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The collisionless plasmas in space and astrophysical environments are intrinsically multiscale in nature, behaving as conducting fluids at macroscales and kinetically at microscales comparable to ion- and/or electron-gyroradii. A…

We explore a mechanism, entirely new to the fast solar wind, of electron heating by lower hybrid waves to explain the shift to higher charge states observed in various elements in the fast wind at 1 A.U. relative to the original coronal…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 J. Martin Laming

We present observations of >10-100 keV/nucleon suprathermal (ST) H, He, O, and Fe ions associated with crossings of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) at radial distances <0.1 au from the Sun. Our key findings are: 1) very few heavy ions…

Collisionless shock waves, ubiquitous in the universe, are crucial for particle acceleration in various astrophysical systems. Currently, the heliosphere is the only natural environment available for their in situ study. In this work, we…

The power spectral density of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind exhibits several power-law-like frequency ranges with a well defined break between approximately 0.1 and 1 Hz in the spacecraft frame. The exact dependence of this break…

Space Physics · Physics 2018-03-28 Daniel Vech , Alfred Mallet , Kristopher G. Klein , Justin C. Kasper

The solar corona and young solar wind may be characterized by critical surfaces -- the sonic, Alfv\'en, and first plasma-$\beta$ unity surfaces -- that demarcate regions where the solar wind flow undergoes certain crucial transformations.…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2019-03-20 Rohit Chhiber , Arcadi V. Usmanov , William H. Matthaeus , Melvyn L. Goldstein

Finite-amplitude low-frequency Alfv\'en waves are commonly found in plasma environments, such as space plasmas, and play a crucial role in ion heating. The nonlinear interaction between oblique Alfv\'en wave spectra and ions has been…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-10-10 Jingyu Peng , Jiansen He

The Sun's surface vibrates in characteristic 5-minute oscillations, known as p-modes, generated by sound waves trapped within the convection zone. Although these oscillations have long been hypothesized to reach into the solar wind, direct…

Resonant interactions between ions and Alfv\'en/ion-cyclotron (A/IC) waves may play an important role in the heating and acceleration of the fast solar wind. Although such interactions have been studied extensively for "parallel" waves,…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2014-11-20 Peera Pongkitiwanichakul , Benjamin D. G. Chandran , Philip A. Isenberg , Bernard J. Vasquez

We propose a model for interpreting highly variable ion composition ratios in solar energetic particles (SEP) events recently observed by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) at $0.3 - 0.45$ astronomical unit. We use numerical simulations to calculate…

Wave emissions at frequencies near electron gyrofrequency harmonics are observed at small heliocentric distances below about 40 solar radii and are known to occur in regions with quiescent magnetic fields. We show the close connection of…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2022-08-26 Sabrina F. Tigik , Andris Vaivads , David M. Malaspina , Stuart D. Bale

The solar wind is a dynamic plasma outflow that shapes heliospheric conditions and drives space weather. Identifying its large-scale phenomena is crucial, yet the increasing volume of high-cadence Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations poses…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-11-03 Valmir P Moraes Filho , Daniela Martin , Jasmine R. Kobayashi , Connor O'Brien , Jinsu Hong , Evangelia Samara , Joseph Gallego

The high cadence plasma, electric, and magnetic field measurements by the Magnetospheric MultiScale spacecraft allow us to explore the near-Earth space plasma with an unprecedented time and spatial resolution, resolving electron-scale…

Direct evidence of an inertial-range turbulent energy cascade has been provided by spacecraft observations in heliospheric plasmas. In the solar wind, the average value of the derived heating rate near 1 au is $\sim 10^{3}\,…

Wave-particle instabilities driven by departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium have been conjectured to play a role in governing solar wind dynamics. We calculate the statistical variation of linear stability over a large subset of…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2020-01-08 Kristopher G. Klein , Mihailo Martinovic , David Stansby , Timothy S. Horbury

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…

Interplanetary (IP) shock waves are greatly interesting, as they represent significant phenomena in near-Earth space and are direct drivers of geomagnetic and radiation storms. Moreover, various data and parameters are being explored for…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-06-26 Oleksandr Yakovlev , Oleksiy Dudnik , Anna Wawrzaszek

We utilize observations from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to study the radial evolution of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. We analyze electron velocity distribution functions observed by the Solar Wind Electrons, Alphas, and…

Context. Observations by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) of electrostatic waves suggest that electrostatic instabilities, including the ion-ion-acoustic instability (IIAI) frequently observed in the inner heliosphere, play an important role in…

We investigate a class of ion-scale magnetic solitary structures in the solar wind, characterized by distinct magnetic field enhancements and bipolar rotations over spatial scales of several proton inertial lengths. These structures are…