Parametric analysis of heat flux inhibition in the solar wind: a macroscopic quasilinear approach

Abstract

Abstract Magnitudes of electron temperature anisotropy and solar wind heat flux are defined with different physical mechanisms e.g. microinstabilities, interparticle collisions, and adiabatic expansion. In the dilute space plasma limit, the present study assumes the interplay between anisotropic core-halo electron components, their relative drift, and relative density of the halo electrons to determine the dynamics of backward and forward-propagating whistler heat flux instabilities along the ambient magnetic field. To investigate the feedback effects of these micro-instabilities in reshaping solar wind distributions and the total heat flux regulation, we formulate quasilinear kinetic equations on the basis of taking the macroscopic velocity moments. For the same input parameters of linear analysis, numerical solutions of the quasilinear equations indicate the time-scale variations, electrons and protons population, wave intensities, and constraints on the heat flux. In future perspective of the global-kinetic solar wind model, the present formalism may be an important step with the inclusion of radial and nonthermal effects.