2021
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac096e
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The Sunward Electron Deficit: A Telltale Sign of the Sun’s Electric Potential

Abstract: As the Parker Solar Probe explores new regions of the inner heliosphere, it travels ever deeper into the electric potential of the Sun. In the near-Sun environment, a new feature of the electron distribution emerges, in the form of a deficit in the sunward suprathermal population. The lower boundary of this deficit forms a cutoff in phase space, at an energy determined by the electric potential drop between the observation point and the outer heliosphere. We explore the characteristics of the sunward deficit a… Show more

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Cited by 20 publications
(45 citation statements)
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“…2), a field aligned strahl component only seen parallel to the magnetic field direction, and a weak halo departing from a Maxwellian fit at higher electron energies. Another feature we do not plan to discuss in the present work, already observed by Halekas et al (2019), can be recognised in Fig. 2.…”
Section: Parker Solar Probementioning
confidence: 75%
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“…2), a field aligned strahl component only seen parallel to the magnetic field direction, and a weak halo departing from a Maxwellian fit at higher electron energies. Another feature we do not plan to discuss in the present work, already observed by Halekas et al (2019), can be recognised in Fig. 2.…”
Section: Parker Solar Probementioning
confidence: 75%
“…An important issue on the instrumental side is the determination of sensitivities of each of the azimuth anodes. The sensitivity coefficients used for our analysis were obtained through in-flight calibration described in the work of Halekas et al (2019). The effects of the space-1 Link to the data archive: http://helios-data.ssl.berkeley.edu crafts own magnetic field and electric charge on the particle trajectories were studied by McGinnis et al (2019).…”
Section: Parker Solar Probementioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Another electron feature is often observed in the near-Sun solar wind-a relative deficit of electrons compared to the Maxwellian core model appears in the suprathermal energy range in the portion of phase space, opposite to the strahl direction (Halekas et al 2020(Halekas et al , 2021aBerčič et al 2020Bercic et al 2021). The statistical properties of this sunward deficit are presented by Halekas et al (2021b).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 90%
“…In the PSP data, the sunward deficit is a common feature (Halekas et al 2020;Berčič et al 2020), which contributes significantly to the net electron heat-flux (Halekas et al 2021a). The characteristics of the sunward deficit and their relation to different solar wind parameters are investigated by Halekas et al (2021b). In the collisionless exospheric models (Jockers 1970;Lemaire & Scherer 1970, 1971Pierrard et al 1999;Maksimovic et al 2001;Zouganelis et al 2004) no electrons with energies greater than the electric potential energy ( F  ) exist in the sunward portion of the electron VDF.…”
Section: Ambipolar Electric Potential (φ R∞ )mentioning
confidence: 99%