Estimation of turbulent heating of solar wind protons at 1AU

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to estimate turbulent heating of solar wind protons at 1AU using plasma and magnetic field data, revealing relationships with solar wind speed and CMEs.

Contribution

The paper develops a new approach to quantify turbulent heating in the solar wind based on plasma moments and magnetic field measurements.

Findings

Turbulent magnetic energy and correlation length vary with solar wind speed.

Turbulent heating rates are influenced by interplanetary CMEs.

The method links plasma properties to turbulent energy transfer processes.

Abstract

The paper presents a new method for deriving turbulent heating of the solar wind using plasma moments and magnetic field data. We develop the method and then apply it to compute the turbulent heating of the solar wind proton plasma at 1AU. The method employs two physical properties of the expanding solar wind plasma, the wave-particle thermodynamic equilibrium, and the transport of entropic rate. We analyze plasma moments and field datasets taken from Wind S/C, in order to compute (i) the fluctuating magnetic energy, (ii) the corresponding correlation length, and (iii) the turbulent heating rate. We identify their relationships with the solar wind speed, as well as the variation of these relationships relative to solar wind and interplanetary coronal mass ejection plasma.