Proton heating estimates from near-Earth observations of coronal mass ejections in solar cycle 24

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bhattacharjee, Debesh, Subramanian, Prasad, majumder, Saikat, Mishra, Wageesh
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909616051322880
author Bhattacharjee, Debesh
Subramanian, Prasad
majumder, Saikat
Mishra, Wageesh
author_facet Bhattacharjee, Debesh
Subramanian, Prasad
majumder, Saikat
Mishra, Wageesh
contents As solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propagate through the heliosphere, they expend energy in heating protons to compensate for the cooling that occurs due to expansion. CME propagation models usually treat energy dissipation implicitly via a polytropic index ($δ$). Here we calculate the power dissipation implied by a given $δ$ and compare it with the power available in the turbulent velocity fluctuations. We make this comparison using near-Earth {\em in-situ} observations of 27 of the most geoeffective CMEs ($D_{\rm st} < -75$ nT) in solar cycle 24. For $δ= 5/3$, the power in the turbulent velocity fluctuations is $\approx 54$\% smaller than what would be required to maintain the proton temperature at the observed values. If the power in the turbulent cascade is assumed to be fully expended in local proton heating, the most probable value for $δ$ is 1.35. Our results contribute to a better understanding of CME energetics, and thereby to improved CME propagation models and estimates of Earth arrival times.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_13386
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Proton heating estimates from near-Earth observations of coronal mass ejections in solar cycle 24
Bhattacharjee, Debesh
Subramanian, Prasad
majumder, Saikat
Mishra, Wageesh
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
As solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propagate through the heliosphere, they expend energy in heating protons to compensate for the cooling that occurs due to expansion. CME propagation models usually treat energy dissipation implicitly via a polytropic index ($δ$). Here we calculate the power dissipation implied by a given $δ$ and compare it with the power available in the turbulent velocity fluctuations. We make this comparison using near-Earth {\em in-situ} observations of 27 of the most geoeffective CMEs ($D_{\rm st} < -75$ nT) in solar cycle 24. For $δ= 5/3$, the power in the turbulent velocity fluctuations is $\approx 54$\% smaller than what would be required to maintain the proton temperature at the observed values. If the power in the turbulent cascade is assumed to be fully expended in local proton heating, the most probable value for $δ$ is 1.35. Our results contribute to a better understanding of CME energetics, and thereby to improved CME propagation models and estimates of Earth arrival times.
title Proton heating estimates from near-Earth observations of coronal mass ejections in solar cycle 24
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.13386