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Plasma instabilities in the solar wind: A theoretical review
Author(s) -
Schwartz Steven J.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg018i001p00313
Subject(s) - solar wind , plasma , physics , microturbulence , solar physics , computational physics , astronomy , nuclear physics
I present here a review of recent theoretical progress in the possible role of microturbulence in the solar wind. The solar wind is anticipated to excite plasma microinstabilities because of its transition from collision‐dominated to collisionless behavior. The applications of linear plasma theory that have been made in this field are extensively reviewed and discussed, along with our present understanding of nonlinear plasma phenomena. The solar wind is an excellent laboratory for studying many aspects of solar and plasma physics and may soon provide some answers to several fundamental questions.