas usually exhibits two regimes separated by a spectral break that divides the so called inertial and kinetic ranges. Large scale magnetic fluctuations are dominated by non-linear MHD wave-wave interactions…
At kinetic scales in the solar wind, instabilities transfer energy from particles to fluctuations in the electromagnetic fields while restoring plasma conditions towards thermodynamic equilibrium. We investigate the interplay between…
A key prediction of turbulence theories is frame-invariance, and in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, axisymmetry of fluctuations with respect to the background magnetic field. Paradoxically the power in fluctuations in the turbulent…