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Solar Energetic Particles Produced by a Slow Coronal Mass Ejection at âŒ0.25 au
We present an analysis of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) ISâIS observations of ~30â300 keV nâ»Âč ions on 2018 November 11 when PSP was about 0.25 au from the Sun. Five hours before the onset of a solar energetic particle (SEP) event, a coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed by STEREO-A/COR2, which crossed PSP about a day later. No shock was observed locally at PSP, but the CME may have driven a weak shock earlier. The SEP event was dispersive, with higher energy ions arriving before the lower energy ones. Timing suggests the particles originated at the CME when it was at ~7.4R_â. SEP intensities increased gradually from their onset over a few hours, reaching a peak, and then decreased gradually before the CME arrived at PSP. The event was weak, having a very soft energy spectrum (â4 to â5 spectral index). The earliest arriving particles were anisotropic, moving outward from the Sun, but later, the distribution was observed to be more isotropic. We present numerical solutions of the Parker transport equation for the transport of 30â300 keV nâ»Âč ions assuming a source comoving with the CME. Our model agrees well with the observations. The SEP event is consistent with ion acceleration at a weak shock driven briefly by the CME close to the Sun, which later dissipated before arriving at PSP, followed by the transport of ions in the interplanetary magnetic field
Quantifying the Energy Budget in the Solar Wind from 13.3-100 Solar Radii
A variety of energy sources, ranging from dynamic processes like magnetic
reconnection and waves to quasi-steady terms like the plasma pressure, may
contribute to the acceleration of the solar wind. We utilize a combination of
charged particle and magnetic field observations from the Parker Solar Probe
(PSP) to attempt to quantify the steady-state contribution of the proton
pressure, the electric potential, and the wave energy to the solar wind proton
acceleration observed by PSP between 13.3 and ~100 solar radii (RS). The proton
pressure provides a natural kinematic driver of the outflow. The ambipolar
electric potential acts to couple the electron pressure to the protons,
providing another definite proton acceleration term. Fluctuations and waves,
while inherently dynamic, can act as an additional effective steady-state
pressure term. To analyze the contributions of these terms, we utilize radial
binning of single-point PSP measurements, as well as repeated crossings of the
same stream at different distances on individual PSP orbits (i.e. "fast radial
scans"). In agreement with previous work, we find that the electric potential
contains sufficient energy to fully explain the acceleration of the slower wind
streams. On the other hand, we find that the wave pressure plays an
increasingly important role in the faster wind streams. The combination of
these terms can explain the continuing acceleration of both slow and fast wind
streams beyond 13.3 RS
Parker Solar Probe observations of proton beams simultaneous with ion-scale waves
Parker Solar Probe (PSP), NASA's latest and closest mission to the Sun, is on
a journey to investigate fundamental enigmas of the inner heliosphere. This
paper reports initial observations made by the Solar Probe Analyzer for Ions
(SPAN-I), one of the instruments in the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons
(SWEAP) instrument suite. We address the presence of secondary proton beams in
concert with ion-scale waves observed by FIELDS, the electromagnetic fields
instrument suite. We show two events from PSP's 2nd orbit that demonstrate
signatures consistent with wave-particle interactions. We showcase 3D velocity
distribution functions (VDFs) measured by SPAN-I during times of strong wave
power at ion-scales. From an initial instability analysis, we infer that the
VDFs departed far enough away from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) to
provide sufficient free energy to locally generate waves. These events
exemplify the types of instabilities that may be present and, as such, may
guide future data analysis characterizing and distinguishing between different
wave-particle interactions.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
CME -Associated Energetic Ions at 0.23 AU -- Consideration of the Auroral Pressure Cooker Mechanism Operating in the Low Corona as a Possible Energization Process
We draw a comparison between a solar energetic particle event associated with
the release of a slow coronal mass ejection close to the sun, and the energetic
particle population produced in high current density field-aligned current
structures associated with auroral phenomena in planetary magnetospheres. We
suggest that this process is common in CME development and lift-off in the
corona, and may account for the electron populations that generate Type III
radio bursts, as well as for the prompt energetic ion and electron populations
typically observed in interplanetary space.Comment: Accepted for publication Ap
Electrons in the Young Solar Wind: First Results from the Parker Solar Probe
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons experiment on the Parker Solar
Probe (PSP) mission measures the three-dimensional electron velocity
distribution function. We derive the parameters of the core, halo, and strahl
populations utilizing a combination of fitting to model distributions and
numerical integration for electron distributions measured near
the Sun on the first two PSP orbits, which reached heliocentric distances as
small as AU. As expected, the electron core density and temperature
increase with decreasing heliocentric distance, while the ratio of electron
thermal pressure to magnetic pressure () decreases. These quantities
have radial scaling consistent with previous observations farther from the Sun,
with superposed variations associated with different solar wind streams. The
density in the strahl also increases; however, the density of the halo plateaus
and even decreases at perihelion, leading to a large strahl/halo ratio near the
Sun. As at greater heliocentric distances, the core has a sunward drift
relative to the proton frame, which balances the current carried by the strahl,
satisfying the zero-current condition necessary to maintain quasi-neutrality.
Many characteristics of the electron distributions near perihelion have trends
with solar wind flow speed, , and/or collisional age. Near the Sun,
some trends not clearly seen at 1 AU become apparent, including
anti-correlations between wind speed and both electron temperature and heat
flux. These trends help us understand the mechanisms that shape the solar wind
electron distributions at an early stage of their evolution
Observations of the 2019 April 4 Solar Energetic Particle Event at the Parker Solar Probe
A solar energetic particle event was detected by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISâIS) instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) on 2019 April 4 when the spacecraft was inside of 0.17 au and less than 1 day before its second perihelion, providing an opportunity to study solar particle acceleration and transport unprecedentedly close to the source. The event was very small, with peak 1 MeV proton intensities of ~0.3 particles (cmÂČ sr s MeV)â»Âč, and was undetectable above background levels at energies above 10 MeV or in particle detectors at 1 au. It was strongly anisotropic, with intensities flowing outward from the Sun up to 30 times greater than those flowing inward persisting throughout the event. Temporal association between particle increases and small brightness surges in the extreme-ultraviolet observed by the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, which were also accompanied by type III radio emission seen by the Electromagnetic Fields Investigation on PSP, indicates that the source of this event was an active region nearly 80° east of the nominal PSP magnetic footpoint. This suggests that the field lines expanded over a wide longitudinal range between the active region in the photosphere and the corona
Whistler wave occurrence and the interaction with strahl electrons during the first encounter of Parker Solar Probe
Aims. We studied the properties and occurrence of narrowband whistler waves and their interaction with strahl electrons observed between 0.17 and 0.26 au during the first encounter of Parker Solar Probe.
Methods. We used Digital Fields Board band-pass filtered (BPF) data from FIELDS to detect the signatures of whistler waves. Additionally parameters derived from the particle distribution functions measured by the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument suite were used to investigate the plasma properties, and FIELDS suite measurements were used to investigate the electromagnetic (EM) fields properties corresponding to the observed whistler signatures.
Results. We observe that the occurrence of whistler waves is low, nearly ~1.5% and less than 0.5% in the analyzed peak and average BPF data, respectively. Whistlers occur highly intermittently and 80% of the whistlers appear continuously for less than 3 s. The spacecraft frequencies of the analyzed waves are less than 0.2 electron cyclotron frequency (fce). The occurrence rate of whistler waves was found to be anticorrelated with the solar wind bulk velocity. The study of the duration of the whistler intervals revealed an anticorrelation between the duration and the solar wind velocity, as well as between the duration and the normalized amplitude of magnetic field variations. The pitch-angle widths (PAWs) of the field-aligned electron population referred to as the strahl are broader by at least 12 degrees during the presence of large amplitude narrowband whistler waves. This observation points toward an EM wave electron interaction, resulting in pitch-angle scattering. PAWs of strahl electrons corresponding to the short duration whistlers are higher compared to the long duration whistlers, indicating short duration whistlers scatter the strahl electrons better than the long duration ones. Parallel cuts through the strahl electron velocity distribution function (VDF) observed during the whistler intervals appear to depart from the Maxwellian shape typically found in the near-Sun strahl VDFs. The relative decrease in the parallel electron temperature and the increase in PAW for the electrons in the strahl energy range suggests that the interaction with whistler waves results in a transfer of electron momentum from the parallel to the perpendicular direction
Plasma Double Layers at the Boundary Between Venus and the Solar Wind
The solar wind is slowed, deflected, and heated as it encounters Venusâs induced magnetosphere. The importance of kinetic plasma processes to these interactions has not been examined in detail, due to a lack of constraining observations. In this study, kineticâscale electric field structures are identified in the Venusian magnetosheath, including plasma double layers. The double layers may be driven by currents or mixing of inhomogeneous plasmas near the edge of the magnetosheath. Estimated doubleâlayer spatial scales are consistent with those reported at Earth. Estimated potential drops are similar to electron temperature gradients across the bow shock. Many double layers are found in few high cadence data captures, suggesting that their amplitudes are high relative to other magnetosheath plasma waves. These are the first direct observations of plasma double layers beyond nearâEarth space, supporting the idea that kinetic plasma processes are active in many space plasma environments.Plain Language SummaryVenus has no internally generated magnetic field, yet electric currents running through its ionized upper atmosphere create magnetic fields that push back against the flow of the solar wind. These induced fields cause the solar wind to slow and heat as the flow is deflected around Venus. This work reports observations of very small plasma structures that accelerate particles, identifiable by their characteristic electric field signatures, at the boundary where the solar wind starts to be deflected. These small plasma structures observed at Venus have been studied in nearâEarth space for decades but have never before been found near another planet. These structures are known to be important to the physics of strong electrical currents in space plasmas and the blending of dissimilar plasmas. Their identification at Venus is a strong demonstration that these small plasma structures are a universal plasma phenomena, at work in many plasma environments.Key PointsPlasma double layers are detected near the Venusian bow shockMultiple double layers are identified in a small amount of burst dataKinetic processes may help mediate interaction between the solar wind and induced magnetospheresPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163462/2/grl61354.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163462/1/grl61354_am.pd
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