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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Particle-in-cell Simulations of the Parallel Proton Firehose Instability Influenced by the Electron Temperature Anisotropy in Solar Wind Conditions
AU - Micera, A.
AU - Boella, E.
AU - Zhukov, A. N.
AU - Shaaban, S. M.
AU - López, R. A.
AU - Lazar, M.
AU - Lapenta, G.
N1 - This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication/published in The Astrophysical Journal. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7faa
PY - 2020/4/23
Y1 - 2020/4/23
N2 - In situ observations of the solar wind show a limited level of particle temperature anisotropy with respect to the interplanetary magnetic field direction. Kinetic electromagnetic instabilities are efficient to prevent the excessive growth of the anisotropy of particle velocity distribution functions. Among them, the firehose instabilities are often considered to prevent the increase of the parallel temperature and hence to shape the velocity distribution functions of electrons and protons in the solar wind. We present a nonlinear modeling of the parallel firehose instability, retaining a kinetic description for both the electrons and protons. One-dimensional (1D) fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations using the energy conserving semi-implicit method (ECsim) are performed to clarify the role of the electron temperature anisotropy in the development of the parallel proton firehose instability. We found that in the presence of an electron temperature anisotropy, such that the temperature parallel to the background magnetic field is higher than the temperature in the perpendicular direction, the onset of the parallel proton firehose instability occurs earlier and its growth rate is faster. The enhanced wave fluctuations contribute to the particle scattering reducing the temperature anisotropy to a stable, nearly isotropic state. The simulation results compare well with linear theory. A test case of 1D simulations at oblique angles with respect to the magnetic field is also considered, as a first step to study the cumulative effect of protons and electrons on the full spectrum of instabilities.
AB - In situ observations of the solar wind show a limited level of particle temperature anisotropy with respect to the interplanetary magnetic field direction. Kinetic electromagnetic instabilities are efficient to prevent the excessive growth of the anisotropy of particle velocity distribution functions. Among them, the firehose instabilities are often considered to prevent the increase of the parallel temperature and hence to shape the velocity distribution functions of electrons and protons in the solar wind. We present a nonlinear modeling of the parallel firehose instability, retaining a kinetic description for both the electrons and protons. One-dimensional (1D) fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations using the energy conserving semi-implicit method (ECsim) are performed to clarify the role of the electron temperature anisotropy in the development of the parallel proton firehose instability. We found that in the presence of an electron temperature anisotropy, such that the temperature parallel to the background magnetic field is higher than the temperature in the perpendicular direction, the onset of the parallel proton firehose instability occurs earlier and its growth rate is faster. The enhanced wave fluctuations contribute to the particle scattering reducing the temperature anisotropy to a stable, nearly isotropic state. The simulation results compare well with linear theory. A test case of 1D simulations at oblique angles with respect to the magnetic field is also considered, as a first step to study the cumulative effect of protons and electrons on the full spectrum of instabilities.
KW - Solar wind
KW - Plasma astrophysics
KW - Space plasmas
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7faa
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7faa
M3 - Journal article
VL - 893
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
JF - The Astrophysical Journal
SN - 0004-637X
IS - 2
M1 - 130
ER -