Observations of non-thermal properties of heavy ions in the solar wind

Abstract

Heavy ions in the solar wind are ideal for studying injection processes in the solar wind. We use composition data from Ulysses, ACE, and Wind to examine the properties of heavy ions from thermal energies to several 100 keVs. We show that these particles are observed to gain energy without any association with shocks. This paper provides a survey of recent observations of non-thermal properties of solar wind heavy ions which are consistent with the following picture: At thermal energies coherent wave-particle interactions preferentially heat and accelerate heavy ions with collisional processes limiting subsequent non-thermal properties. At higher energies heavy ion distribution functions are characterized by ubiquitous suprathermal tails. We argue that solar wind heavy ions are a good tracer for acceleration processes which are not directly associated with shocks. These stochastic processes are observed to be relevant for predisposing ions for shock acceleration. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.