A Kinetic Model of Acceleration and Heating of Coronal Hole Minor Ions
- Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, and Department of Physics, Space Science Center, Morse Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 (United States)
The specific microphysical mechanism which generates the fast solar wind in collisionless coronal holes is still not known. Observations show that the wind results from strong ion heating perpendicular to the magnetic field which starts at the very bottom of the corona. A major clue toward identifying the responsible mechanism is that it preferentially heats the heavy ions relative to the protons. Since this preferential heating occurs at heights where ion collisions are no longer effective, a kinetic treatment is necessary to understand and test any candidate mechanisms. We describe the current state of a kinetic model we are constructing which will test the preferential heating due to the resonant cyclotron interaction with parallel-propagating ion cyclotron waves.
- OSTI ID:
- 21152412
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1039, Issue 1; Conference: 7. annual international astrophysics conference, Kauai, HI (United States), 7-13 Mar 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2982454; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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