HR: 0800h
AN: SH21A-0278    [Abstracts]
TI: A Kinetic Model of the Ponderomotive Force of Alfven Waves in the Solar Wind
AU: * Isenberg, P A
EM: phil.isenberg@unh.edu
AF: Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center, Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AU: Vasquez, B J
EM: bernie.vasquez@unh.edu
AF: Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center, Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AB: Kinetic models of solar wind generation are essential in order to accurately test detailed mechanisms for producing the required ion acceleration and heating in the collisionless coronal hole. Among the large-scale effects that must be included in such models is the non-resonant ponderomotive force (PMF) due to parallel- propagating low-frequency Alfven waves emitted by the Sun. However, a kinetic description of this force does not seem to exist, and the well-known fluid expressions are not applicable to this problem. We present a kinetic analysis of the PMF which leads to new terms in the kinetic guiding center equation used to describe the evolution of an ion distribution in the solar wind. We discuss the physical basis for these terms and incorporate them into our kinetic model for the preferential acceleration of heavy ions in coronal holes.
DE: 2149 MHD waves and turbulence (2752, 6050, 7836)
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
DE: 7511 Coronal holes
DE: 7827 Kinetic and MHD theory
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting