A SHORT-TIMESCALE CHANNEL OF DISSIPATION OF THE STRONG SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE

Hybrid numerical simulations of a turbulent cascade nearly perpendicular to the background magnetic field are carried out at the proton kinetic scales. It is shown that the cascade produces exponentially growing current sheets previously observed in fluid simulations. In the kinetic limit, the sheets are developing on a timescale as fast as the proton gyration. The rapid variations of the electric field associated with the sheets can demagnetize the protons and increase their thermal energy preferentially across the mean magnetic field. The relevance of this mechanism to the solar wind heating is discussed.