Alfvenic Turbulence in the Extended Solar Corona: Kinetic Effects and Proton Heating

Abstract

We present a model of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the extended solar corona that contains the effects of collisionless dissipation and anisotropic particle heating. Measurements made by UVCS/SOHO have revived interest in the idea that ions are energized by the dissipation of ion cyclotron resonant waves, but such high-frequency (i.e., small wavelength) fluctuations have not been observed. A turbulent cascade is one possible way of generating small-scale fluctuations from a pre-existing population of low-frequency MHD waves. We model this cascade as a combination of advection and diffusion in wavenumber space. The dominant spectral transfer occurs in the direction perpendicular to the background magnetic field. As expected from earlier models, this leads to a highly anisotropic fluctuation spectrum with a rapidly decaying tail in parallel wavenumber. The wave power that decays to high enough frequencies to become ion cyclotron resonant depends on the relative strengths of advection and diffusion in the cascade. For the most realistic values of these parameters, though, there is insufficient power to heat protons and heavy ions. The dominant oblique fluctuations (with dispersion properties of kinetic Alfven waves) undergo Landau damping, which implies strong parallel electron heating. We discuss the probable nonlinear evolution of the electron velocity distributions into parallel beams and discrete phase-space holes (similar to those seen in the terrestrial magnetosphere) which can possibly heat protons via stochastic interactions.