Self-Consistent Solar Wind Acceleration and Heating Due to Wave-Particle Interactions

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract: ATM 9908848 Proposal Title: Self-Consistent Solar Wind Acceleration and Heating Due to Wave-Particle Interactions Principal Investigator: Tom T Chang, MIT The investigators will construct the first self-consistent kinetic model of how ion and electron velocity distributions interact with plasma fluctuations in the solar wind. The main effort is to extend a successful research project on the "polar wind" emanating from the magnetosphere of the Earth to the solar wind. One of the main goals of the investigation is to provide a physical interpretation that relates observations of the solar corona to spacecraft measurements in the solar wind. Preliminary results indicate those wave particle interactions due to electromagnetic waves at ion cyclotron frequencies may provide the heating and acceleration of the solar wind in general, and the preferential acceleration of helium ions in particular.