| Session Details | |
| Section | ST - Solar & Terrestrial Sciences |
| Session Title | Turbulence and Charged Particle Energization and Transport in the Heliosphere |
| Main Convener | Prof. Gary Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville, United States) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Linghua Wang (Peking University, China) Dr. Gang Li (University of Alabama in Huntsville, United States) Dr. Gang Qin (Harbin Institute of Technology, China) |
| Session Description | Low-frequency turbulence is ubiquitous in the solar corona and solar wind, and is thought to play a fundamental role in heating the background plasma through dissipative processes. The pitch-angle scattering of energetic particles by magnetic turbulent fluctuations in the vicinity of collisionless shock waves acts to transport charged particles repeatedly across the fronts of shocks, but is not directly responsible for the energization of particles at shocks. Typically, turbulence is not invoked directly as a mechanism to energize particles to high energies. Early calculations that injected test particles into a magnetically turbulent simulation demonstrated that significant particle energization may be possible. Today, simulations and analytic studies suggest that turbulent processes that generate magnetic structures such as plasmoids, magnetic islands, or flux ropes can result in significant levels of particle energization, especially electrons. Particle energization via turbulence processes often reflects the occurrence of turbulent reconnection and particle trapping in evolving magnetic field structures. A consensus regarding the important physical processes in a turbulent plasma that facilitate the acceleration of charged particles has yet to emerge. This session calls for papers in this fast changing field that address observations, simulations, and theory of charged particle energization via turbulence processes in the solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, the heliosheath regions of the solar wind, and the solar corona. |