2015/05/08 by Yuguang Tong, Stuart D. Bale, Christopher H. K. Chen +2
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Dissipation #Electron #Fluid dynamics and aerodynamics studies #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Kinetic energy #Plasma #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar wind #Turbulence #Wave turbulence #astro-ph.SR #physics.space-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/804/2/l36
published as The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 804(2015) L36
openalex publication_date 2015/05/08 · arxiv created 2015/05/10 · arxiv updated 2015/05/12 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The collisionless dissipation of anisotropic Alfvénic turbulence is a promising candidate to solve the solar wind heating problem. Extensive studies examined the kinetic properties of Alfvén waves in simple Maxwellian or bi-Maxwellian plasmas. However, the observed electron velocity distribution functions in the solar wind are more complex. In this study, we analyze the properties of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) in a plasma with two drifting electron populations. We numerically solve the linearized Maxwell–Vlasov equations and find that the damping rate and the proton–electron energy partition for KAWs are significantly modified in such plasmas, compared to plasmas without electron drifts. We suggest that electron drift is an important factor to take into account when considering the dissipation of Alfvénic turbulence in the solar wind or other astrophysical plasmas.