Association of intermittency with electron heating in the near-Sun solar wind

TL;DR

This study uses Parker Solar Probe data to investigate how intermittent structures in the near-Sun solar wind are associated with electron heating, revealing that electrons are preferentially heated near strong discontinuities, similar to protons.

Contribution

It demonstrates that electron heating in the near-Sun solar wind is linked to turbulent dissipation at intermittent structures, extending previous proton-focused findings.

Findings

Electron temperature increases near strong discontinuities.

Electron heating is weaker but similar to proton heating.

Supports inhomogeneous electron heating in young solar wind.

Abstract

Several studies in the near-Earth environment show that intermittent structures are important sites of energy dissipation and particle energization. Recent Parker Solar Probe (PSP) data, sampled in the near-Sun environment, have shown that proton heating is concentrated near coherent structures, suggesting local heating of protons by turbulent cascade in this region. However, whether electrons exhibit similar behavior in the near-Sun environment is not clear. Here, we address this question using PSP data collected near the Sun during the first seven orbits. We use the partial variance of increments (PVI) technique to identify coherent structures. We find that electron temperature is preferentially enhanced near strong discontinuities, although the association is somewhat weaker than that with protons. Our results provide strong support for inhomogeneous heating of electrons in the "young" solar wind, associated with dissipation of turbulent fluctuations near intermittent structures.