Magnetic fluctuation power near proton temperature anisotropy instability thresholds in the solar wind

TL;DR

This study analyzes magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind, revealing their enhancement near proton temperature anisotropy instability thresholds and showing their dependence on plasma conditions like collisionality.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis linking magnetic fluctuation power to proton temperature anisotropy thresholds and collisionality in the solar wind.

Findings

Magnetic fluctuations are enhanced along instability thresholds.

Magnetic compressibility increases at high plasma beta near mirror instability.

Fluctuation power decreases with increased collisionality.

Abstract

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 ($\beta_\parallel \gtrsim 1$) 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.