Kappa Distributions: Theory and Applications in Space Plasmas
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Authors
Pierrard, V.
Lazar, M.
Discipline
Physical sciences
Audience
Scientific
Date
2010Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
The plasma particle velocity distributions observed in the solar wind generally show enhanced (non-Maxwellian) suprathermal tails, decreasing as a power law of the velocity and well described by the family of Kappa distribution functions. The presence of non-thermal populations at different altitudes in space plasmas suggests a universal mechanism for their creation and important consequences concerning plasma fluctuations, the resonant and nonresonant wave - particle acceleration and plasma heating. These effects are well described by the kinetic approaches where no closure requires the distributions to be nearly Maxwellian. This paper summarizes and analyzes the various theories proposed for the Kappa distributions and their valuable applications in coronal and space plasmas.
Citation
Pierrard, V.; Lazar, M. (2010). Kappa Distributions: Theory and Applications in Space Plasmas. , Solar Physics, Vol. 267, Issue 1, 153-174, DOI: 10.1007/s11207-010-9640-2.Identifiers
scopus: 2-s2.0-78149499564
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng