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Limitations on suprathermal tails of electrons in the lower solar corona
Author(s) -
Ko Y.K.,
Fisk L. A.,
Gloeckler G.,
Geiss J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/96gl02449
Subject(s) - corona (planetary geology) , solar wind , physics , electron , plasma , computational physics , astrophysics , solar maximum , coronal mass ejection , astrobiology , nuclear physics , venus
Measurements of the charge states of solar wind ions by the SWICS instrument on Ulysses are used to place limits on the extent to which the velocity distribution of electrons in the lower solar corona deviates from a Maxwellian distribution by having a suprathermal tail. It is found that the data are consistent with a suprathermal tail which is not large, and which has a minor influence on the location and magnitude of the maximum of the electron temperature. This result has implications for theories which propose that suprathermal tails of electrons in the solar corona can have a strong influence on the formation of the solar corona and the dynamics of the solar wind.