The role of turbulence in heating and accelerating particles: the THOR mission

0473472 - ÚFA 2017 FR eng A - Abstrakt
Escoubet, C. P. - Vaivads, A. - Retino, A. - Khotyaintsev, Y. - Souček, Jan - Valentini, F. - Chen, C. - Fazakerley, A. - Lavraud, B. - Marcucci, F. - Narita, Y. - Vainio, R. - Voirin, T. - Wielders, A. - Boudin, N. - Romstedt, J.
The role of turbulence in heating and accelerating particles: the THOR mission.
4th Cluster and THEMIS workshop: Book of abstracts. Paris: European Space Agency (ESA), 2017. s. 24-25.
[Cluster-THEMIS Workshop /4./. 07.11.2016-12.11.2016, Palm Springs]
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378289
Klíčová slova: THOR * space plasma physics * plasma heating * particle accelerators
Kód oboru RIV: BL - Fyzika plazmatu a výboje v plynech
http://themis.igpp.ucla.edu/events/CLUSTER_THEMIS_2016/Workshop_abstracts_v3.pdf

Turbulent fluctuations in astrophysical plasmas reach up to scales as large as stars,
bubbles or 'clouds' blown out by stellar winds, or even entire galaxies. However,
most of the irreversible dissipation of energy within turbulent fluctuations occurs at
the very small scales - kinetic scales, where the plasma no longer behaves as a fluid
and the properties of individual plasma species (electrons, protons, and other ions)
become important. The energy transferred to different particle species, the
acceleration of particles to high energies are strongly governed by kinetic processes that determine how the turbulent electromagnetic fluctuations dissipate. Thus,
plasma processes at kinetic scales will directly affect the large-scale properties of
plasma.
Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) is the first mission ever flown in space
dedicated to plasma turbulence. It will explore the kinetic plasma processes that
determine the fundamental behavior of the majority of baryonic matter in the
universe. THOR will lead to an understanding of the basic plasma heating and
particle energization processes, of their effect on different plasma species and of
their relative importance in different turbulent regimes. THOR will provide closure
of these fundamental questions by making detailed in situ measurements of the
closest available dilute and turbulent magnetized plasmas at unprecedented
temporal and spatial resolution. THOR focuses on particular regions: pristine solar
wind, Earth's bow shock and interplanetary shocks, and compressed solar wind
regions downstream of shocks. These regions are selected because of their differing
turbulent fluctuation characteristics, and reflect similar astrophysical environments.
THOR is a candidate for selection as the next ESA M4 mission that will take place in
June 2017 and the science as well as the results of the on-going study, currently
undertaken at ESA, will be presented.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0270585