Effects of electron drift on the collisionless damping of kinetic Alfvén waves in the solar wind

Abstract

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 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 kinetic Alfvén waves 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 $\beta \sim 1$ astrophysical plasmas.

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• Electrons in the Young Solar Wind: First Results from the Parker Solar Probe
• Statistical Study of Whistler Waves in the Solar Wind at 1 AU
• Whistler wave generation by halo electrons in the solar wind
• Precision Electron Measurements in the Solar Wind at 1 au from NASA's Wind Spacecraft
• Anisotropies of the magnetic field fluctuations at kinetic scales in the solar wind : Cluster observations
• The role of the thermal properties of electrons on the dispersion properties of Alfvén waves in space plasmas