Magnetic moment nonconservation in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence models.

The fundamental assumptions of the adiabatic theory do not apply in the presence of sharp field gradients or in the presence of well-developed magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. For this reason, in such conditions the magnetic moment µ is no longer expected to be constant. This can influence particle acceleration and have considerable implications in many astrophysical problems. Starting with the resonant interaction between ions and a single parallel propagating electromagnetic wave, we derive expressions for the magnetic moment trapping width Δµ (defined as the half peak-to-peak difference in the particle magnetic moments) and the bounce frequency ω(b). We perform test-particle simulations to investigate magnetic moment behavior when resonance overlapping occurs and during the interaction of a ring-beam particle distribution with a broadband slab spectrum. We find that the changes of magnetic moment and changes of pitch angle are related when the level of magnetic fluctuations is low, δB/B(0) = (10(-3),10(-2)), where B(0) is the constant and uniform background magnetic field. Stochasticity arises for intermediate fluctuation values and its effect on pitch angle is the isotropization of the distribution function f(α). This is a transient regime during which magnetic moment distribution f(µ) exhibits a characteristic one-sided long tail and starts to be influenced by the onset of spatial parallel diffusion, i.e., the variance <(Δz)(2)> grows linearly in time as in normal diffusion. With strong fluctuations f(α) becomes completely isotropic, spatial diffusion sets in, and the f(µ) behavior is closely related to the sampling of the varying magnetic field associated with that spatial diffusion.

Intermittency and local heating in the solar wind.

Evidence for nonuniform heating in the solar wind plasma near current sheets dynamically generated by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is obtained using measurements from the ACE spacecraft. These coherent structures only constitute 19% of the data, but contribute 50% of the total plasma internal energy. Intermittent heating manifests as elevations in proton temperature near current sheets, resulting in regional heating and temperature enhancements extending over several hours. The number density of non-Gaussian structures is found to be proportional to the mean proton temperature and solar wind speed. These results suggest magnetofluid turbulence drives intermittent dissipation through a hierarchy of coherent structures, which collectively could be a significant source of coronal and solar wind heating.

Magnetohydrodynamic turbulent cascade of coronal loop magnetic fields.

The Parker model for coronal heating is investigated through a high resolution simulation. An inertial range is resolved where fluctuating magnetic energy EMk[Please see symbol]) [Please see symbol] k[Please see symbol](-2.7) exceeds kinetic energy EK(k[Please see symbol])[Please see symbol]k[Please see symbol](-0.6). Increments scale as δbℓ ~/= ℓ(-0.85) and δuℓ ~/= ℓ(+0.2) with velocity increasing at small scales, indicating that magnetic reconnection plays a prime role in this turbulent system. We show that spectral energy transport is akin to standard magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence even for a system of reconnecting current sheets sustained by the boundary. In this new MHD turbulent cascade, kinetic energy flows are negligible while cross-field flows are enhanced, and through a series of "reflections" between the two fields, cascade more than half of the total spectral energy flow.