arXiv subjects

Stuart D. Bale

Publications and source records attributed to Stuart D. Bale.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Statistical Study of Whistler Waves in the Solar Wind at 1 AU

Whistler waves are intermittently present in the solar wind, while their origin and effects are not entirely understood. We present a statistical analysis of magnetic field fluctuations in the whistler frequency range (above 16 Hz) based on about 801,500 magnetic field spectra measured over three years aboard ARTEMIS spacecraft in the pristine solar wind. About 13,700 spectra (30 hours in total) with intense magnetic field fluctuations satisfy the interpretation in terms of quasi-parallel whistler waves. We provide estimates of the whistler wave occurrence probability, amplitudes, frequencies and bandwidths. The occurrence probability of whistler waves is shown to strongly depend on the electron temperature anisotropy. The whistler waves amplitudes are in the range from about 0.01 to 0.1 nT and typically below 0.02 of the background magnetic field. The frequencies of the whistler waves are shown to be below an upper bound that is dependent on $β_{e}$. The correlations established between the whistler wave properties and local macroscopic plasma parameters suggest that the observed whistler waves can be generated in local plasmas by the whistler heat flux instability. The whistler wave amplitudes are typically small, which questions the hypothesis that quasi-parallel whistler waves are capable to regulate the electron heat flux in the solar wind. We show that the observed whistler waves have sufficiently wide bandwidths and small amplitudes, so that effects of the whistler waves on electrons can be addressed in the frame of the quasi-linear theory.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2019

Whistler wave generation by halo electrons in the solar wind

We present an analysis of simultaneous particle and field measurements from the ARTEMIS spacecraft which demonstrate that quasi-parallel whistler waves in the solar wind can be generated locally by a bulk flow of halo electrons (whistler heat flux instability). ARTEMIS observes quasi-parallel whistler waves in the frequency range $\sim 0.05 - 0.2 f_{ce}$ simultaneously with electron velocity distribution functions that are a combination of counter-streaming core and halo populations. A linear stability analysis shows that the plasma is stable when there are no whistler waves, and unstable in the presence of whistler waves. In the latter case, the stability analysis shows that the whistler wave growth time is from a few to ten seconds at frequencies and wavenumbers that match the observations. The observations clearly demonstrate that the temperature anisotropy of halo electrons crucially affects the heat flux instability onset: a slight anisotropy $T_{\parallel}/T_{\perp}>1$ may quench the instability, while a slight anisotropy $T_{\parallel} / T_{\perp}<1$ may significantly increase the growth rate. These results demonstrate that heat flux inhibition is strongly dependent on the microscopic plasma properties.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2019

Electron energy partition across interplanetary shocks: I. Methodology and Data Product

Analysis of 15314 electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs) within $\pm$2 hours of 52 interplanetary (IP) shocks observed by the \emph{Wind} spacecraft near 1 AU are introduced. The electron VDFs are fit to the sum of three model functions for the cold dense core, hot tenuous halo, and field-aligned beam/strahl component. The best results were found by modeling the core as either a bi-kappa or a symmetric (or asymmetric) bi-self-similar velocity distribution function, while both the halo and beam/strahl components were best fit to bi-kappa velocity distribution function. This is the first statistical study to show that the core electron distribution is better fit to a self-similar velocity distribution function than a bi-Maxwellian under all conditions. The self-similar distribution deviation from a Maxwellian is a measure of inelasticity in particle scattering from waves and/or turbulence. The range of values defined by the lower and upper quartiles for the kappa exponents are $κ{\scriptstyle_{ec}}$ $\sim$ 5.40--10.2 for the core, $κ{\scriptstyle_{eh}}$ $\sim$ 3.58--5.34 for the halo, and $κ{\scriptstyle_{eb}}$ $\sim$ 3.40--5.16 for the beam/strahl. The lower-to-upper quartile range of symmetric bi-self-similar core exponents are $s{\scriptstyle_{ec}}$ $\sim$ 2.00--2.04, and asymmetric bi-self-similar core exponents are $p{\scriptstyle_{ec}}$ $\sim$ 2.20--4.00 for the parallel exponent, and $q{\scriptstyle_{ec}}$ $\sim$ 2.00--2.46 for the perpendicular exponent. The nuanced details of the fit procedure and description of resulting data product are also presented. The statistics and detailed analysis of the results are presented in Paper II and Paper III of this three-part study.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2019

Interplay between intermittency and dissipation in collisionless plasma turbulence

We study the damping of collisionless Alfvénic turbulence by two mechanisms: stochastic heating (whose efficiency depends on the local turbulence amplitude $δz_λ$) and linear Landau damping (whose efficiency is independent of $δz_λ$), describing in detail how they affect and are affected by intermittency. The overall efficiency of linear Landau damping is not affected by intermittency in critically balanced turbulence, while stochastic heating is much more efficient in the presence of intermittent turbulence. Moreover, stochastic heating leads to a drop in the scale-dependent kurtosis over a narrow range of scales around the ion gyroscale.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Impact of Residual Energy on Solar Wind Turbulent Spectra

It is widely reported that the power spectra of magnetic field and velocity fluctuations in the solar wind have power law scalings with inertial-range spectral indices of -5/3 and -3/2 respectively. Studies of solar wind turbulence have repeatedly demonstrated the impact of discontinuities and coherent structures on the measured spectral index. Whether or not such discontinuities are self-generated by the turbulence or simply observations of advected structures from the inner heliosphere has been a matter of considerable debate. This work presents a statistical study of magnetic field and velocity spectral indices over 10 years of solar-wind observations; we find that anomalously steep magnetic spectra occur in magnetically dominated intervals with negative residual energy. However, this increase in negative residual energy has no noticeable impact on the spectral index of the velocity fluctuations, suggesting that these intervals with negative residual energy correspond to intermittent magnetic structures. We show statistically that the difference between magnetic and velocity spectral indices is a monotonic function of residual energy, consistent with previous work which suggests that intermittency in fluctuations causes spectral steepening. Additionally, a statistical analysis of cross helicity demonstrates that when the turbulence is balanced (low cross-helicity), the magnetic and velocity spectral indices are not equal, which suggests that our observations of negative residual energy and intermittent structures are related to non-linear turbulent interactions rather than the presence of advected pre-existing flux-tube structures.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2018

ALPS: The Arbitrary Linear Plasma Solver

The Arbitrary Linear Plasma Solver (ALPS) is a parallelised numerical code that solves the dispersion relation in a hot (even relativistic) magnetised plasma with an arbitrary number of particle species with arbitrary gyrotropic equilibrium distribution functions for any direction of wave propagation with respect to the background field. ALPS reads the background momentum distributions as tables of values on a $(p_{\perp},p_{\parallel})$ grid, where $p_{\perp}$ and $p_{\parallel }$ are the momentum coordinates in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the background magnetic field, respectively. We present the mathematical and numerical approach used by ALPS and introduce our algorithms for the handling of poles and the analytic continuation for the Landau contour integral. We then show test calculations of dispersion relations for a selection of stable and unstable configurations in Maxwellian, bi-Maxwellian, $κ$-distributed, and Jüttner-distributed plasmas. These tests demonstrate that ALPS derives reliable plasma dispersion relations. ALPS will make it possible to determine the properties of waves and instabilities in the non-equilibrium plasmas that are frequently found in space, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2018

The statistical properties of solar wind temperature parameters near 1 AU

We present a long-duration ($\sim$10 years) statistical analysis of the temperatures, plasma betas, and temperature ratios for the electron, proton, and alpha-particle populations observed by the \emph{Wind} spacecraft near 1 AU. The mean(median) scalar temperatures are $T{\scriptstyle_{e, tot}}$ $=$ 12.2(11.9) eV, $T{\scriptstyle_{p, tot}}$ $=$ 12.7(8.6) eV, and $T{\scriptstyle_{α, tot}}$ $=$ 23.9(10.8) eV. The mean(median) total plasma betas are $β{\scriptstyle_{e, tot}}$ $=$ 2.31(1.09), $β{\scriptstyle_{p, tot}}$ $=$ 1.79(1.05), and $β{\scriptstyle_{α, tot}}$ $=$ 0.17(0.05). The mean(median) temperature ratios are $\left(T{\scriptstyle_{e}}/T{\scriptstyle_{p}}\right){\scriptstyle_{tot}}$ $=$ 1.64(1.27), $\left(T{\scriptstyle_{e}}/T{\scriptstyle_α}\right){\scriptstyle_{tot}}$ $=$ 1.24(0.82), and $\left(T{\scriptstyle_α}/T{\scriptstyle_{p}}\right){\scriptstyle_{tot}}$ $=$ 2.50(1.94). We also examined these parameters during time intervals that exclude interplanetary (IP) shocks, times within the magnetic obstacles (MOs) of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), and times that exclude MOs. The only times that show significant alterations to any of the parameters examined are those during MOs. In fact, the only parameter that does not show a significant change during MOs is the electron temperature. Although each parameter shows a broad range of values, the vast majority are near the median. We also compute particle-particle collision rates and compare to effective wave-particle collision rates. We find that, for reasonable assumptions of wave amplitude and occurrence rates, the effect of wave-particle interactions on the plasma is equal to or greater than the effect of Coulomb collisions. Thus, wave-particle interactions should not be neglected when modeling the solar wind.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Density Fluctuations in the Solar Wind Driven by Alfvén Wave Parametric Decay

Measurements and simulations of inertial compressive turbulence in the solar wind are characterized by anti-correlated magnetic fluctuations parallel to the mean field and density structures. This signature has been interpreted as observational evidence for non-propagating pressure balanced structures (PBS), kinetic ion acoustic waves, as well as the MHD slow-mode. Given the high damping rates of parallel propagating compressive fluctuations, their ubiquity in satellite observations is surprising, and suggestive of a local driving process. One possible candidate for the generation of compressive fluctuations in the solar wind is Alfvén wave parametric instability. Here we test the parametric decay process as a source of compressive waves in the solar wind by comparing the collisionless damping rates of compressive fluctuations with the growth rates of the parametric decay instability daughter waves. Our results suggest that generation of compressive waves through parametric decay is overdamped at 1 AU, but that the presence of slow-mode like density fluctuations is correlated with the parametric decay of Alfvén waves.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2018

Observed instability constraints on electron heat flux in the solar wind

We present for the first time the joint distribution of electron heat flux and electron plasma beta, and the joint distribution of core electron drift velocity and electron plasma beta using a statistically large dataset of solar wind electrons at 1AU. We calculate the growth rates of linear instabilities and show compelling experimental evidence that the heat-flux-driven Alfv{é}n instabilities constrain the electron core drift, and therefore the electron heat flux, in low-beta plasmas. This result is relevant to understanding energy transport in low-beta solar/stellar coronae and winds.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2017

A zone of preferential ion heating extends tens of solar radii from Sun

The extreme temperatures and non-thermal nature of the solar corona and solar wind arise from an unidentified physical mechanism that preferentially heats certain ion species relative to others. Spectroscopic indicators of unequal temperatures commence within a fraction of a solar radius above the surface of the Sun, but the outer reach of this mechanism has yet to be determined. Here we present an empirical procedure for combining interplanetary solar wind measurements and a modeled energy equation including Coulomb relaxation to solve for the typical outer boundary of this zone of preferential heating. Applied to two decades of observations by the Wind spacecraft, our results are consistent with preferential heating being active in a zone extending from the transition region in the lower corona to an outer boundary 20-40 solar radii from the Sun, producing a steady state super-mass-proportional $α$-to-proton temperature ratio of $5.2-5.3$. Preferential ion heating continues far beyond the transition region and is important for the evolution of both the outer corona and the solar wind. The outer boundary of this zone is well below the orbits of spacecraft at 1 AU and even closer missions such as Helios and MESSENGER, meaning it is likely that no existing mission has directly observed intense preferential heating, just residual signatures. We predict that {Parker Solar Probe} will be the first spacecraft with a perihelia sufficiently close to the Sun to pass through the outer boundary, enter the zone of preferential heating, and directly observe the physical mechanism in action.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Proton Heating in Solar Wind Compressible Turbulence with Collisions between Counter-propagating Waves

Magnetohydronamic turbulence is believed to play a crucial role in heating the laboratorial, space, and astrophysical plasmas. However, the precise connection between the turbulent fluctuations and the particle kinetics has not yet been established. Here we present clear evidence of plasma turbulence heating based on diagnosed wave features and proton velocity distributions from solar wind measurements by the Wind spacecraft. For the first time, we can report the simultaneous observation of counter-propagating magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind turbulence. Different from the traditional paradigm with counter-propagating Alfvén waves, anti-sunward Alfvén waves (AWs) are encountered by sunward slow magnetosonic waves (SMWs) in this new type of solar wind compressible turbulence. The counter-propagating AWs and SWs correspond respectively to the dominant and sub-dominant populations of the imbalanced Elsässer variables. Nonlinear interactions between the AWs and SMWs are inferred from the non-orthogonality between the possible oscillation direction of one wave and the possible propagation direction of the other. The associated protons are revealed to exhibit bi-directional asymmetric beams in their velocity distributions: sunward beams appearing in short and narrow patterns and anti-sunward broad extended tails. It is suggested that multiple types of wave-particle interactions, i.e., cyclotron and Landau resonances with AWs and SMWs at kinetic scales, are taking place to jointly heat the protons perpendicularly and parallel.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Effects of electron drift on the collisionless damping of kinetic Alfvén waves in the solar wind

The collisionless dissipation of anisotropic Alfvénic turbulence is a promising candidate to solve the solar wind heating problem. Extensive studies examined the kinetic properties of Alfvén waves in simple Maxwellian or bi-Maxwellian plasmas. However, the observed electron velocity distribution functions in the solar wind are more complex. In this study, we analyze the properties of kinetic Alfvén waves in a plasma with two drifting electron populations. We numerically solve the linearized Maxwell-Vlasov equations and find that the damping rate and the proton-electron energy partition for kinetic Alfvén waves are significantly modified in such plasmas, compared to plasmas without electron drifts. We suggest that electron drift is an important factor to take into account when considering the dissipation of Alfvénic turbulence in the solar wind or other $β\sim 1$ astrophysical plasmas.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

Observations of an extreme storm in interplanetary space caused by successive coronal mass ejections

Space weather refers to dynamic conditions on the Sun and in the space environment of the Earth, which are often driven by solar eruptions and their subsequent interplanetary disturbances. It has been unclear how an extreme space weather storm forms and how severe it can be. Here we report and investigate an extreme event with multi-point remote-sensing and in-situ observations. The formation of the extreme storm showed striking novel features. We suggest that the in-transit interaction between two closely launched coronal mass ejections resulted in the extreme enhancement of the ejecta magnetic field observed near 1 AU at STEREO A. The fast transit to STEREO A (in only 18.6 hours), or the unusually weak deceleration of the event, was caused by the preconditioning of the upstream solar wind by an earlier solar eruption. These results provide a new view crucial to solar physics and space weather as to how an extreme space weather event can arise from a combination of solar eruptions.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2013

Collisional Thermalization of Hydrogen and Helium in Solar Wind Plasma

In situ observations of the solar wind frequently show the temperature of $α$-particles (fully ionized helium), $T_α$, to significantly differ from that of protons (ionized hydrogen), $T_p$. Many heating processes in the plasma act preferentially on $α$-particles, even as collisions among ions act to gradually establish thermal equilibrium. Measurements from the $\textit{Wind}$ spacecraft's Faraday cups reveal that, at $r=1.0\ \textrm{AU}$ from the Sun, the observed values of the $α$-proton temperature ratio, $θ_{αp} \equiv T_α\,/\,T_p$ has a complex, bimodal distribution. This study applied a simple model for the radial evolution of $θ_{αp}$ to these data to compute expected values of $θ_{αp}$ at $r=0.1\ \textrm{AU}$. These inferred $θ_{αp}$-values have no trace of the bimodality seen in the $θ_{αp}$-values measured at $r=1.0\ \textrm{AU}$ but are instead consistent with the actions of the known mechanisms for $α$-particle preferential heating. This result underscores the importance of collisional processes in the dynamics of the solar wind and suggests that similar mechanisms may lead to preferential $α$-particle heating in both slow and fast wind.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2013

Solar Wind Turbulence and the Role of Ion Instabilities

Solar wind is probably the best laboratory to study turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. In addition to the presence of magnetic field, the differences with neutral fluid isotropic turbulence are: weakness of collisional dissipation and presence of several characteristic space and time scales. In this paper we discuss observational properties of solar wind turbulence in a large range from the MHD to the electron scales. At MHD scales, within the inertial range, turbulence cascade of magnetic fluctuations develops mostly in the plane perpendicular to the mean field. Solar wind turbulence is compressible in nature. The spectrum of velocity fluctuations do not follow magnetic field one. Probability distribution functions of different plasma parameters are not Gaussian, indicating presence of intermittency. At the moment there is no global model taking into account all these observed properties of the inertial range. At ion scales, turbulent spectra have a break, compressibility increases and the density fluctuation spectrum has a local flattening. Around ion scales, magnetic spectra are variable and ion instabilities occur as a function of the local plasma parameters. Between ion and electron scales, a small scale turbulent cascade seems to be established. Approaching electron scales, the fluctuations are no more self-similar: an exponential cut-off is usually observed indicating an onset of dissipation. The nature of the small scale cascade and a possible dissipation mechanism are still under debate.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

On Sun-to-Earth Propagation of Coronal Mass Ejections

We investigate how coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propagate through, and interact with, the inner heliosphere between the Sun and Earth, a key question in CME research and space weather forecasting. CME Sun-to-Earth kinematics are constrained by combining wide-angle heliospheric imaging observations, interplanetary radio type II bursts and in situ measurements from multiple vantage points. We select three events for this study, the 2012 January 19, 23, and March 7 CMEs. Different from previous event studies, this work attempts to create a general picture for CME Sun-to-Earth propagation and compare different techniques for determining CME interplanetary kinematics. Key results are obtained concerning CME Sun-to-Earth propagation. Our comparison between different techniques (and data sets) also has important implications for CME observations and their interpretations. Future CME observations and space weather forecasting are discussed based on these results. See detail in the PDF.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Determination of Electromagnetic Source Direction as an Eigenvalue Problem

Low-frequency solar and interplanetary radio bursts are generated at frequencies below the ionospheric plasma cutoff and must therefore be measured in space, with deployable antenna systems. The problem of measuring both the general direction and polarization of an electromagnetic source is commonly solved by iterative fitting methods such as linear regression that deal simultaneously with both directional and polarization parameters. We have developed a scheme that separates the problem of deriving the source direction from that of determining the polarization, avoiding iteration in a multi-dimensional manifold. The crux of the method is to first determine the source direction independently of concerns as to its polarization. Once the source direction is known, its direct characterization in terms of Stokes vectors in a single iteration if desired, is relatively simple. This study applies the source-direction determination to radio signatures of flares received by STEREO. We studied two previously analyzed radio type III bursts and found that the results of the eigenvalue decomposition technique are consistent with those obtained previously by Reiner et al. (Solar Phys. 259, 255, 2009). For the type III burst observed on 7 December 2007, the difference in travel times from the derived source location to STEREO A and B is the same as the difference in the onset times of the burst profiles measured by the two spacecraft. This is consistent with emission originating from a single, relatively compact source. For the second event of 29 January 2008, the relative timing does not agree, suggesting emission from two sources separated by 0.1 AU, or perhaps from an elongated region encompassing the apparent source locations.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

STEREO measurements of electron acceleration beyond fast Fermi at the bow shock

Solar wind electrons are accelerated and reflected upstream by the terrestrial bow shock into a region known as the electron foreshock. Previously observed electron spectra at low energies are consistent with a fast Fermi mechanism, based on the adiabatic conservation of the magnetic moment (μ) of the accelerated electrons. At higher energies, suprathermal power law tails are observed beyond the level predicted by fast Fermi. The SWEA and STE electron detectors on STEREO enable measurements of foreshock electrons with good energy resolution and sensitivity over the entire foreshock beam. We investigate the electron acceleration mechanism by comparing observed STEREO electron spectra with predictions based on a Liouville mapping of upstream electrons through a shock encounter. The foreshock electron beam extends up to several tens of keV, energies for which the Larmor radii of electrons is tens of km or greater. These radii are comparable to the scale sizes of the shock, and μ conservation no longer applies. We show that the observed enhancement in the foreshock beam beyond fast Fermi levels begins at energies where this assumption breaks down. We also demonstrate, using the Liouville mapping technique, that the strahl plays an important role in the formation of the bump on tail instability. We discuss this in the context of recent observations in the foreshock and in solar wind magnetic holes.

physics.space-ph↗