Bi-Directional Energy Cascades and the Origin of Kinetic Alfvénic and Whistler Turbulence in the Solar Wind

Melvyn L Goldstein, Space Science Institute Boulder, Boulder, United States, Haihong Che, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Space Science, Huntsville, United States and Adolfo F. Vinas, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Division, Geospace Physics Laboratory, Mail Code 673, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
The observed ion-kinetic scale turbulence spectrum in the solar wind raises the question of how that turbulence originates. Observations of keV energetic electrons during solar quiet-time suggest them as possible source of free energy to drive the turbulence. Using particle-in-cell simulations, we explore how free energy in energetic electrons, released by an electron two-stream instability drives Weibel-like electromagnetic waves that excite wave-wave interactions. Consequently, both kinetic Alfvénic and whistler turbulence are excited that evolve through inverse and forward magnetic energy cascades.
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