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Cuperman, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Cuperman, S..

Thermally conductive magnetohydrodynamic flows in helmet-streamer coronal structures

The behavior of thermally conductive plasma flows in helmet-streamer coronal structures is investigated within the framework of the axisymmetric nonrotating one-fluid MHD model. Continuous subsonic-supersonic solutions satisfying observed boundary conditions at the sun as well as the vanishing of the temperature at infinity are obtained and presented. Special attention is paid to the combined effects of conductive flow (and corresponding thermal force) and rapidly diverging magnetic field on the critical points. In this, the heliocentric distance of the neutral point determining the separation between closed and open field lines (cusp) is treated as a free parameter. These thermally conductive solutions are contrasted with those provided by corresponding isothermal models.

Cuperman, S.↗

On heat conduction in multicomponent, non-Maxwellian spherically symmetric solar wind plasmas

A generalized expression for the steady-state heat flux in multicomponent, moderately non-Maxwellian spherically symmetric plasmas is presented and discussed. The work was motivated by the inability of the simple, Fourier-type formula for the thermal conductivity to explain the observed correlations in the solar wind. The results hold for situations not far from local thermodynamic equilibrium. The generalized expression includes not only correlations that have been observed but also correlations not sought for previously.

Cuperman, S.↗

Numerical investigation of fluid models with full electron and proton thermal conduction equations for the quiet solar wind

The effect of using full equations (rather than Fourier law expressions) for the electron and proton thermal conductivities in conjunction with community, momentum, and temperature equations for the description of spherically symmetric quiet solar wind states is investigated numerically. For this purpose a time-dependent method is used, and steady state solutions in both subsonic and supersonic regimes between the sun and 5 AU are obtained and presented. The consequences for one-fluid and two-fluid models for the solar wind are summarized and discussed.

Cuperman, S.↗

Non-symmetric two-stream instability

A theoretical investigation is performed concerning the instability spectrum of quasi-electrostatic waves at shifted half-odd-integer values of the cyclotron frequency due to nonsymmetric counterstreaming electron beams. The beam velocities parallel and perpendicular to the static magnetic field are represented by double Dirac delta functions with no imposition of parameter limitations. Systematic consideration is given to the coupling between plasma modes and cyclotron modes as well as the coupling between cyclotron modes of the two beams that result in shifted half-odd-integer multiples of the cyclotron frequency. The general dispersion equation for quasi-electrostatic waves is analyzed, and plasma-cyclotron coupling in the nonsymmetric case is treated by deriving approximate analytical expressions for maximum growth rates and marginal stability. Exact numerical solutions in both frequency and wavenumber space are obtained and compared with the analytical expressions. Cyclotron-cyclotron coupling modes are treated in the same way, and the results for both types of coupling are compared. It is found that certain modes may be weakened or completely suppressed when the Bessel functions for specific plasma parameters vanish.

Cuperman, S.↗

Some physical implications of recent solar wind measurements

The physical implications of the existence at about 1 AU of a quiet solar wind particle flux about 90 percent larger than that suggested in the past is investigated within the framework of the two-fluid solar wind model equations. During the spherically symmetric radial expansion of the quiet solar wind, the particle flux is conserved quantity. It is found that a pure collisional two-fluid model provides good particle density and streaming velocity at 1 AU, but predicts too large an electron temperature and too small a proton temperature. When noncollisional contributions to the transport coefficients are incorporated in the model equations, a complete satisfactory agreement with the available observations is obtained. Upper limits to the effective coupling between electrons and protons, as well as to the effective proton thermal conductivity, and both upper and lower limits to the effective electron thermal conductivity in the quiet solar wind, required to provide agreement with observations, are given.

Cuperman, S.↗