Kinetic scale turbulence and dissipation in the solar wind: key observational results and future outlook

M L Goldstein; R T Wicks; S Perri; F Sahraoui

doi:10.1098/rsta.2014.0147

Kinetic scale turbulence and dissipation in the solar wind: key observational results and future outlook

Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2015 May 13;373(2041):20140147. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2014.0147.

Authors

M L Goldstein¹, R T Wicks², S Perri³, F Sahraoui⁴

Affiliations

¹ Code 672, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA [email protected].
² Code 672, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA GPHI, Astronomy Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, Rende 87036, Italy.
⁴ Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, CNRS-UPMC, Ecole Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, Palaiseau 91128, France.

Abstract

Turbulence is ubiquitous in the solar wind. Turbulence causes kinetic and magnetic energy to cascade to small scales where they are eventually dissipated, adding heat to the plasma. The details of how this occurs are not well understood. This article reviews the evidence for turbulent dissipation and examines various diagnostics for identifying solar wind regions where dissipation is occurring. We also discuss how future missions will further enhance our understanding of the importance of turbulence to solar wind dynamics.

Keywords: plasma heating; solar wind; turbulence; turbulent dissipation.

Publication types

Review