Stochastic Heating in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Bowen, Trevor A., Ervin, Tamar, Mallet, Alfred, Chandran, Benjamin D. G., Sioulas, Nikos, Isenberg, Philip A., Bale, Stuart D., Squire, Jonathan, Klein, Kristopher G., Pezzi, Oreste
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Bowen, Trevor A.
Ervin, Tamar
Mallet, Alfred
Chandran, Benjamin D. G.
Sioulas, Nikos
Isenberg, Philip A.
Bale, Stuart D.
Squire, Jonathan
Klein, Kristopher G.
Pezzi, Oreste
author_facet Bowen, Trevor A.
Ervin, Tamar
Mallet, Alfred
Chandran, Benjamin D. G.
Sioulas, Nikos
Isenberg, Philip A.
Bale, Stuart D.
Squire, Jonathan
Klein, Kristopher G.
Pezzi, Oreste
contents Collisionless dissipation of turbulence is important for heating plasmas in astrophysical, space physics, and laboratory environments, controlling energy, momentum and particle transport. We analyze Parker Solar Probe observations to understand the collisionless heating of the sub-Alfvénic solar wind, which is connected to the solar corona. Our results show that linear resonant heating through parallel-propagating cyclotron waves cannot account for turbulent dissipation in sub-Alfvénic region, which observations suggest may dissipate turbulence at distances further from the Sun. Instead, we find that stochastic heating can account for the observed ion energization; however, because the dominant contributions arise from infrequent, large-amplitude events, turbulent intermittency must be explicitly incorporated. These observations directly connect stochastic heating via breaking of the proton magnetic moment with the intermittent and inhomogeneous heating of turbulence reported in many previous studies. Our identification of stochastic heating as a dynamic mechanism responsible for intermittent heating of the solar wind has significant implications for turbulent dissipation in the lower corona, other astrophysical environments, and laboratory plasma.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_20654
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stochastic Heating in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind
Bowen, Trevor A.
Ervin, Tamar
Mallet, Alfred
Chandran, Benjamin D. G.
Sioulas, Nikos
Isenberg, Philip A.
Bale, Stuart D.
Squire, Jonathan
Klein, Kristopher G.
Pezzi, Oreste
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
Collisionless dissipation of turbulence is important for heating plasmas in astrophysical, space physics, and laboratory environments, controlling energy, momentum and particle transport. We analyze Parker Solar Probe observations to understand the collisionless heating of the sub-Alfvénic solar wind, which is connected to the solar corona. Our results show that linear resonant heating through parallel-propagating cyclotron waves cannot account for turbulent dissipation in sub-Alfvénic region, which observations suggest may dissipate turbulence at distances further from the Sun. Instead, we find that stochastic heating can account for the observed ion energization; however, because the dominant contributions arise from infrequent, large-amplitude events, turbulent intermittency must be explicitly incorporated. These observations directly connect stochastic heating via breaking of the proton magnetic moment with the intermittent and inhomogeneous heating of turbulence reported in many previous studies. Our identification of stochastic heating as a dynamic mechanism responsible for intermittent heating of the solar wind has significant implications for turbulent dissipation in the lower corona, other astrophysical environments, and laboratory plasma.
title Stochastic Heating in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20654