Graham, G. A., Bakrania, M. R., Rae, Jonathan, Owen, C. J., Walsh, A. P. and Owens, M. J. (2021) Constraining Suprathermal Electron Evolution in a Parker Spiral Field with Cassini Observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 126 (6). e2020JA028669. ISSN 2169-9380
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Abstract
Suprathermal electrons in the solar wind consist of the ‘halo’, present at all pitch angles, and the ‘strahl’ which is a field‐aligned, beam‐like population. Examining the heliospheric evolution of strahl beams is key to understanding the in‐transit processing of solar wind suprathermal electrons, in particular, to identify electron scattering mechanisms and to establish the origin of the halo population. Not only does this have significant implications with regard to the kinetic processes occurring within the solar wind but also its thermodynamic evolution, as the the suprathermal electrons carry the majority of the solar wind heat flux. In this investigation, an established model for suprathermal electron evolution in a Parker spiral interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is adapted from its original use. The model is constrained using solar wind strahl observed by the Cassini mission on its interplanetary journey to Saturn. The effects of large scale IMF geometry due to different solar wind velocities and application of different electron scattering factors are examined. It is found that that slow solar wind speeds provide the closest match to the strahl width observations, both in terms of radial distance and electron energy trends, and that predominantly slower solar wind speeds were therefore likely observed by the Cassini mission en‐route to Saturn. It is necessary to include a strahl scattering factor which increases with electron energy in order to match observations, indicating that the strahl scattering mechanism must have an inherent energy dependence.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | Funding information: G. A. Graham is supported by an ESA Research Fellowship. M. R. Bakrania was supported by the Royal Astronomical Society. I. J. Rae and C. J. Owen were supported by the STFC consolidated grant to MSSL. We thank the Cassini instrument teams, in particular the CAPS, MAG, and MIMI team members. |
Subjects: | F300 Physics F500 Astronomy |
Department: | Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering |
Depositing User: | Elena Carlaw |
Date Deposited: | 22 Apr 2021 09:09 |
Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2021 10:49 |
URI: | http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/45981 |
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