The multi-scale nature of the solar wind

The solar wind is a magnetized plasma and as such exhibits collective plasma behavior associated with its characteristic spatial and temporal scales. The characteristic length scales include the size of the heliosphere, the collisional mean free paths of all species, their inertial lengths, their gyration radii, and their Debye lengths. The characteristic timescales include the expansion time, the collision times, and the periods associated with gyration, waves, and oscillations. We review the past and present research into the multi-scale nature of the solar wind based on in-situ spacecraft measurements and plasma theory. We emphasize that couplings of processes across scales are important for the global dynamics and thermodynamics of the solar wind. We describe methods to measure in-situ properties of particles and fields. We then discuss the role of expansion effects, non-equilibrium distribution functions, collisions, waves, turbulence, and kinetic microinstabilities for the multi-scale plasma evolution.

A New Inner Heliosphere Proton Parameter Dataset from the Helios Mission

In the near future, Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter will provide the first comprehensive in-situ measurements of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere since the Helios mission in the 1970s. We describe a reprocessing of the original Helios ion distribution functions to provide reliable and reproducible data to characterise the proton core population of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. A systematic fitting of bi-Maxwellian distribution functions was performed to the raw Helios ion distribution function data to extract the proton core number density, velocity, and temperatures parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. We present radial trends of these derived proton parameters, forming a benchmark to which new measurements in the inner heliosphere will be compared. The new dataset has been made openly available for other researchers to use, along with the source code used to generate it.

Scalable Visualization of Time-varying Multi-parameter Distributions Using Spatially Organized Histograms

Visualizing distributions from data samples as well as spatial and temporal trends of multiple variables is fundamental to analyzing the output of today's scientific simulations. However, traditional visualization techniques are often subject to a trade-off between visual clutter and loss of detail, especially in a large-scale setting. In this work, we extend the use of spatially organized histograms into a sophisticated visualization system that can more effectively study trends between multiple variables throughout a spatial domain. Furthermore, we exploit the use of isosurfaces to visualize time-varying trends found within histogram distributions. This technique is adapted into both an on-the-fly scheme as well as an in situ scheme to maintain real-time interactivity at a variety of data scales.

Pressure anisotropy and small spatial scales induced by velocity shear

By including the full pressure tensor dynamics in a fluid plasma model, we show that a sheared velocity field can provide an effective mechanism that makes the initial isotropic pressure nongyrotropic. This is distinct from the usual gyrotropic anisotropy related to the fluid compressibility and usually accounted for in double-adiabatic models. We determine the time evolution of the pressure agyrotropy and discuss how the propagation of "magnetoelastic perturbations" can affect the pressure tensor anisotropization and its spatial filamentation, which are due to the action of both the magnetic field and the flow strain tensor. We support this analysis with a numerical integration of the nonlinear equations describing the pressure tensor evolution.

A dynamical model of plasma turbulence in the solar wind

A dynamical approach, rather than the usual statistical approach, is taken to explore the physical mechanisms underlying the nonlinear transfer of energy, the damping of the turbulent fluctuations, and the development of coherent structures in kinetic plasma turbulence. It is argued that the linear and nonlinear dynamics of Alfvén waves are responsible, at a very fundamental level, for some of the key qualitative features of plasma turbulence that distinguish it from hydrodynamic turbulence, including the anisotropic cascade of energy and the development of current sheets at small scales. The first dynamical model of kinetic turbulence in the weakly collisional solar wind plasma that combines self-consistently the physics of Alfvén waves with the development of small-scale current sheets is presented and its physical implications are discussed. This model leads to a simplified perspective on the nature of turbulence in a weakly collisional plasma: the nonlinear interactions responsible for the turbulent cascade of energy and the formation of current sheets are essentially fluid in nature, while the collisionless damping of the turbulent fluctuations and the energy injection by kinetic instabilities are essentially kinetic in nature.

Solar-wind proton anisotropy versus beta relation

The present Letter puts forth a possible explanation for the outstanding problem of measured proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind at 1 AU apparently being regulated by the mirror and oblique fire-hose instabilities. Making use of the fact that the local magnetic field intensity near 1 AU undergoes intermediate-scale temporal variations, the present Letter carries out the quasilinear analysis of the temperature anisotropy-driven instabilities with a time-varying local B field, assuming arbitrary initial temperature ratios and parallel betas. It is found that the saturated states in (β(∥), T(⊥)/T(∥)) space are bounded by the mirror and oblique fire-hose instabilities, which is superficially similar to the observation.

Local kinetic effects in two-dimensional plasma turbulence

Using direct numerical simulations of a hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell model, kinetic processes are investigated in a two-dimensional turbulent plasma. In the turbulent regime, kinetic effects manifest through a deformation of the ion distribution function. These patterns of non-Maxwellian features are concentrated in space nearby regions of strong magnetic activity: the distribution function is modulated by the magnetic topology, and can elongate along or across the local magnetic field. These results open a new path on the study of kinetic processes such as heating, particle acceleration, and temperature anisotropy, commonly observed in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.

Cross-scale effects in solar-wind turbulence

The understanding of the small-scale termination of the turbulent energy cascade in collisionless plasmas is nowadays one of the outstanding problems in space physics. In the absence of collisional viscosity, the dynamics at small scales is presumably kinetic in nature; the identification of the physical mechanism which replaces energy dissipation and establishes the link between macroscopic and microscopic scales would open a new scenario in the study of turbulent heating in space plasmas. We present a numerical analysis of kinetic effects along the turbulent energy cascade in solar-wind plasmas which provides an effective unified interpretation of a wide set of spacecraft observations and shows that, simultaneously with an increase in the ion perpendicular temperature, strong bursts of electrostatic activity in the form of ion-acoustic turbulence are produced together with accelerated beams in the ion distribution function.