@article{Chen:2016:2/L26,
author = {Chen, CHK and Matteini, L and Schekochihin, AA and Stevens, ML and Salem, CS and Maruca, BA and Kunz, MW and Bale, SD},
doi = {2/L26},
journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
title = {Multi-species measurements of the firehose and mirror instability thresholds in the solar wind},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/825/2/L26},
volume = {825},
year = {2016}
}

Download

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The firehose and mirror instabilities are thought to arise in a variety of space and astrophysical plasmas, constraining the pressure anisotropies and drifts between particle species. The plasma stability depends on all species simultaneously, meaning that a combined analysis is required. Here, we present the first such analysis in the solar wind, using the long-wavelength stability parameters to combine the anisotropies and drifts of all major species (core and beam protons, alphas, and electrons). At the threshold, the firehose parameter was found to be dominated by protons (67%), but also to have significant contributions from electrons (18%) and alphas (15%). Drifts were also found to be important, contributing 57% in the presence of a proton beam. A similar situation was found for the mirror, with contributions of 61%, 28%, and 11% for protons, electrons, and alphas, respectively. The parallel electric field contribution, however, was found to be small at 9%. Overall, the long-wavelength thresholds constrain the data well (${\text{}}\lt 1 \% $ unstable), and the implications of this are discussed.
AU  - Chen,CHK
AU  - Matteini,L
AU  - Schekochihin,AA
AU  - Stevens,ML
AU  - Salem,CS
AU  - Maruca,BA
AU  - Kunz,MW
AU  - Bale,SD
DO  - 2/L26
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 2041-8213
TI  - Multi-species measurements of the firehose and mirror instability thresholds in the solar wind
T2  - Astrophysical Journal Letters
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/825/2/L26
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/34532
VL  - 825
ER  - 

Download