Identification

Title

Anomalously low proton temperatures in solar-wind following interplanetary shock waves, evidence for magnetic bottles

Abstract

Occasionally, anomalously low values of the solar wind proton temperature Tp are observed when the solar wind velocity υ is high. A large fraction of such measurements by the Vela 3 satellites follow the passage of interplanetary shocks by some 20–60 hours. Of 24 postshock events in which υ exceeded 400 km sec−1 and for which Vela 3 measurements are available, 12 exhibited plasma states of anomalously low Tp, high υ. The proton density at the time of these observations typically was depressed below normal, and the velocity tended to be constant or falling. A very strong association with abnormally high (≥15%) concentrations of He++/H+ in the solar wind is noted for these anomalous proton temperatures, the usual temporal sequence of events at 1 AU being: (1) shock wave, (2) helium enrichment, and (3) low Tp, high υ. It is suggested that these observations are consistent with a model for some shock wave disturbances that includes the ejection of new material (distinguished by the helium enrichment at 1 AU) into the solar wind at the time of large solar flares and the formation of a magnetic bottle configuration in the solar wind behind and within the ejecta. The anomalously low proton temperatures then result from the adiabatic cooling of the plasma within the magnetic bottle.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7gq6x79

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

1973-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact