Cyclotron resonance in coronal holes: 1. Heating and acceleration of protons, O5+, and Mg9+

Authors
Citation
Jv. Hollweg, Cyclotron resonance in coronal holes: 1. Heating and acceleration of protons, O5+, and Mg9+, J GEO R-S P, 104(A11), 1999, pp. 24781-24791
Citations number
52
Categorie Soggetti
Space Sciences
Journal title
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS
ISSN journal
21699380 → ACNP
Volume
104
Issue
A11
Year of publication
1999
Pages
24781 - 24791
Database
ISI
SICI code
0148-0227(19991101)104:A11<24781:CRICH1>2.0.ZU;2-S
Abstract
The resonant heating and acceleration of protons and selected heavy ions in coronal holes are investigated by calculating trajectories of individual t est particles under the influence of gravity, the electrostatic electric fi eld, the mirror force, and the resonant acceleration due to interaction wit h dispersive ion cyclotron waves. The transverse heating due to the resonan ce is also included. We show in general terms how heavy ions can be more th an mass proportionally heated, emphasizing that wave dispersion may play an important part in producing very hot heavy ions. We pay particular attenti on to the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer (UVCS) SOHO observation that the transverse temperature of O5+ is still increasing out to the outer lim it of observation at similar to 3.5 solar radii. Using both approximate ana lytical expressions and the trajectory calculations, we find that this obse rvation can only be reproduced if the magnetic power spectrum falls off at least as steeply as k(-2), where k is wavenumber. Surprisingly, this conclu sion holds even when the power spectrum consists of two power laws, if the inner scale is proportional to the proton inertial length. Once the particl es are heated transversely by the resonance, the mirror force provides the dominant outward acceleration and leads to heavy ions which how faster than the protons. It is shown that it is possible to construct a model which gi ves reasonable agreement with the UVCS/SOHO data for both protons and O5+ O verall, we conclude that it is highly likely that the cyclotron resonance i s responsible for heating protons and heavy ions in coronal holes. However, we also briefly discuss some data for Mg9+, which do not fit the overall p icture.