Kinetic evolution and acceleration of the solar wind

Sunny W.Y. Tam, Tom Chang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the effects of kinetic wave-particle interactions on the solar wind using a global hybrid model. The model follows the evolution of the particle distributions along an inhomogeneous field line under the influence of wave-particle interactions, an ambipolar electric field that is consistent with the particle distributions themselves, and Coulomb collisions. This represents the 'first results' of global evolutionary study of the solar wind that take into account these kinetic effects. The model can account for the bulk acceleration of the solar wind, the preferential heating of the helium ions over the protons, as well as the occasionally observed double-peaked proton velocity distributions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3189-3192
Number of pages4
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume26
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999 Oct 15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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