Related papers: Ion-Driven Instabilities in the Inner Heliosphere …

We analyzed intermittency in the solar wind, as observed on the ecliptic plane, looking at magnetic field and velocity fluctuations between 0.3 and 1 AU, for both fast and slow wind and for compressive and directional fluctuations. Our…

We present a kinetic stability analysis of the solar wind electron distribution function consisting of the Maxwellian core and the magnetic-field aligned strahl, a superthermal electron beam propagating away from the sun. We use an electron…

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…

We derive a set of self-consistent marginally stable states for a system of ion-cyclotron waves propagating parallel to the large-scale magnetic field through a homogeneous proton-electron plasma. The proton distributions and the wave…

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…

The electrons are an essential particle species in the solar wind. They often exhibit non-equilibrium features in their velocity distribution function. These include temperature anisotropies, tails (kurtosis), and reflectional asymmetries…

We investigate the self-consistent formation and long-term evolution of proton beams in the expanding solar wind using an ensemble of one-dimensional hybrid expanding box simulations. Initial conditions are chosen to represent a range of…

Proton and alpha particle collisional transport coefficients (isotropization, relative deceleration frequencies and heating rates) at 1 AU are quantified using the WIND/SWE data. In agreement with previous studies the ion-ion Coulomb…

Analysis of the Interball-1 spacecraft data (1995-2000) has shown that the solar wind ion flux sometimes increases or decreases abruptly by more than 20% over a time period of several seconds or minutes. Typically, the amplitude of such…

In the present paper, the proton velocity distribution function (VDF)in the solar wind is determined by solving numerically the kinetic evolution equation. We compare the results obtained when considering the effects of ex- ternal forces…

The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) has been observed in the solar atmosphere. Ion-neutral collisions may play a relevant role for the growth rate and evolution of the KHI in solar partially ionized plasmas as in, e.g., solar…

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…

Previous studies have shown that the observed temperature anisotropies of protons and alpha particles in the solar wind are constrained by theoretical thresholds for pressure-anisotropy-driven instabilities such as the…

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…

The recently released spacecraft potential measured by the RPW instrument on-board Solar Orbiter has been used to estimate the solar wind electron density in the inner heliosphere. Solar-wind electron density measured during June 2020 has…

Understanding the physical processes in the solar wind and corona which actively contribute to heating, acceleration, and dissipation is a primary objective of NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission. Observations of coherent…

The nature of the plasma wave modes around the ion kinetic scales in highly Alfv\'enic slow solar wind turbulence is investigated using data from the NASA's Parker Solar Probe taken in the inner heliosphere, at 0.18 Astronomical Unit (AU)…

The origins and generation mechanisms of the slow solar wind are still unclear. Part of the slow solar wind is populated by "number density structures", discrete patches of increased number density that are frozen in to and move with the…

We examine statistics of magnetic field vector components to explore how intermittency evolves from near sun plasma to radial distances as large as 10 au. Statistics entering the analysis include auto-correlation, magnetic structure…

Where and under what conditions the transfer of energy between electromagnetic fields and particles takes place in the solar wind remains an open question. We investigate the conditions that promote the growth of kinetic instabilities…