Nonresonant and stochastic heating of ions by low-frequency wave

Abstract

The present paper addresses the nonresonant and stochastic heating of minor ions by a low-frequency Alfvén wave in the solar wind. A new and whole physical mechanism that enables the heating of ions by a low-frequency parallel propagating wave with finite amplitude in a low beta plasma. The heating process has two stages: First, ions are picked up via low-frequency wave–ion nonresonant interaction and the ion energy gain depends on the ratio of the wave electric-field energy to background magnetic-field energy. Second, when the velocity approaches the threshold value, the stochastic heating is prominent. The stochastic heating of ions sustains until the average parallel speed is close to the wave velocity.