On the role of stochastic Fermi acceleration in setting the dissipation scale of turbulence in the interstellar medium

Abstract

We consider the dissipation by Fermi acceleration of magnetosonic turbulence in the Reynolds layer of the interstellar medium. The scale in the cascade at which electron acceleration via stochastic Fermi acceleration (STFA) becomes comparable to further cascade of the turbulence defines the inner scale. For any magnetic turbulent spectra equal to or shallower than Goldreich-Sridhar this turns out to be ≥10 12 cm, which is much larger than the shortest length-scales observed in radio scintillation measurements. While STFA for such spectra then contradict models of scintillation which appeal directly to an extended, continuous turbulent cascade, such a separation of scales is consistent with the recent work of Boldyrev & Gwinn and Boldyrev & Konigl suggesting that interstellar scintillation may result from the passage of radio waves through the Galactic distribution of thin ionized boundary surfaces of H II regions, rather than density variations from cascading turbulence. The presence of STFA dissipation also provides a mechanism for the non-ionizing heat source observed in the Reynolds layer of the interstellar medium. STFA accommodates the proper heating power, and the input energy is rapidly thermalized within the low-density Reynolds layer plasma.