Kinetic Model of Coronal Hole Protons Undergoing Turbulent Stochastic Heating and Quasilinear Wave Generation

Abstract:

We have constructed a kinetic model of coronal hole protons heated in the directions perpendicular to the magnetic field according to the turbulent stochastic heating mechanism of Chandran et al. The kinetic heating is modeled by a proton diffusion in v_perp. The protons additionally respond to the coronal hole forces of gravity, charge-separation electric field, and the mirror force as described in our previous kinetic guiding-center models. We have further extended this kinetic model to include wave growth and damping by the anisotropic protons through the quasilinear cyclotron-resonant interaction. We solve the coupled equations for the kinetic proton behavior and for the self-consistent development of ion-cyclotron wave spectra propagating within 60˚ of the magnetic field direction. We seek to obtain a steady-state solution, showing the evolution of the proton distribution and the wave spectra with increasing heliocentric radial position due to the combined effects of heating, resonant scattering coupled to the wave generation, and the kinetic response to the large-scale forces of the inhomogeneous coronal hole. We will report on our results and the implications for the measurements to be made by the Solar Probe Plus mission.