The multi-scale nature of the solar wind

Abstract

The solar wind is a magnetized plasma and as such exhibits collective plasma behavior associated with its characteristic spatial and temporal scales. The characteristic length scales include the size of the heliosphere, the collisional mean free paths of all species, their inertial lengths, their gyration radii, and their Debye lengths. The characteristic timescales include the expansion time, the collision times, and the periods associated with gyration, waves, and oscillations. We review the past and present research into the multi-scale nature of the solar wind based on in-situ spacecraft measurements and plasma theory. We emphasize that couplings of processes across scales are important for the global dynamics and thermodynamics of the solar wind. We describe methods to measure in-situ properties of particles and fields. We then discuss the role of expansion effects, non-equilibrium distribution functions, collisions, waves, turbulence, and kinetic microinstabilities for the multi-scale plasma evolution.

155 pages, 24 figures

References in corpus (77)

• Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains
• Advection-Dominated Accretion and the Black Hole Event Horizon
• Recent progress in astrophysical plasma turbulence from solar wind observations
• Self-Feeding Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection on Macroscopic Scales
• Magnetic Reconnection and Intermittent Turbulence in the Solar Wind
• Imbalanced Strong MHD Turbulence
• Acceleration and propagation of Solar Energetic Particles
• Whistler mode waves and the electron heat flux in the solar wind: Cluster observations
• Thermal disequilibration of ions and electrons by collisionless plasma turbulence
• Radial Dependence of the Frequency Break Between Fluid and Kinetic Scales in the Solar Wind Fluctuations
• The statistical properties of solar wind temperature parameters near 1 AU
• Multiscale nature of the dissipation range in gyrokinetic simulations of Alfvénic turbulence
• Gyrokinetic turbulence: a nonlinear route to dissipation through phase space
• Density Fluctuation Spectrum of Solar Wind Turbulence between Ion and Electron Scales
• The Role of Proton-Cyclotron Resonance as a Dissipation Mechanism in Solar Wind Turbulence: A Statistical Study at Ion-Kinetic Scales
• Predicted Impacts of Proton Temperature Anisotropy on Solar Wind Turbulence
• A comparison of Alpha Particle and Proton Beam Differential flow in Collisionally Young Solar Wind
• Hybrid-Kinetic Simulations of Ion Heating in Alfvénic Turbulence
• Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence mediated by reconnection
• Ion kinetic energy conservation and magnetic field strength constancy in multi-fluid solar wind Alfvénic turbulence
• Validity of the Taylor Hypothesis for Linear Kinetic Waves in the Weakly Collisional Solar Wind
• On slow solar wind with high Alfvénicity: from composition and microphysics to spectral properties
• Electron Heating by the Ion Cyclotron Instability in Collisionless Accretion Flows. I. Compression-Driven Instabilities and the Electron Heating Mechanism
• Self-induced Scattering of Strahl Electrons in the Solar Wind
• Classification of Solar Wind with Machine Learning
• Electron energy partition across interplanetary shocks: I. Methodology and Data Product
• Kinetic cascade beyond magnetohydrodynamics of solar wind turbulence in two-dimensional hybrid simulations
• A zone of preferential ion heating extends tens of solar radii from Sun
• Dual phase-space cascades in 3D hybrid-Vlasov-Maxwell turbulence
• On the 1/f spectrum in the solar wind and its connection with magnetic compressibility
• A Majority of Solar Wind Intervals Support Ion-Driven Instabilities
• The Dispersion Relations and Instability Thresholds of Oblique Plasma Modes in the Presence of an Ion Beam
• Coherent structures at ion scales in fast solar wind: {\it Cluster} observations
• Propinquity of current and vortex structures: effects on collisionless plasma heating
• Physical Interpretation of the Angle Dependent Magnetic Helicity Spectrum in the Solar Wind: The Nature of Turbulent Fluctuations near the Proton Gyroradius Scale
• Interstellar Dust in the Solar System
• The Structure of Plasma Heating in Gyrokinetic Alfvénic Turbulence
• Ensemble Simulations of Proton Heating in the Solar Wind via Turbulence and Ion Cyclotron Resonance
• The Violation of the Taylor Hypothesis in Measurements of Solar Wind Turbulence
• Fluidization of collisionless plasma turbulence
• Nonlinear and Linear Timescales near Kinetic Scales in Solar Wind Turbulence
• Parametric Instability, Inverse Cascade, and the $1/f$ Range of Solar-Wind Turbulence
• Frequency-dependent Alfvén-wave propagation in the solar wind: Onset and suppression of parametric decay instability
• ALPS: The Arbitrary Linear Plasma Solver
• Astrophysical gyrokinetics: Turbulence in pressure-anisotropic plasmas at ion scales and beyond
• The Dynamical Generation of Current Sheets in Astrophysical Plasma Turbulence
• NHDS: The New Hampshire Dispersion Relation Solver
• The low-frequency break observed in the slow solar wind magnetic spectra
• Apparent temperature anisotropies due to wave activity in the solar wind
• Constraints on ion vs. electron heating by plasma turbulence at low beta
• Nonlinear mirror instability
• "Ideally" unstable current sheets and the triggering of fast magnetic reconnection
• Strong Preferential Ion Heating is Limited to within the Solar Alfven Surface
• Density Fluctuations in the Solar Wind Driven by Alfvén Wave Parametric Decay
• Stochastic proton heating by kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence in moderately high-$\beta$ plasmas
• MMS Observations of Beta-Dependent Constraints on Ion Temperature-Anisotropy in Earth's Magnetosheath
• Interplay between intermittency and dissipation in collisionless plasma turbulence
• A Modified Version of Taylor's Hypothesis for Solar Probe Plus Observations
• Stability Analysis of Core-Strahl Electron Distributions in the Solar Wind
• Deceleration of Alpha Particles in the Solar Wind by Instabilities and the Rotational Force: Implications for Heating, Azimuthal Flow, and the Parker Spiral Magnetic Field
• Anisotropies of the magnetic field fluctuations at kinetic scales in the solar wind : Cluster observations
• Parametric decay of oblique Alfvén waves in two-dimensional hybrid simulations
• Anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by parametric decay instability: the onset of phase mixing and Alfvén wave turbulence
• Nonlinear firehose relaxation and constant-B field fluctuations
• Linking Fluid and Kinetic Scales in Solar Wind Turbulence
• Solar wind magnetic field background spectrum from fluid to kinetic scales
• Observations of high and low Fe charge states in individual solar wind streams with coronal-hole origin
• The Fluid-like Behavior of Kinetic Alfvén Turbulence in Space Plasma
• Radial evolution of stochastic heating in low-$\beta$ solar wind
• Multi-scale Pressure-balanced Structures in Three-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• [Plasma 2020 Decadal] The essential role of multi-point measurements in turbulence investigations: the solar wind beyond single scale and beyond the Taylor Hypothesis
• Effects of electron drift on the collisionless damping of kinetic Alfvén waves in the solar wind
• The Quasilinear Premise for the Modeling of Plasma Turbulence
• [Plasma 2020 Decadal] Multipoint Measurements of the Solar Wind: A Proposed Advance for Studying Magnetized Turbulence
• Stochastic Electron Acceleration by the Whistler Instability in a Growing Magnetic Field
• Observed instability constraints on electron heat flux in the solar wind
• [Plasma 2020 Decadal] Disentangling the Spatiotemporal Structure of Turbulence Using Multi-Spacecraft Data

Cited by in corpus (123)

• The Solar Orbiter mission -- Science overview
• Parker Solar Probe: Four Years of Discoveries at Solar Cycle Minimum
• Ion Scale Electromagnetic Waves in the Inner Heliosphere
• Parker Solar Probe observations of proton beams simultaneous with ion-scale waves
• Asteroids for $\mu$Hz gravitational-wave detection
• Inferred Linear Stability of Parker Solar Probe Observations using One- and Two-Component Proton Distributions
• Dissipation measures in weakly-collisional plasmas
• Defining the Middle Corona
• The Enhancement of Proton Stochastic Heating in the near-Sun Solar Wind
• The Radial Dependence of Proton-scale Magnetic Spectral Break in Slow Solar Wind during PSP Encounter 2
• Intermittency in the Expanding Solar Wind: Observations from Parker Solar Probe (0.16au), Helios 1 (0.3-1au), and Voyager 1 (1-10au)
• Alpha-proton Differential Flow of the Young Solar Wind: Parker Solar Probe Observations
• On the temperature of the solar wind
• Alternative high plasma beta regimes of electron heat-flux instabilities in the solar wind
• Energy Dissipation in Turbulent Reconnection
• The Electromagnetic Signature of Outward Propagating Ion-Scale Waves
• Precision Electron Measurements in the Solar Wind at 1 au from NASA's Wind Spacecraft
• Turbulent cascade and energy transfer rate in a solar coronal mass ejection
• Proton Core Behaviour Inside Magnetic Field Switchbacks
• On the role of solar wind expansion as a source of whistler waves: scattering of suprathermal electrons and heat flux regulation in the inner heliosphere
• The evolution of compressible solar wind turbulence in the inner heliosphere: PSP, THEMIS and MAVEN observations
• Multiscale Solar Wind Turbulence Properties inside and near Switchbacks measured by Parker Solar Probe
• Adaptive critical balance and firehose instability in an expanding, turbulent, collisionless plasma
• Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in particle-in-cell simulations of anisotropic plasma turbulence
• Large-scale Structure and Turbulence Transport in the Inner Solar Wind -- Comparison of Parker Solar Probe's First Five Orbits with a Global 3D Reynolds-averaged MHD Model
• Exploring the Solar Wind from its Source on the Corona into the Inner Heliosphere during the First Solar Orbiter - Parker Solar Probe Quadrature
• General dispersion properties of magnetized plasmas with drifting bi-Kappa distributions. DIS-K: DIspersion Solver for Kappa plasmas
• The Radial Distribution of Ion-scale Waves in the Inner Heliosphere
• Generalized Fluid Models of the Braginskii Type
• Possible Generation Mechanism for Compressional Alfvénic Spikes as Observed by Parker Solar Probe
• On quasi-parallel whistler waves in the solar wind
• Modeling Kelvin-Helmholtz instability-driven turbulence with hybrid simulations of Alfvénic turbulence
• Electron energy partition across interplanetary shocks: III. Analysis
• Direct Measurement of the Solar-Wind Taylor Microscale using MMS Turbulence Campaign Data
• Immediate and delayed responses of power lines and transformers in the Czech electric power grid to geomagnetic storms
• Analysis of Magnetohydrodynamic Perturbations in Radial-field Solar Wind from Parker Solar Probe Observations
• Linear Stability in the Inner Heliosphere: Helios Reëvaluated
• Flux conservation, radial scalings, Mach numbers, and critical distances in the solar wind: magnetohydrodynamics and Ulysses observations
• Exploring the radial evolution of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections using EUHFORIA
• Linear Dispersion Theory of Parallel Electromagnetic Modes for Regularized Kappa-Distributions
• Helios 2 observations of solar wind turbulence decay in the inner heliosphere
• Wave-particle energy transfer directly observed in an ion cyclotron wave
• Ion-Driven Instabilities in the Inner Heliosphere I: Statistical Trends
• Multi-spacecraft Analysis of the Properties of Magnetohydrodynamic Fluctuations in Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind Turbulence at 1 AU
• Whistler Waves As a Signature of Converging Magnetic Holes in Space Plasmas
• The exoplanetary magnetosphere extension in Sun-like stars based on the solar wind -- solar UV relation
• Turbulence Properties of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections in the Inner Heliosphere: Dependence on Proton Beta and Flux Rope Structure
• Multidimensional Iterative Filtering: a new approach for investigating plasma turbulence in numerical simulations
• Estimation of turbulent proton and electron heating rates via Landau damping constrained by Parker Solar Probe observations
• Formation of solar quiescent coronal loops through magnetic reconnection in an emerging active region
• Phase-space entropy cascade and irreversibility of stochastic heating in nearly collisionless plasma turbulence
• Magnetic helicity signature and its role in regulating magnetic energy spectra and proton temperatures in the solar wind
• Dependence of Solar Wind Proton Temperature on the Polarisation Properties of Alfvénic Fluctuations at Ion-kinetic Scales
• The polytropic behavior of Solar Wind protons as observed by Ulysses spacecraft during Solar minimum
• Observational evidence for solar wind proton heating by ion-scale turbulence
• Dynamic Phase Alignment in Inertial Alfven Turbulence
• A Helioscope for Gravitationally Bound Millicharged Particles
• Three-dimensional simulations of the inhomogeneous Low Solar Wind
• Intermittency and Ion Temperature-Anisotropy Instabilities: Simulation and Magnetosheath Observation
• Conditions for proton temperature anisotropy to drive instabilities in the solar wind
• Mixing the solar wind proton and electron scales. Theory and 2D-PIC simulations of firehose instability
• Interplay of Turbulence and Proton-Microinstability Growth in Space Plasmas
• A Measurement of the Effective Mean-Free-Path of Solar Wind Protons
• Fully Kinetic Simulations of Proton-Beam-Driven Instabilities from Parker Solar Probe Observations
• Dependence of kinetic plasma waves on ion-to-electron mass ratio and light-to-Alfvén speed ratio
• Deriving the bulk properties of solar wind electrons observed by Solar Orbiter: A preliminary study of electron plasma thermodynamics
• Propagation of untwisting solar jets from the low-beta corona into the super-Alfvénic wind: Testing a solar origin scenario for switchbacks
• Tearing instability in Alfvén and kinetic-Alfvén turbulence
• Coherence of ion cyclotron resonance for damping ion cyclotron waves in space plasmas
• Ion-Driven Instabilities in the Inner Heliosphere II: Classification and Multi-Dimensional Mapping
• Magnetic Field Reconstruction for a Realistic Multi-Point, Multi-Scale Spacecraft Observatory
• Observation of Inertial-range Energy Cascade within a Reconnection Jet in Earth's Magnetotail
• Sub-ion scale Compressive Turbulence in the Solar wind: MMS spacecraft potential observations
• Collisionless conduction in a high-beta plasma: a collision operator for whistler turbulence
• Estimating uncertainties in the back-mapping of the fast solar wind
• The Kinetic Expansion of Solar-Wind Electrons: Transport Theory and Predictions for the very Inner Heliosphere
• Electron Heat Flux in the Solar Wind: Generalized Approaches to Fluid Transport with a Variety of Skewed Velocity Distributions
• Deriving Large Coronal Magnetic Loop Parameters Using LOFAR J burst Observations
• On the transition from Slow to Fast Wind as Observed in Composition Observations
• Modeling hot, anisotropic ion beams in the solar wind motivated by the Parker Solar Probe observations near perihelia
• A Two-dimensional Numerical Study of Ion-Acoustic Turbulence
• Effects of a Velocity Shear on Double Current Sheet Systems: Explosive Reconnection and Particle Acceleration
• Towards a realistic evaluation of transport coefficients in non-equilibrium space plasmas
• Electron-Scale Current Sheets and Energy Dissipation in 3D Kinetic-Scale Plasma Turbulence with Low Electron Beta
• On the collisional damping of plasma velocity space instabilities
• Electron inertia effects in 3D hybrid-kinetic collisionless plasma turbulence
• Growth of Outward Propagating Fast-Magnetosonic/Whistler Waves in the Inner Heliosphere Observed by Parker Solar Probe
• Design and Optimization of a High-Time-Resolution Magnetic Plasma Analyzer (MPA)
• Turbulent Energy Conversion Associated with Kinetic Microinstabilities in Earth's Magnetosheath
• On the scaling and anisotropy of two subranges in the inertial range of solar wind turbulence
• Data-Driven Uncertainty Quantification of the Wave-Telescope Technique: General Equations and Application to HelioSwarm
• Monitoring the daily variation of Sun-Earth magnetic fields using galactic cosmic rays
• Temperature anisotropy instabilities of solar wind electrons with regularized Kappa-halos resolved with ALPS
• Solar Alfvenic Pulses and Mesoscale Solar Wind
• Prospects for a local detection of dark matter with future missions to Uranus and Neptune
• The solar-wind angular-momentum flux observed during Solar Orbiter's first orbit
• Exploring the potential of neural networks to predict statistics of solar wind turbulence
• Intermittency in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections Observed by Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter
• Space weather: the solar perspective -- an update to Schwenn (2006)
• Does Turbulence along the Coronal Current Sheet Drive Ion Cyclotron Waves?
• Temperature anisotropy instabilities driven by intermittent velocity shears in the solar wind
• AHKASH: a new Hybrid particle-in-cell code for simulations of astrophysical collisionless plasma
• On the relative importance of AGN winds for the evolution of exoplanet atmospheres
• Residual Energy and Broken Symmetry in Reduced Magnetohydrodynamics
• Impact of solar wind turbulence on a planetary bow shock
• Quasi-parallel anti-sunward propagating whistler waves associated to the electron-deficit in the near-Sun solar wind: Particle-in-Cell simulation
• Evaluation of scale-dependent kurtosis with HelioSwarm
• Wind--Pellet Shear Sailing
• Dynamic Soaring as a Means to Exceed the Solar Wind Speed
• Evidence of Nonlinear Signatures in Solar Wind Proton Density at the L1 Lagrange point
• HelioSwarm: A Multipoint, Multiscale Mission to Characterize Turbulence
• The role of the thermal properties of electrons on the dispersion properties of Alfvén waves in space plasmas
• Role of ion acoustic instability in magnetic reconnection
• Sudden depletion of Alfvénic turbulence in the rarefaction region of corotating solar wind high speed streams at 1 AU: possible solar origin?
• Direct power spectral density estimation from structure functions without Fourier transforms
• Transport of electrons in tangled magnetic fields
• Inertial-Range Suppression and Ponderomotive Density Cavitation in Broadband Sub-Alfvénic Turbulence under Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer Conditions
• Exploring Complexity Measures for Analysis of Solar Wind Structures and Streams
• The Heliospheric Ambipolar Potential Inferred from Sunward-Propagating Halo Electrons
• Current sheets, plasmoids and flux ropes in the heliosphere. Part II: Theoretical aspects
• Anisotropic electron heating in turbulence-driven magnetic reconnection in the near-Sun solar wind
• Drop of solar wind at the end of the 20th century
• Ion-Scale Solitary Structures in the Solar Wind Observed by Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe