Turbulent density fluctuations and proton heating rate in the solar wind from 9-20~R_{\odot}

Abstract

We obtain scatter broadened images of the Crab Nebula at 80 MHz as it transits through the inner solar wind in June 2016 and 2017. These images are anisotropic, with the major axis oriented perpendicular to the radially outward coronal magnetic field. Using these data, we deduce that the density modulation index (δN_e/N_e) caused by turbulent density fluctuations in the solar wind ranges from 1.9 \times 10^{-3} to 7.7 \times 10^{-3} between 9-20 R_{\odot}. We also find that the heating rate of solar wind protons at these distances ranges from 2.2 \times 10^{-13} to 1.0 \times 10^{-11} ~erg~cm^{-3}~s^{-1}. On two occasions, the line of sight intercepted a coronal streamer. We find that the presence of the streamer approximately doubles the thickness of the scattering screen.

to appear in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (4)

• Radial Dependence of the Frequency Break Between Fluid and Kinetic Scales in the Solar Wind Fluctuations
• Amplitude of solar wind density turbulence from 10--45 $R_{\odot }$
• Coronal turbulence and the angular broadening of radio sources - the role of the structure function
• A study of density modulation index in the inner heliospheric solar wind during solar cycle 23

Cited by in corpus (7)

• An Anisotropic Density Turbulence Model from the Sun to 1 au Derived From Radio Observations
• Fine structure of type III solar radio bursts from Langmuir wave motion in turbulent plasma
• Characterising coronal turbulence using snapshot imaging of radio bursts in 80-200 MHz
• Turbulent Proton Heating Rate in the Solar Wind from $5$ to $45R_{\odot }$
• Dissipation scale lengths of density turbulence in the inner solar wind
• Preparing for Solar and Heliospheric Science with the SKAO: An Indian Perspective
• Ion-scale Turbulence and Energy Cascade Rate in the Solar Corona and Inner Heliosphere