Related papers: Dependence of ion temperatures on alpha-proton dif…
How ions are energized and heated is a fundamental problem in the study of energy dissipation in magnetized plasmas. In particular, the heating of heavy ions (including ${}^{4}\mathrm{He}^{2+}$, ${}^{3}\mathrm{He}^{2+}$ and others) has been…
Recent work on Alfvenic turbulence by Goldreich & Sridhar (1995; GS) suggests that the energy cascades almost entirely perpendicular to the local magnetic field. As a result, the cyclotron resonance is unimportant in dissipating the…
We present numerical simulations of reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) turbulence in a magnetic flux tube at the center of a polar coronal hole. The model for the background atmosphere is a solution of the momentum equation, and includes…
Hot collisionless accretion flows, such as the one in Sgr A$^{*}$ at our Galactic center, provide a unique setting for the investigation of magnetic reconnection. Here, protons are non-relativistic while electrons can be ultra-relativistic.…
Interplanetary shocks are one of the proposed sources of suprathermal ion populations (i.e., ions with energies of a few times the solar wind energy). Here, we present results from a series of three-dimensional hybrid simulations of…
Parametric decay instability (PDI) of Alfv\'en wave is thought to play an important role in the dissipation of the large-amplitude Alfv\'en waves and in the heating of magnetized plasmas. Temperature anisotropy is frequently observed by…
An accurate assessment of the Sun's angular momentum (AM) loss rate is an independent constraint for models that describe the rotation evolution of Sun-like stars. In-situ measurements of the solar wind taken by Parker Solar Probe (PSP), at…
Although the origins of slow solar wind are unclear, there is increasing evidence that at least some of it is released in a steady state on over-expanded coronal hole magnetic field lines. This type of slow wind has similar properties to…
We consider the radial evolution of perpendicular ion heating due to the violation of magnetic moment conservation caused by Alfven and kinetic Alfven wave turbulence. This process, referred to as stochastic heating, can be quantified by…
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…
In order to compare the x-wind with observations, one needs to be able to calculate its thermal and ionization properties. We formulate the physical basis for the streamline-by-streamline integration of the ionization and heat equations of…
We investigate the conditions under which parallel-propagating Alfv\'en/ion-cyclotron waves are driven unstable by an isotropic ($T_{\perp \alpha} = T_{\parallel\alpha}$) population of alpha particles drifting parallel to the magnetic field…
This paper employs a recent turbulent heating prescription to predict the ratio of proton-to-total heating due to the kinetic dissipation of Alfvenic turbulence as a function of heliocentric distance. Comparing to a recent empirical…
The classic Weber-Davis model of the solar wind is reconsidered by incorporating alpha particles and by allowing the solar wind to flow out of the equatorial plane in an axisymmetrical configuration. In the ion momentum equations of the…
Enhancement of minor ions such as $^3$He and heavy ions in flare-associated solar energetic particle (SEP) events remains one of the major puzzles in heliophysics. In this work, we use 3D hybrid simulations (kinetic protons and fluid…
The acceleration of solar flare ions during magnetic reconnection is explored via particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently follow the motions of both protons and $\alpha$ particles. We demonstrate that the dominant ion heating…
Particle heating in advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) by nonlinear MHD (Alfvenic) turbulence is investigated. Such turbulence with highly-fluctuating magnetic fields, $\tilde B\sim B_0$, is believed to be naturally produced by the…
We present a new diagnostic allowing one to measure the anisotropy of ion temperatures and non-thermal velocities as well as Doppler shifts with respect to the ambient magnetic field. This method provides new results, as well as independent…
The heating, acceleration, and pitch-angle scattering of charged particles by MHD turbulence are important in a wide range of astrophysical environments, including the solar wind, accreting black holes, and galaxy clusters. We simulate the…
One proposed mechanism for heating the solar wind, from close to the sun to beyond 10 AU, invokes low-frequency, oblique, Alfven-wave turbulence. Because small-scale oblique Alfven waves (kinetic Alfven waves) are compressive, the measured…