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Title: Modeling proton and electron heating in the fast solar wind
Context. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) measures solar wind protons and electrons near the Sun. To study the thermodynamic properties of electrons and protons, we include electron effects, such as distributed turbulent heating between protons and electrons, Coulomb collisions between protons and electrons, and heat conduction of electrons. Aims. We develop a general theoretical model of nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (NI MHD) turbulence coupled with a solar wind model that includes electron pressure and heat flux. Methods. It is important to note that 60% of the turbulence energy is assigned to proton heating and 40% to electron heating. We use an empirical expression for the electron heat flux. We derived a nonlinear dissipation term for the residual energy that includes both the Alfvén effect and the turbulent small-scale dynamo effect. Similarly, we obtained the NI/slab time-scale in an NI MHD phenomenology to use in the derivation of the nonlinear term that incorporates the Alfvén effect. Results. A detailed comparison between the theoretical model solutions and the fast solar wind measured by PSP and Helios 2 shows that they are consistent. The results show that the nearly incompressible NI/slab turbulence component describes observations of the fast solar wind periods when the solar wind flow is aligned or antialigned with the magnetic field.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1655280
PAR ID:
10300902
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Volume:
650
ISSN:
0004-6361
Page Range / eLocation ID:
A16
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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