7,409 research outputs found
Nature of stochastic ion heating in the solar wind: testing the dependence on plasma beta and turbulence amplitude
The solar wind undergoes significant heating as it propagates away from the
Sun; the exact mechanisms responsible for this heating are not yet fully
understood. We present for the first time a statistical test for one of the
proposed mechanisms, stochastic ion heating. We use the amplitude of magnetic
field fluctuations near the proton gyroscale as a proxy for the ratio of
gyroscale velocity fluctuations to perpendicular (with respect to the magnetic
field) proton thermal speed, defined as . Enhanced proton
temperatures are observed when is larger than a critical value
(). This enhancement strongly depends on the proton plasma
beta (); when only the perpendicular proton
temperature increases, while for increased
parallel and perpendicular proton temperatures are both observed. For
smaller than the critical value and no
enhancement of is observed while for minor increases
in are measured. The observed change of proton temperatures
across a critical threshold for velocity fluctuations is in agreement with the
stochastic ion heating model of Chandran et al. (2010). We find that
in 76\% of the studied periods implying that
stochastic heating may operate most of the time in the solar wind at 1 AU.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Transcription and the Pitch Angle of DNA
The question of the value of the pitch angle of DNA is visited from the
perspective of a geometrical analysis of transcription. It is suggested that
for transcription to be possible, the pitch angle of B-DNA must be smaller than
the angle of zero-twist. At the zero-twist angle the double helix is maximally
rotated and its strain-twist coupling vanishes. A numerical estimate of the
pitch angle for B-DNA based on differential geometry is compared with numbers
obtained from existing empirical data. The crystallographic studies shows that
the pitch angle is approximately 38 deg., less than the corresponding
zero-twist angle of 41.8 deg., which is consistent with the suggested principle
for transcription.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; v2: minor modifications; v3: major modifications
compared to v2. Added discussion about transcription, and reference
Magnetic Reconnection May Control the Ion-Scale Spectral Break of Solar Wind Turbulence
The power spectral density of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind
exhibits several power-law-like frequency ranges with a well defined break
between approximately 0.1 and 1 Hz in the spacecraft frame. The exact
dependence of this break scale on solar wind parameters has been extensively
studied but is not yet fully understood. Recent studies have suggested that
reconnection may induce a break in the spectrum at a "disruption scale"
, which may be larger than the fundamental ion kinetic scales,
producing an unusually steep spectrum just below the break. We present a
statistical investigation of the dependence of the break scale on the proton
gyroradius , ion inertial length , ion sound radius ,
proton-cyclotron resonance scale and disruption scale as a
function of . We find that the steepest spectral indices of
the dissipation range occur when is in the range of 0.1-1 and the
break scale is only slightly larger than the ion sound scale (a situation
occurring 41% of the time at 1 AU), in qualitative agreement with the
reconnection model. In this range the break scale shows remarkably good
correlation with . Our findings suggest that, at least at low
, reconnection may play an important role in the development of the
dissipation range turbulent cascade and causes unusually steep (steeper than
-3) spectral indices.Comment: Accepted in ApJ
Magnetic fluctuation power near proton temperature anisotropy instability thresholds in the solar wind
The proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind is known to be
constrained by the theoretical thresholds for pressure anisotropy-driven
instabilities. Here we use approximately 1 million independent measurements of
gyroscale magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind to show for the first time
that these fluctuations are enhanced along the temperature anisotropy
thresholds of the mirror, proton oblique firehose, and ion cyclotron
instabilities. In addition, the measured magnetic compressibility is enhanced
at high plasma beta () along the mirror instability
threshold but small elsewhere, consistent with expectations of the mirror mode.
The power in this frequency (the 'dissipation') range is often considered to be
driven by the solar wind turbulent cascade, an interpretation which should be
qualified in light of the present results. In particular, we show that the
short wavelength magnetic fluctuation power is a strong function of
collisionality, which relaxes the temperature anisotropy away from the
instability conditions and reduces correspondingly the fluctuation power.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Empirical Constraints on Proton and Electron Heating in the Fast Solar Wind
We analyze measured proton and electron temperatures in the high-speed solar
wind in order to calculate the separate rates of heat deposition for protons
and electrons. When comparing with other regions of the heliosphere, the fast
solar wind has the lowest density and the least frequent Coulomb collisions.
This makes the fast wind an optimal testing ground for studies of collisionless
kinetic processes associated with the dissipation of plasma turbulence. Data
from the Helios and Ulysses plasma instruments were collected to determine mean
radial trends in the temperatures and the electron heat conduction flux between
0.29 and 5.4 AU. The derived heating rates apply specifically for these mean
plasma properties and not for the full range of measured values around the
mean. We found that the protons receive about 60% of the total plasma heating
in the inner heliosphere, and that this fraction increases to approximately 80%
by the orbit of Jupiter. A major factor affecting the uncertainty in this
fraction is the uncertainty in the measured radial gradient of the electron
heat conduction flux. The empirically derived partitioning of heat between
protons and electrons is in rough agreement with theoretical predictions from a
model of linear Vlasov wave damping. For a modeled power spectrum consisting
only of Alfvenic fluctuations, the best agreement was found for a distribution
of wavenumber vectors that evolves toward isotropy as distance increases.Comment: 11 pages (emulateapj style), 5 figures, ApJ, in pres
Predictions for the First Parker Solar Probe Encounter
We examine Alfv\'en Wave Solar atmosphere Model (AWSoM) predictions of the
first Parker Solar Probe (PSP) encounter. We focus on the 12-day closest
approach centered on the 1st perihelion. AWSoM (van der Holst et al., 2014)
allows us to interpret the PSP data in the context of coronal heating via
Alfv\'en wave turbulence. The coronal heating and acceleration is addressed via
outward-propagating low-frequency Alfv\'en waves that are partially reflected
by Alfv\'en speed gradients. The nonlinear interaction of these
counter-propagating waves results in a turbulent energy cascade. To apportion
the wave dissipation to the electron and anisotropic proton temperatures, we
employ the results of the theories of linear wave damping and nonlinear
stochastic heating as described by Chandran et al. (2011). We find that during
the first encounter, PSP was in close proximity to the heliospheric current
sheet (HCS) and in the slow wind. PSP crossed the HCS two times, namely at
2018/11/03 UT 01:02 and 2018/11/08 UT 19:09 with perihelion occuring on the
south of side of the HCS. We predict the plasma state along the PSP trajectory,
which shows a dominant proton parallel temperature causing the plasma to be
firehose unstable.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal Letter
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