Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind
The electrons are an essential particle species in the solar wind. They often exhibit non-equilibrium features in their velocity distribution function. These include temperature anisotropies, tails (kurtosis), and reflectional asymmetries (skewness), which contribute a significant heat flux to the s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.951628/full |
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| author | Daniel Verscharen B. D. G. Chandran B. D. G. Chandran E. Boella E. Boella J. Halekas M. E. Innocenti V. K. Jagarlamudi V. K. Jagarlamudi A. Micera V. Pierrard V. Pierrard Š. Štverák Š. Štverák I. Y. Vasko I. Y. Vasko M. Velli P. L. Whittlesey |
| author_facet | Daniel Verscharen B. D. G. Chandran B. D. G. Chandran E. Boella E. Boella J. Halekas M. E. Innocenti V. K. Jagarlamudi V. K. Jagarlamudi A. Micera V. Pierrard V. Pierrard Š. Štverák Š. Štverák I. Y. Vasko I. Y. Vasko M. Velli P. L. Whittlesey |
| author_sort | Daniel Verscharen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The electrons are an essential particle species in the solar wind. They often exhibit non-equilibrium features in their velocity distribution function. These include temperature anisotropies, tails (kurtosis), and reflectional asymmetries (skewness), which contribute a significant heat flux to the solar wind. If these non-equilibrium features are sufficiently strong, they drive kinetic micro-instabilities. We develop a semi-graphical framework based on the equations of quasi-linear theory to describe electron-driven instabilities in the solar wind. We apply our framework to resonant instabilities driven by temperature anisotropies. These include the electron whistler anisotropy instability and the propagating electron firehose instability. We then describe resonant instabilities driven by reflectional asymmetries in the electron distribution function. These include the electron/ion-acoustic, kinetic Alfvén heat-flux, Langmuir, electron-beam, electron/ion-cyclotron, electron/electron-acoustic, whistler heat-flux, oblique fast-magnetosonic/whistler, lower-hybrid fan, and electron-deficit whistler instability. We briefly comment on non-resonant instabilities driven by electron temperature anisotropies such as the mirror-mode and the non-propagating firehose instability. We conclude our review with a list of open research topics in the field of electron-driven instabilities in the solar wind. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:29:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-67e5f15b2d1f4515923a19390328ae73 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-987X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:29:00Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-67e5f15b2d1f4515923a19390328ae732022-12-22T02:33:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2022-08-01910.3389/fspas.2022.951628951628Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar WindDaniel Verscharen0B. D. G. Chandran1B. D. G. Chandran2E. Boella3E. Boella4J. Halekas5M. E. Innocenti6V. K. Jagarlamudi7V. K. Jagarlamudi8A. Micera9V. Pierrard10V. Pierrard11Š. Štverák12Š. Štverák13I. Y. Vasko14I. Y. Vasko15M. Velli16P. L. Whittlesey17Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, United KingdomSpace Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United StatesDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United StatesPhysics Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United KingdomCockroft Institute, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, United KingdomDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa, IA, United StatesInstitut für Theoretische Physik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, GermanyApplied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, United StatesNational Institute for Astrophysics—Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Rome, Italy0Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium0Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium1Center for Space Radiations (CSR) and Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research (TECLIM), Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium2Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic3Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic4Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States5Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia6Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States4Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United StatesThe electrons are an essential particle species in the solar wind. They often exhibit non-equilibrium features in their velocity distribution function. These include temperature anisotropies, tails (kurtosis), and reflectional asymmetries (skewness), which contribute a significant heat flux to the solar wind. If these non-equilibrium features are sufficiently strong, they drive kinetic micro-instabilities. We develop a semi-graphical framework based on the equations of quasi-linear theory to describe electron-driven instabilities in the solar wind. We apply our framework to resonant instabilities driven by temperature anisotropies. These include the electron whistler anisotropy instability and the propagating electron firehose instability. We then describe resonant instabilities driven by reflectional asymmetries in the electron distribution function. These include the electron/ion-acoustic, kinetic Alfvén heat-flux, Langmuir, electron-beam, electron/ion-cyclotron, electron/electron-acoustic, whistler heat-flux, oblique fast-magnetosonic/whistler, lower-hybrid fan, and electron-deficit whistler instability. We briefly comment on non-resonant instabilities driven by electron temperature anisotropies such as the mirror-mode and the non-propagating firehose instability. We conclude our review with a list of open research topics in the field of electron-driven instabilities in the solar wind.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.951628/fullsolar windplasmainstabilitieselectronstemperature anisotropyheat flux |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Verscharen B. D. G. Chandran B. D. G. Chandran E. Boella E. Boella J. Halekas M. E. Innocenti V. K. Jagarlamudi V. K. Jagarlamudi A. Micera V. Pierrard V. Pierrard Š. Štverák Š. Štverák I. Y. Vasko I. Y. Vasko M. Velli P. L. Whittlesey Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences solar wind plasma instabilities electrons temperature anisotropy heat flux |
| title | Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind |
| title_full | Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind |
| title_fullStr | Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind |
| title_short | Electron-Driven Instabilities in the Solar Wind |
| title_sort | electron driven instabilities in the solar wind |
| topic | solar wind plasma instabilities electrons temperature anisotropy heat flux |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.951628/full |
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