Perpendicular ion heating in turbulence and reconnection: magnetic moment breaking by coherent fluctuations

Abstract

We study the interaction of an ion with a fluctuation in the electromagnetic fields that is localized in both space and time. We study the scale-dependence of the interaction in both space and time, deriving a generic form for the ion's energy change, which involves an exponential cutoff based on the characteristic timescale of the electromagnetic fluctuation. This leads to diffusion in energy in both $v_{\perp }$ and $v_{\parallel }$. We show how to apply our results to general plasma physics phenomena, and specifically to Alfvénic turbulence and to reconnection. Our theory can be viewed as a unification of previous models of stochastic ion heating, cyclotron heating, and reconnection heating in a single theoretical framework.

arXiv comment30 pages, 4 figures, replaced with version published in JPP

References in corpus (50)

• Astrophysical gyrokinetics: kinetic and fluid turbulent cascades in magnetized weakly collisional plasmas
• Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains
• Spectrum of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
• Fast Reconnection in High-Lundquist-Number Plasmas Due to Secondary Tearing Instabilities
• Simulations of Incompressible MHD Turbulence
• Perpendicular Ion Heating by Low-Frequency Alfven-Wave Turbulence in the Solar Wind
• The Evolution and Role of Solar Wind Turbulence in the Inner Heliosphere
• Key Aspects of Coronal Heating
• Recent progress in astrophysical plasma turbulence from solar wind observations
• Particle Heating by Alfvenic Turbulence in Hot Accretion Flows
• Empirical Constraints on Proton and Electron Heating in the Fast Solar Wind
• Anisotropy of Solar Wind Turbulence between Ion and Electron Scales
• Spectrum of Kinetic Alfven Turbulence
• A prescription for the turbulent heating of astrophysical plasmas
• Alfven Wave Reflection and Turbulent Heating in the Solar Wind from 1 Solar Radius to 1 AU: an Analytical Treatment
• Turbulent Magnetohydrodynamic Reconnection Mediated by the Plasmoid Instability
• The role of electron heating physics in images and variability of the Galactic Centre black hole Sagittarius A*
• Magnetic reconnection as a driver for a sub-ion scale cascade in plasma turbulence
• Anisotropy of Alfvénic Turbulence in the Solar Wind and Numerical Simulations
• Role of magnetic reconnection in MHD turbulence
• Reduced fluid-kinetic equations for low-frequency dynamics, magnetic reconnection and electron heating in low-beta plasmas
• Disruption of sheetlike structures in Alfvénic turbulence by magnetic reconnection
• Collisionless Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic and Kinetic Turbulence
• Using Synthetic Spacecraft Data to Interpret Compressible Fluctuations in Solar Wind Turbulence
• Alfven Wave Turbulence and Perpendicular Ion Temperatures in Coronal Holes
• Disruption of Alfvénic turbulence by magnetic reconnection in a collisionless plasma
• Hybrid-Kinetic Simulations of Ion Heating in Alfvénic Turbulence
• Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence mediated by reconnection
• A statistical model of three-dimensional anisotropy and intermittency in strong Alfvénic turbulence
• Fully Kinetic Simulation of 3D Kinetic Alfven Turbulence
• Reconnection-Driven Energy Cascade in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• Plasmoid Instability in Forming Current Sheets
• Refined critical balance in strong Alfvenic turbulence
• Violation of the zeroth law of turbulence in space plasmas
• A zone of preferential ion heating extends tens of solar radii from Sun
• Magnetic Reconnection May Control the Ion-Scale Spectral Break of Solar Wind Turbulence
• Inner-Heliosphere Signatures of Ion-Scale Dissipation and Nonlinear Interaction
• Measures of Three-Dimensional Anisotropy and Intermittency in Strong Alfvénic Turbulence
• On stochastic heating and its phase-space signatures in low-$\beta$ kinetic turbulence
• Constraints on ion vs. electron heating by plasma turbulence at low beta
• Strong Preferential Ion Heating is Limited to within the Solar Alfven Surface
• Distribution of Magnetic Discontinuities in the Solar Wind and in MHD Turbulence
• Perpendicular Ion Heating by Reduced Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• Scalings of intermittent structures in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
• Interplay between intermittency and dissipation in collisionless plasma turbulence
• Statistical analysis of intermittency and its association with proton heating in the near Sun environment
• Intermittency of Energy Dissipation in Alfvenic Turbulence
• Evidence for the helicity barrier from measurements of the turbulence transition range in the solar wind
• A Unified Phenomenology of Ion Heating in Low-$\beta$ Plasmas: Test-Particle Simulations
• The effects of finite electron inertia on helicity-barrier-mediated turbulence