Turbulence and Microprocesses in Inhomogeneous Solar Wind Plasmas

Abstract

The random density fluctuations observed in the solar wind plasma crucially influence on the Langmuir wave turbulence generated by energetic electron beams ejected during solar bursts. Those are powerful phenomena consisting of a chain of successive processes leading ultimately to strong electromagnetic emissions. The small-scale processes governing the interactions between the waves, the beams and the inhomogeneous plasmas need to be studied to explain such macroscopic phenomena. Moreover, the complexity induced by the plasma irregularities requires to find new approaches and modelling. Therefore theoretical and numerical tools were built to describe the Langmuir wave turbulence and the beam’s dynamics in inhomogeneous plasmas, in the form of a self-consistent Hamiltonian model including a fluid description for the plasma and a kinetic approach for the beam. On this basis, numerical simulations were performed in order to shed light on the impact of the density fluctuations on the beam dynamics, the electromagnetic wave radiation, the generation of Langmuir wave turbulence, the waves’ coupling and decay phenomena involving Langmuir and low frequency waves, the acceleration of beam electrons, their diffusion mechanisms, the modulation of the Langmuir waveforms and the statistical properties of the radiated fields’ distributions. The paper presents the main results obtained in the form of a review.