Related papers: Large-scale Control of Kinetic Dissipation in the …
We investigate properties of the ion-scale spectral break of solar wind turbulence by means of two-dimensional high-resolution hybrid particle-in-cell simulations. We impose an initial ambient magnetic field perpendicular to the simulation…
Based on in-situ measurements by Wind spacecraft from 2005 to 2015, this letter reports for the first time a clearly scale-dependent connection between proton temperatures and the turbulence in the solar wind. A statistical analysis of…
The solar wind undergoes significant heating as it propagates away from the Sun; the exact mechanisms responsible for this heating are not yet fully understood. We present for the first time a statistical test for one of the proposed…
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…
Plasma turbulence cascading from MHD to kinetic scales in the heliospheric plasma is believed to play a key role in coronal heating and fast solar wind acceleration, but the properties of the turbulence remain poorly constrained by…
Magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind are commonly observed to follow a power law spectrum. Near proton-kinetic scales, a spectral break occurs which is commonly interpreted as a transition to kinetic turbulence. However, this…
The relationship between a decaying strong turbulence and kinetic instabilities in a slowly expanding plasma is investigated using two-dimensional (2-D) hybrid expanding box simulations. We impose an initial ambient magnetic field…
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…
The heating of ions and electrons due to turbulent dissipation plays a crucial role in the thermodynamics of the solar wind and other plasma environments. Using magnetic field and thermal plasma observations from the first two perihelia of…
We use a large, statistical set of measurements from the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU, and supporting synthetic spacecraft data based on kinetic plasma theory, to show that the compressible component of inertial range solar wind turbulence is…
The transfer of energy from large to small scales in solar wind turbulence is an important ingredient of the longstanding question about the mechanism of the interplanetary plasma heating. Previous studies have shown that…
In situ observations of the solar wind frequently show the temperature of $\alpha$-particles (fully ionized helium), $T_\alpha$, to significantly differ from that of protons (ionized hydrogen), $T_p$. Many heating processes in the plasma…
A connection between kinetic processes and intermittent turbulence is observed in the solar wind plasma using measurements from the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU. In particular, kinetic effects such as temperature anisotropy and plasma heating…
The turbulent spectrum of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind displays a spectral break at ion characteristic scales. At electron scales the spectral shape is not yet completely established. Here, we perform a statistical study of 102…
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 plasma is a fully ionized and turbulent gas ejected by the outer layers of the solar corona at very high speed, mainly composed by protons and electrons, with a small percentage of helium nuclei and a significantly lower…
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 $U_{\rm p\alpha}$…
We measure the power and spectral index anisotropy of high speed solar wind turbulence from scales larger than the outer scale down to the ion gyroscale, thus covering the entire inertial range. We show that the power and spectral indices…
The scaling of the turbulent spectra provides a key measurement that allows to discriminate between different theoretical predictions of turbulence. In the solar wind, this has driven a large number of studies dedicated to this issue using…
Recent observations reveal that magnetic turbulence in the nearly colisionless solar wind plasma extends to scales smaller than the plasma microscales, such as ion gyroradius and ion inertial length. Measured breaks in the spectra of…