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Finding the Source of Ion Beams in the Solar Wind Hanna Kristensen Advisors: Justin Kasper and Mike Stevens.

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Presentation on theme: "Finding the Source of Ion Beams in the Solar Wind Hanna Kristensen Advisors: Justin Kasper and Mike Stevens."— Presentation transcript:

1 Finding the Source of Ion Beams in the Solar Wind Hanna Kristensen Advisors: Justin Kasper and Mike Stevens

2 Solar Wind Plasma frozen into magnetic field lines (by the Lorentz Force) The proton density, velocity, temperature vary – n~ a few cm -3 – v~ hundreds of km/s – w~ tens of km/s Usually not in thermodynamic equilibrium!

3 Maxwell distribution

4

5 Magnetic Reconnection

6 Reconnection Sites Gosling et al., 2005

7 Wind Faraday Cup Sitting at the first LaGrange point Spinning at 3 second period 2 Faraday cups (one tilted up and one down) SWE

8

9 Data Collection

10 March 25, 1998 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 B y [nT] B z [nT] B x [nT] v y [km/s] v z [km/s] v x [km/s] (red points signify a beam detected)

11 Density in the exhaust

12 Transformation Out-of-plane speed [km/s] Inflow speed [km/s] Outflow speed [km/s]

13 Fits Ion Flux Distribution for March 25, 1998; 16:21

14 YearDayAlfvén Speed (km/s) Differential Speed ΔV (km/s) Inflow Speed (km/s) 199523320.445138.17008.3030 34.455425.590010.4023 199732787.210969.169128.2312 36447.389536.794321.5697 199808419.500538.050020.1990 31837.130535.823532.2102 200027780.893129.610628.3373 200124418.593446.55088.7546 200204946.028621.865219.7115 200311940.715056.965715.6045 200609050.006733.60169.0000 200707033.00009.87347.3527

15 Relationship between inflow speed and Δv

16 Differential flow vs. Alfvén speed

17 Plasma Instabilities

18 Instability Evolution Configurations with ∆v››v A are unstable! Beam loses energy to Alfvénic fluctuations Waves become stronger Waves scramble the structure Growth rate is faster than the time it takes plasma to cross the exhaust Yoshiharu Omura and Koichi Shin Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University

19 Conclusions Beams do develop in magnetic reconnection exhausts Their speed actually exceeds the inflow speed – Acceleration process? In some cases, an unstable beam-core configuration arises (Alfvén/Ion cyclotron mode)

20 Acknowledgements Dr. Michael Stevens and Dr. Justin Kasper NSF (grant number AGS-1263241) CFA Dr. Kathy Reeves and Dr. Trae Winter SSXG & Admins Fellow astronomy and solar interns

21 Questions What is the process that accelerates the beams faster than the inflow? How does the instability affect the evolution of reconnection exhausts

22 Much of the solar wind has Alfvénic beams of coronal origin This is the stuff we think reconnection might explain We actually found this stuff in some reconnection exhausts


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