Radial Evolution of Non-Maxwellian Electron Populations Derived from Quasi-thermal Noise Spectroscopy: Parker Solar Probe Observations
(2024) The Astrophysical Journal — Vol. 977, n° 1, p. 39 (2024)
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- Authors
Zheng, Xianming 
Pierrard, Viviane Klein, Kristopher G. - et. al.
- Abstract
- Understanding the transport of energy within space plasmas, particularly in the solar wind, remains a complex challenge. Accurate measurement of electron temperatures and their nonthermal characteristics is crucial for comprehending energy transport properties in plasmas. Quasi-thermal-noise (QTN) spectroscopy has emerged as a dependable tool for precise electron parameters assessment as it is less susceptible to spacecraft effects than particle detectors. In this study, we apply a QTN spectroscopy fitting method to analyze data from the Parker Solar Probe FIELDS radio instrument obtained during Encounters 2 through 13, under unbiased antenna conditions. We use the kappa function to characterize the electron velocity distribution and employ a fitting technique to derive the changes in each parameter across heliocentric distances ranging from 12 Rs to 76 Rs. Specifically, we find that the electron density scales as ne ∝ r−2.09±0.04 and the Te ∝ r−0.65±0.02. The distribution of the kappa index has three distinct regions as a function of radial distance from the Sun. Furthermore, we conduct a statistical analysis of solar wind energy flux which we finds follows a power-law relationship wtotal ∝ r−1.92±0.04.
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Citations
Zheng, X., Martinović, M. M., Pierrard, V., Klein, K. G., & et al. (2024). Radial Evolution of Non-Maxwellian Electron Populations Derived from Quasi-thermal Noise Spectroscopy: Parker Solar Probe Observations. The Astrophysical Journal, 977(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7d05 (Original work published 2024)