Two-dimensional hybrid models of H+-He++ expanding solar wind plasma heating

Abstract

Preferential heating and acceleration of the solar wind He++ ions compared to protons in fast solar wind streams have been known for decades, thanks to in situ spacecraft measurements at 0.29-5 AU. Turbulent magnetic field fluctuations with approximate power law spectra have been observed as well. However, the exact causes of these processes are still not known due to the lack of detailed information on the magnetic field fluctuations and ion velocity distributions in the acceleration region of the solar wind. Here the collisionless heating processes in expanding solar wind plasma are investigated using 2-D hybrid modeling with parameters appropriate to the heliocentric distance of 10 RS. In this study the ion dynamics is described kinetically, while electrons are treated as a background massless fluid in an expanding solar wind model. The source of free energy for the heating is introduced through an initial nonequilibrium state of the plasma with large He++ ion temperature anisotropy or with super-Alfvénic relative ion drift. We also employ an externally imposed spectrum of magnetic fluctuations in the frequency range below the proton gyroresonant frequency to heat the He++ ions. We investigate the effects of solar wind radial expansion by modeling several values of the expansion rate in a parametric study. We find that the preferential ion heating is attained in both nonexpanding and expanding solar wind models. Thus, the expansion has little effect on the preferential He++ ion heating by the processes considered here. Moreover, the expansion leads to faster evolution of the magnetosonic drift instability, reducing the drift velocity to lower values sooner, and the corresponding generation of the magnetic fluctuations that heat the ions, compared to the nonexpanding case. This is due to the reduction of the perpendicular particle velocities in the expanding (inflated) frame. For cases with little proton perpendicular heating, the solar wind expansion leads to the reduction of the proton temperature anisotropy to values less than one in the low-βp∥ solar wind acceleration region consistent with some observed values. However, this effect must be offset by perpendicular proton heating - likely by the same process that heats the He++ ions to be consistent with the full range of observed proton perpendicular temperature values. ©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.