A Parallel-Propagating Alfvénic Ion-Beam Instability in the High-Beta Solar Wind

Abstract

We investigate the conditions under which parallel-propagating Alfvén/ion-cyclotron waves are driven unstable by an isotropic ($T_{\perp α} = T_{\parallelα}$) population of alpha particles drifting parallel to the magnetic field at an average speed $U_α$ with respect to the protons. We derive an approximate analytic condition for the minimum value of $U_α$ needed to excite this instability and refine this result using numerical solutions to the hot-plasma dispersion relation. When the alpha-particle number density is $\simeq 5%$ of the proton number density and the two species have similar thermal speeds, the instability requires that $β_{\rm p} \gtrsim 1$, where $β_{\rm p}$ is the ratio of the proton pressure to the magnetic pressure. For $1\lesssim β_{\mathrm p}\lesssim 12$, the minimum $U_α$ needed to excite this instability ranges from $0.7v_{\mathrm A}$ to $0.9v_{\mathrm A}$, where $v_{\mathrm A}$ is the Alfvén speed. This threshold is smaller than the threshold of $\simeq 1.2v_{\mathrm A}$ for the parallel magnetosonic instability, which was previously thought to have the lowest threshold of the alpha-particle beam instabilities at $β_{\mathrm p}\gtrsim 0.5$. We discuss the role of the parallel Alfvénic drift instability for the evolution of the alpha-particle drift speed in the solar wind. We also analyze measurements from the \emph{Wind} spacecraft's Faraday cups and show that the $U_α$ values measured in solar-wind streams with $T_{\perp α}\approx T_{\parallelα}$ are approximately bounded from above by the threshold of the parallel Alfvénic instability.

8 pages, 7 figures