Proton thermal energetics in the solar wind: Helios reloaded

The proton thermal energetics in the slow solar wind between 0.3 and 1 AU is reinvestigated using the Helios 1 and 2 data, complementing a similar analysis for the fast solar wind [Hellinger et al., 2011]. The results for slow and fast solar winds are compared and discussed in the context of previous results. Protons need to be heated in the perpendicular direction with respect to the ambient magnetic field from 0.3 to 1 AU. In the parallel direction, protons need to be cooled at 0.3 AU, with a cooling rate comparable to the corresponding perpendicular heating rate; between 0.3 and 1 AU, the required cooling rate decreases until a transition to heating occurs: by 1 AU the protons require parallel heating, with a heating rate comparable to that required to sustain the perpendicular temperature. The heating/cooling rates (per unit volume) in the fast and slow solar winds are proportional to the ratio between the proton kinetic energy and the expansion time. On average, the protons need to be heated and the necessary heating rates are comparable to the energy cascade rate of the magnetohydrodynamic turbulence estimated from the stationary Kolmogorov-Yaglom law at 1 AU; however, in the expanding solar wind, the stationarity assumption for this law is questionable. The turbulent energy cascade may explain the average proton energetics (although the stationarity assumption needs to be justified) but the parallel cooling is likely related to microinstabilities connected with the structure of the proton velocity distribution function. This is supported by linear analysis based on observed data and by results of numerical simulations.