Kinetic Model of Fast Solar Wind Generation and Heating by Kinetic Alfvén Wave Turbulence

Authors: Philip A. Isenberg (UNH), Bernard J. Vasquez (UNH)

We present preliminary results from our kinetic guiding-center model for coronal hole protons heated by cyclotron and Landau damping of a critically-balanced turbulent spectrum of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs). The model follows the collisionless proton distribution function as it advects out from 2 solar radii along a radial flux tube, evolving under the combined action of gravity, ambipolar E-field, mirror force, and energization by the KAW turbulence. The turbulent dissipative heating is represented by velocity-space diffusion using coefficients calculated from the fluid dispersion relation for KAWs (Isenberg & Vasquez, 2019) and a radial intensity profile from Cranmer & van Ballegooijen (2005). We obtain a plausible fast solar wind flow, reasonable perpendicular anisotropies, and hints of a secondary proton beam from the Landau interaction. We compare results of heating from a balanced KAW spectrum with those from a 9:1 intensity imbalance. We will discuss the implications of these results and outline the next steps we will take to incorporate the effects of kinetic dispersion and the proposed helicity barrier.