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Astrophys. Space Sci. Trans., 2, 19-25, 2006
www.astrophys-space-sci-trans.net/2/19/2006/ doi:10.5194/astra-2-19-2006 © Author(s) 2006. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. |
07 Feb 2006
1Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Vernadskogo 101-1, 119526 Moscow, Russia
2Institute for Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Research of the University of Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Abstract. Small-scale Alfvènic turbulence in the outer heliosphere is mainly determined by a source which is connected with the instability of the initially highly anisotropic velocity distribution of interstellar pick-up protons. The main portion of the generated turbulent energy is subsequently absorbed by the pick-up protons themselves due to the cyclotron-resonant interaction between waves and particles. A small fraction of this energy can be transferred to solar wind protons resulting in their heating. The heating is more efficient in the high-speed solar wind.
Citation: Chalov, S. V., Alexashov, D. B., and Fahr, H.-J.: Heating of the solar wind in the outer heliosphere, Astrophys. Space Sci. Trans., 2, 19-25, doi:10.5194/astra-2-19-2006, 2006.