A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun
The extreme temperatures and nonthermal nature of the solar corona and solar wind arise from an unidentified physical mechanism that preferentially heats certain ion species relative to others. Spectroscopic indicators of unequal temperatures commence within a fraction of a solar radius above the su...
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ndltd-arizona.edu-oai-arizona.openrepository.com-10150-6261752017-12-06T03:00:35Z A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun Kasper, J. C. Klein, K. G. Weber, T. Maksimovic, M. Zaslavsky, A. Bale, S. D. Maruca, B. A. Stevens, M. L. Case, A. W. Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary Lab acceleration of particles magnetic fields plasmas solar wind Sun: corona turbulence The extreme temperatures and nonthermal nature of the solar corona and solar wind arise from an unidentified physical mechanism that preferentially heats certain ion species relative to others. Spectroscopic indicators of unequal temperatures commence within a fraction of a solar radius above the surface of the Sun, but the outer reach of this mechanism has yet to be determined. Here we present an empirical procedure for combining interplanetary solar wind measurements and a modeled energy equation including Coulomb relaxation to solve for the typical outer boundary of this zone of preferential heating. Applied to two decades of observations by the Wind spacecraft, our results are consistent with preferential heating being active in a zone extending from the transition region in the lower corona to an outer boundary 20-40 solar radii from the Sun, producing a steady-state super-massproportional a-to-proton temperature ratio of 5.2-5.3. Preferential ion heating continues far beyond the transition region and is important for the evolution of both the outer corona and the solar wind. The outer boundary of this zone is well below the orbits of spacecraft at 1 au and even closer missions such as Helios and MESSENGER, meaning it is likely that no existing mission has directly observed intense preferential heating, just residual signatures. We predict that the Parker Solar Probe will be the first spacecraft with a perihelion sufficiently close to the Sun to pass through the outer boundary, enter the zone of preferential heating, and directly observe the physical mechanism in action. 2017-11-07 Article A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun 2017, 849 (2):126 The Astrophysical Journal 1538-4357 10.3847/1538-4357/aa84b1 http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626175 http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/626175 The Astrophysical Journal en http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/849/i=2/a=126?key=crossref.a4fda357a12d19fd2ad1aa8a3897c78f © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. IOP PUBLISHING LTD |
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language |
en |
sources |
NDLTD |
topic |
acceleration of particles magnetic fields plasmas solar wind Sun: corona turbulence |
spellingShingle |
acceleration of particles magnetic fields plasmas solar wind Sun: corona turbulence Kasper, J. C. Klein, K. G. Weber, T. Maksimovic, M. Zaslavsky, A. Bale, S. D. Maruca, B. A. Stevens, M. L. Case, A. W. A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
description |
The extreme temperatures and nonthermal nature of the solar corona and solar wind arise from an unidentified physical mechanism that preferentially heats certain ion species relative to others. Spectroscopic indicators of unequal temperatures commence within a fraction of a solar radius above the surface of the Sun, but the outer reach of this mechanism has yet to be determined. Here we present an empirical procedure for combining interplanetary solar wind measurements and a modeled energy equation including Coulomb relaxation to solve for the typical outer boundary of this zone of preferential heating. Applied to two decades of observations by the Wind spacecraft, our results are consistent with preferential heating being active in a zone extending from the transition region in the lower corona to an outer boundary 20-40 solar radii from the Sun, producing a steady-state super-massproportional a-to-proton temperature ratio of 5.2-5.3. Preferential ion heating continues far beyond the transition region and is important for the evolution of both the outer corona and the solar wind. The outer boundary of this zone is well below the orbits of spacecraft at 1 au and even closer missions such as Helios and MESSENGER, meaning it is likely that no existing mission has directly observed intense preferential heating, just residual signatures. We predict that the Parker Solar Probe will be the first spacecraft with a perihelion sufficiently close to the Sun to pass through the outer boundary, enter the zone of preferential heating, and directly observe the physical mechanism in action. |
author2 |
Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary Lab |
author_facet |
Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary Lab Kasper, J. C. Klein, K. G. Weber, T. Maksimovic, M. Zaslavsky, A. Bale, S. D. Maruca, B. A. Stevens, M. L. Case, A. W. |
author |
Kasper, J. C. Klein, K. G. Weber, T. Maksimovic, M. Zaslavsky, A. Bale, S. D. Maruca, B. A. Stevens, M. L. Case, A. W. |
author_sort |
Kasper, J. C. |
title |
A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
title_short |
A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
title_full |
A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
title_fullStr |
A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Zone of Preferential Ion Heating Extends Tens of Solar Radii from the Sun |
title_sort |
zone of preferential ion heating extends tens of solar radii from the sun |
publisher |
IOP PUBLISHING LTD |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626175 http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/626175 |
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