A Measurement of the Effective Mean-Free-Path of Solar Wind Protons

TL;DR

This paper models effective collisional mechanisms in the solar wind to measure the proton mean-free-path, revealing it is much shorter than the collisional estimate and supporting fluid-like behavior at large scales.

Contribution

It introduces a kinetic model for effective collisions in the solar wind, enabling the first measurement of the proton mean-free-path in situ.

Findings

Effective mean-free-path is approximately 4.35 x 10^5 km.

Measured mean-free-path is about 1000 times shorter than the collisional value.

Results support fluid-like behavior of the solar wind at scales above the proton gyroradius.

Abstract

Weakly collisional plasmas are subject to nonlinear relaxation processes, which can operate at rates much faster than the particle collision frequencies. This causes the plasma to respond like a magnetised fluid despite having long particle mean-free-paths. In this Letter the effective collisional mechanisms are modelled in the plasma kinetic equation to produce density, pressure and magnetic field responses to compare with spacecraft measurements of the solar wind compressive fluctuations at 1 AU. This enables a measurement of the effective mean-free-path of the solar wind protons, found to be 4.35 $\times 10^5$ km, which is $\sim 10^3$ times shorter than the collisional mean-free-path. These measurements are shown to support the effective fluid behavior of the solar wind at scales above the proton gyroradius and demonstrate that effective collision processes alter the thermodynamics and transport of weakly collisional plasmas.