A long-standing puzzle in heliophysics is why the solar wind cools more slowly than adiabatic expansion alone would predict. In simple terms, as the fast solar wind races away from the Sun, it should lose energy and temperature in a predictable way. Instead, measurements show a clear non-adiabatic behavior—an additional heat input appears to be at work, altering both temperature and thermodynamic entropy.
Now, a new multi-instrument study follows the same fast solar-wind stream from near the Sun to Earth’s orbital distance, directly linking this “extra heating” to specific plasma dynamics. The work exploits a rare quasi-radial alignment: the Solar Orbiter spacecraft observes the flow at about 0.38 astronomical units, while in-situ measurements near 1 au capture the evolved state.
The researchers combine Solar Orbiter data with remote sensing from China’s Hα Solar Explorer and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. This coordinated approach allows them to connect solar-surface activity to downstream plasma signatures, rather than treating observations at different heliocentric distances as disconnected snapshots.
Their central finding is striking: intermittent velocity spikes—brief bursts where the plasma speed suddenly surges—emerge as the dominant energy carriers. These spikes propagate with the wind and then progressively dissipate, converting kinetic irregularities into thermal energy.
As the velocity spikes dampen during heliospheric travel, the expected cooling rate is reduced. Meanwhile, plasma entropy increases beyond what adiabatic models forecast, providing a quantitative thermodynamic fingerprint of intermittent dissipation rather than smooth, steady heating.
Crucially, the study shows that the resulting temperature and entropy at 1 au match predictions from Alfvénic turbulence theory. In that framework, turbulent fluctuations act as a reservoir of energy, intermittency determines how efficiently it is thermalized, and the wind’s collisionless nature changes how dissipation proceeds.
Where do the spikes start? The authors point to the solar wind source region, where abundant magnetic reconnection activity is observed. Reconnection likely generates the initial fluctuations that seed velocity spikes, launching the intermittent energy pathway observed later in the heliosphere.
The result is a cohesive observational narrative: reconnection-driven variability seeds intermittency; intermittency evolves into velocity spikes; spikes dissipate; and Alfvénic turbulence shapes the final thermodynamic state. Together, these steps provide constraints on how collisionless plasmas gain and redistribute energy across vast distances.
Subject of Research: Solar wind thermodynamics and non-adiabatic heating
Article Title: Non-adiabatic entropy increase in the solar wind governed by velocity spikes.
Article References: Hou, C., He, J., Rouillard, A.P. et al. Nat Astron (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02923-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02923-5
Image Credits: AI Generated
Keywords: solar wind; entropy increase; velocity spikes; Alfvénic turbulence; magnetic reconnection; Solar Orbiter
