Cosmic Ray Nonlinear Processes in Space Plasma: Applications to the Dynamic Heliosphere

Influence of cosmic ray pressure and kinetic stream instability on space plasma dynamics and magnetic structure are considered. It is shown that in the outer Heliosphere are important dynamics effects of galactic cosmic ray pressure on solar wind and interplanetary shock wave propagation as well as on the formation of terminal shock wave of the Heliosphere and subsonic region between Heliosphere and interstellar medium. Kinetic stream instability effects are important on distances more than 40–60 AU from the Sun: formation of great anisotropy of galactic cosmic rays in about spiral interplanetary magnetic field leads to the Alfven turbulence generation by non isotropic cosmic ray fluxes. Generated Alfven turbulence influences on cosmic ray propagation, increases the cosmic ray modulation, decreases the cosmic ray anisotropy and increases the cosmic ray pressure gradient in the outer Heliosphere (the later is also important for terminal shock wave formation). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

磁云传播的动力学演化过程研究进展

磁云因其独特的磁场结构经常是重大灾害性空间天气的驱动源.近来从磁云的边界层结构、环向通量、大尺度结构等方面关于磁云传播的动力学演化过程的研究取得了一些进展.在磁云边界存在一个由于磁场重联而形成的边界层结构.在磁云传播过程中,这种发生在边界处的磁场重联可能会把磁云的磁场剥蚀掉,进而引起其磁通量绳结构环向通量的减少以及不对称.在磁云内部,经常会观测到多个子通量绳结构.这些特性各异的子通量绳可以通过磁场重联而合并,进而引起磁云磁结构的改变.关于磁云大尺度磁场拓扑位形的演化机制,除了较早提出的交换重联外,目前的研究表明在行星际空间中,磁云边界处的重联过程也可以将磁云闭合或半开放的磁场线打开或断开.尽管在相关研究中已经取得了较大进展,但关于磁云传播的动力学演化过程还有许多问题尚不清楚.在行星际小尺度磁通量绳边界也发现了边界层结构,那么磁云是否会因剥蚀而成为小尺度通量绳?磁云内子通量绳结构在相互作用中会不会引起某些不稳定性而导致整个通量绳系统的崩溃?这些问题的解决还有待于进一步的理论、观测和数值模拟研究.     

The coupling resonance of torsional alfven wave and fast wave in coronal loops

The method of Orthogonal Function Series Expansion (OFSE) is generalized and applied to the study of the evolution of the coupling of nondissipative torsional Alfven wave and fast wave in coronal loops. Using this method, the intrinsic angular frequency of the overall wave mode can be described mathematically and that of the Alfven waves along the magnetic lines in the coronal loop during the coupling of the Alfven and fast waves can be analyzed both theoretically and numerically. Also with this method, the relation between the coupling driven term and the Alfven wave resonance may be analyzed. Results of computation reveal the place of appearance of coupling resonance as well as the characteristics of the amplitudes of the Alfven and fast waves. As found by the calculations, if the footpoint driven angular frequency is not equal to the intrinsic angular frequency of the overall wave mode of the coronal loop and when a δ section appears at the place of coupled resonance, the radial gradient of the fast wave's amplitude is quite large. Sometimes it approximates to a discontinuity, and this is extremely favorable for the dissipation of the fast wave. If the footpoint driven angular frequency is equal to the intrinsic angular frequency of the overall wave mode and when a δ section occurs in the Alfven wave amplitude, abundant small-scale structures appear in the radial direction. Then the location of resonance approximately becomes a discontinuity, very favorable to the dissipation of the Alfven wave.     

Kinetic Alfven waves in plasma sheet boundary layer—particle aspect analysis

The particle aspect approach is adopted to investigate the trajectories of charged particles in the electromagnetic field of kinetic Alfven wave. Expressions are found for the dispersion relation, damping rate and associated currents in homogenous plasma. Kinetic effects of electrons and ions are included to study kinetic Alfven wave because both are important in the transition region. It is found that the ratio β of electron thermal energy density to magnetic field energy density and the ratio of ion to electron thermal temperature (T_i/T_e) affect the dispersion relation, damping-rate and associated currents in both cases (warm and cold electron limits). The treatment of kinetic Alfven wave instability is based on the assumption that the plasma consists of resonant and non-resonant particles. The resonant particles participate in an energy exchange process, whereas the non-resonant particles support the oscillatory motion of the wave.     

脉冲型耀斑中阿尔芬波湍流加速3He和重离子机制探讨

基于在^3He丰富事件中，高能^3He和重离子具有相似的幂律谱分布这一观测结果，通过数值求解Fokker-Planck方程，探讨经阿尔芬波湍动速后的离子分布随时间的演化特征。计算结果表明：加速源区的等离子体密度和阿尔芬波湍动能量密度对粒子能谱分布起主要作用，如果取加速源区等离子体密度n=(0.1-1)10^10cm^-3、磁场强度B=50-100Gs、湍动能量密度为0.4-2ergs cm^-3，则在1秒左右的时间内，湍动阿尔芬波能够将^3He和重离子加速到10MeV/nucleon量级，能谱指数为2.0-3.5。理论计算与观测结果基本一致。     

Effect of small-scale bernstein turbulence on low-frequency plasma waves in the preflare solar chromosphere

The studied region is a part of the current circuit of a magnetic loop in a solar active region in the altitude range of 1400–2500 km above the photosphere. At the earliest stage of development of a flare process, the magnetic field of the loop was assumed to be stationary and uniform in the interval corresponding to weak fields (the so-called deca-hectogauss fields). The conditions for emergence and development of instability of the second harmonic of Bernstein modes in this previously unexamined region were determined. This instability (and low-frequency instabilities emerging later) was assumed to be caused by the sub-Dreicer electric field of the loop, while pair Coulomb collisions were considered to be the major factor hindering its development. The obtained extremely low instability thresholds point to the possibility of subsequent emergence of low-frequency instabilities (and plasma waves corresponding to them) with much higher threshold values against the background of saturated Bernstein turbulence. The frequency of electron scattering by turbulence pulsations in this scenario normally exceeds the frequency of pair Coulomb (primarily ion–electron) collisions. Both the quasistatic sub-Dreicer field in the loop and the weak spatial inhomogeneity of plasma temperature and density were taken into account in the process of derivation and analysis of the dispersion relation for low-frequency waves. It was demonstrated that the solutions of the obtained dispersion relation in the cases of prevalent pair Coulomb collisions and dominant electron momentum losses at pulsations of saturated Bernstein turbulence are morphologically similar and differ only in the boundary values of perturbation parameters. In both cases, these solutions correspond to the two wave families, namely, kinetic Alfven waves and kinetic ion acoustic waves. These waves have their own electric fields and may play the important role in the process of preflare acceleration of energetic electrons.     

Small-scale Langmuir wave instability in preflare chromosphere of solar active region

Necessary conditions have been investigated for the appearance of instability of high-frequency electron Langmuir waves in plasma of solar chromosphere near the foot-point of loop structure. We have considered the earliest stage of a flare process in solar active region. At the chromospheric part of current circuit of a flare loop such instability can appear and develop as the result of combined action of large-scale electric field, Landau damping and collisional processes in preflare plasma. We have investigated the process of instability development for two possible scenarios: (a) when preflare loop plasma has a classical Coulomb conductivity and (b) when anomalous resistance appears due to saturation of Bernstein turbulence. The growth rates of instability have been obtained and analyzed in detail. It has been assumed in the process of calculation that preflare plasma can be described by the FAL model of the solar atmosphere, which takes into account the process of helium diffusion. It has been shown that Langmuir wave instability can appear in its marginal form in the area under investigation either in the presence of Coulomb conductivity or in the presence of saturated Bernstein turbulence. Existence of instability with the growth rate, which changes its sign, proves the principal possibility of generation of nondamping Langmuir waves with small amplitudes.     

The effect of non-uniform ionospheric conductivity on standing magnetospheric Alfven waves

We look at time-dependent normal mode solutions to the Alfven wave equation in a uniform magnetic field, between planar ionospheres. In particular, the effect of sharp gradients in ionospheric conductivity on the spatial and temporal structure of the waves is considered. We show that the electric field of the wave must always be perpendicular to any conductivity discontinuities present, and that this is achieved by the generation of circularly polarized Alfven waves at the discontinuity. The results are applied to an ionospheric strip of high conductivity; this being relevant to Pi2s.     

Kinetic Alfvén wave driven by the density inhomogeneity in the presence of loss-cone distribution function—particle aspect analysis

Kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) driven by the diamagnetic drift instability that is excited by the density inhomogeneity in low-β plasmas, such as plasmas in the auroral region, are investigated by adopting the particle aspect analysis and loss-cone distribution function. The results obtained in this paper indicate that the propagation and evolution of kinetic Alfven waves decrease and the kinetic Alfven wave excitation becomes not easier with increasing loss-cone index J. But the spatial scales of the perpendicular perturbation driving kinetic Alfven waves have a decreasing tendency with the larger values of J, which perhaps is in relation with the decreasing width of loss-cone. A single hump appears in the plots of the growth rate of the instability when J=2. But the hump cannot emerge when J=0 or J=1. The density inhomogeneity of ions plays an important role in driving KAWs and it cannot be ignored. KAWs can be easier driven and KAWs can propagate and evolve faster with the increasing level of density inhomogeneity. However, the range of the perpendicular wave number of the wave instability decreases, namely, the longer the scale of perpendicular disturbance the easier the excitation of KAW. As the density inhomogeneity increases, the tendency of numerical solutions of the dispersion relation is similar to that obtained by the kinetic theory and Maxwellian distribution function (Duan and Li, 2004). But the profiles of the plots of numerical solutions are different. This means that the velocity distribution function of particles is important for KAW driven in magnetoplasmas, especially in the active regions of the magnetosphere, such as auroral region, and plasma sheet boundary.     

On the possibility of the development of longitudinal wave instabilities on the background of the small-scale Bernstein turbulence in preflare chromosphere of a solar active region

The process of origination and development of instabilities of the longitudinal waves of two types, namely, low-frequency ion-acoustic and high-frequency (“electronic”) Langmuir waves, in the preflare atmosphere of an active solar region are studied. The area under study is located at the chromospheric part of the flare loop near its footpoint. A weak large-scale electric field of flaring loop is the main source of these instabilities. The velocity of an electronic flow in the preflare plasma is supposed to be much lower than thermal electron velocity. Instability development is considered against the background of small-scale Bernstein wave turbulence, which exists in the preflare plasma and has an extremely low threshold of excitation. The necessary conditions for the instability origination and development, as well as the boundary values of the main plasma and wave perturbation parameters, are calculated.     

无碰撞阿尔文波加热在决定太阳过渡区模型中的作用

本文根据波与介质相互作用的一套全MHD方程组,计算了无碰撞阿尔文波波能密度W和波能耗散项E_m,在太阳过渡区和内冕大气中随高度的分布。 计算结果表明:对于温度、密度偏低的大气,在过渡区底部几十甚至几百公里范围内,无碰撞阿尔文波的耗散引起的对大气的加热可超过热传导的贡献。从而说明这种阿尔文波的加热似乎是引起温度、密度偏低的大气(例如冕洞大气)在过渡区中温度陡升的重要原因。     

Large-scale zonal flow and magnetic field generation due to drift-Alfven turbulence in ionosphere plasma

In the present work, the generation of large-scale zonal flows and magnetic field by short-scale collision-less electron skin depth order drift-Alfven turbulence in the ionosphere is investigated. The self-consistent system of two model nonlinear equations, describing the dynamics of wave structures with characteristic scales till to the skin value, is obtained. Evolution equations for the shear flows and the magnetic field is obtained by means of the averaging of model equations for the fast-high-frequency and small-scale fluctuations. It is shown that the large-scale disturbances of plasma motion and magnetic field are spontaneously generated by small-scale drift-Alfven wave turbulence through the nonlinear action of the stresses of Reynolds and Maxwell. Positive feedback in the system is achieved via modulation of the skin size drift-Alfven waves by the large-scale zonal flow and/or by the excited large-scale magnetic field. As a result, the propagation of small-scale wave packets in the ionospheric medium is accompanied by low-frequency, long-wave disturbances generated by parametric instability. Two regimes of this instability, resonance kinetic and hydrodynamic ones, are studied. The increments of the corresponding instabilities are also found. The conditions for the instability development and possibility of the generation of large-scale structures are determined. The nonlinear increment of this interaction substantially depends on the wave vector of Alfven pumping and on the characteristic scale of the generated zonal structures. This means that the instability pumps the energy of primarily small-scale Alfven waves into that of the large-scale zonal structures which is typical for an inverse turbulent cascade. The increment of energy pumping into the large-scale region noticeably depends also on the width of the pumping wave spectrum and with an increase of the width of the initial wave spectrum the instability can be suppressed. It is assumed that the investigated mechanism can refer directly to the generation of mean flow in the atmosphere of the rotating planets and the magnetized plasma.     

Stochastic forces in space plasmas with ion-acoustic and lower-hybrid-drift turbulence

A Langevin equation for charged particles in a plasma with electrostatic turbulence is developed from first principles and in consistency with the kinetic theory in polarization approximation. For the case of ion-acoustic and electrostatic lower-hybrid-drift turbulence approximate expressions for the space-time spectral density of the wave energy are given and estimates of the intensities of the stochastic wave forces are made. The application is done for the plasmas of the earth's magnetosphere, the solar wind and solar flares. It seems, that ion-acoustic and electrostatic lower-hybrid-drift waves can contribute to electron chaotization in different regions of the space plasma.     

Ion and relativistic electron acceleration by Alfven and whistler turbulence in solar flares

We show that protons can be accelerated to several GeV in 10 s by Alfven turbulence whose energy density is greater than a few erg/cm³. We also show that electrons can be accelerated to tens of MeV on similar time scales by whistler and Alfven turbulence.     

The electron-ion streaming instabilities driven by drift velocities of the order of electron thermal velocity in a nonmagnetized plasma

The kinetic Alfven waves are investigated using Maxwell-Boltzmann-Vlasov equation to evaluate the kinetic dispersion relation and growth/damping rate with magnetic field gradient, density gradient, temperature gradient and velocity gradient with inhomogeneous plasma. The effect of gradient terms is included in the analysis for both the regions k _⊥ ρ _i <1 and k _⊥ ρ _i >1, where k _⊥ is the perpendicular wave number and ρ _i is the ion gyroradius. This study elucidates a possible scenario to account for the particle acceleration and the wave dissipation in inhomogeneous plasmas. This model is able to explain many features observed in plasma sheet boundary layer as well as to evaluate the dispersion relation, growth rate, growth length and damping rate of kinetic Alfven wave. The applicability of this model is assumed for auroral acceleration region, plasma sheet boundary layer and cusp region.     

射电喷流中相对论电子束激发的不稳定性

本文作者用相对论电子束在等离子体中运动时的色散关系讨论了纵向传播的波模的稳定性，发现静电Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ波和Ａｌｆｖｅｎ波是不稳定的，并计算了其增长率，而高频电磁模和硝声模是稳定的。相对论电子束激发的Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ波和Ａｌｆｖｅｎ波的不稳定性可用于解释射电喷流中相间的热斑、粒子再加速、辐射机制以及能量传输问题。     

Kinetic Alfven wave in the presence of general loss-cone distribution function in inhomogeneous magnetoplasma—particle aspect analysis

Particle aspect analysis is extended for kinetic Alfven waves in an inhomogeneous magnetoplasma in the presence of a general loss-cone distribution function. The effect of finite Larmor radius is incorporated in the finite temperature anisotropic plasma. Expressions for the field-aligned current, perpendicular current (to B), dispersion relation, particle energy and growth rate are derived and effects of steepness of loss-cone distribution and plasma density inhomogeneity are discussed. The treatment of the kinetic Alfven wave instability is based on the assumption that the plasma consists of resonant and non-resonant particles. It is assumed that resonant particles support the oscillatory nature of the wave. The excitation of the wave is treated by the wave particle energy exchange method. The applicability of the investigation is discussed for auroral acceleration phenomena. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Effect of general loss-cone distribution function on electrostatic ion-cyclotron instability in an inhomogeneous plasma: particle aspect analysis

The electrostatic ion-cyclotron instability (EICI) in low β (ratio of plasma to magnetic pressure), anisotropic, inhomogeneous plasma is studied by investigating the trajectories of the particles using the general loss-cone distribution function (Dory-Guest-Harris type) for the plasma ions. In particular, the role of the loss-cone feature as determined by the loss-cone indices, in driving the drift-cyclotron loss-cone (DCLC) instability is analysed. It is found that for both long and short wavelength DCLC mode the loss-cone indices and the perpendicular thermal velocity affect the dispersion equation and the growth rate of the wave by virtue of their occurrence in the temperature anisotropy. The dispersion relation for the DCLC mode derived here using the particle aspect analysis approach and the general loss-cone distribution function considers the ion diamagnetic drift and also includes the effects of the parallel propagation and the ion temperature anisotropy. It is also found that the diamagnetic drift velocity due to the density gradient of the plasma ions in the presence of the general loss-cone distribution acts as a source of free energy for the wave and leads to the generation of the DCLC instability with enhanced growth rate. The particle aspect analysis approach used to study the EICI in inhomogeneous plasma gives a fairly good explanation for the particle energisation, wave emission by the wave–particle interaction and the results obtained using this particle aspect analysis approach are in agreement with the previous theoretical findings using the kinetic approach.     

Effects of density, temperature and velocity gradients on inertial Alfven wave in cusp region

The kinetic approach is used to evaluate the dispersion relation and growth/damping rate of inertial Alfven wave (IAW) with density, temperature and velocity gradients in an inhomogeneous plasma. The effects of gradient terms are studied for both the regions k_⊥ρ_i<1 and k_⊥ρ_i>1, where k_⊥ is the perpendicular wave number and ρ_i is the ion gyroradius. The relevance of theoretical results so obtained is predicted in accordance to the FAST observations in the cusp region. The results are interpreted for the space plasma parameters appropriate to the cusp region. This study elucidates a possible scenario to account for the particle acceleration and the wave dissipation in inhomogeneous plasmas. This model is also able to explain many features observed in plasma sheet boundary layer as well as to evaluate the dispersion relation, growth/damping rate and growth/damping length of inertial Alfven wave. It is found that density, temperature and velocity gradients control the wave frequency and effectively enhance the growth rate of inertial Alfven wave.     

Low-frequency plasma turbulence during solar wind-comet interaction

The pick up cometary ion distributions are shown to excite Alfvénic mode instabilities, slow ion-acoustic mode instability and a lower hybrid instability during solar wind-comet interaction. The growth rates of all these instabilities become larger as the comet is approached. The lower hybrid instability is shown to account for the low-frequency 0–300 Hz electrostatic turbulence observed near comet Halley. The Alfvén modes can grow to large amplitudes and become modulationally unstable, in the presence of low-frequency density fluctuations, going over to envelope Alfvén solitons. A model consisting of a gas of Alfvén solitons is suggested to explain the hydromagnetic turbulence observed near comet Halley and comet Giacobini-Zinner.