Stochastic Heating in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind

Collisionless dissipation of turbulence is important for heating plasmas in astrophysical, space physics, and laboratory environments, controlling energy, momentum, and particle transport. We analyze Parker Solar Probe observations to understand the collisionless heating of the sub-Alfvénic solar wind, which is connected to the solar corona. Our results show that linear resonant heating through parallel-propagating cyclotron waves cannot account for turbulent dissipation in the sub-Alfvénic region, which observations suggest may dissipate turbulence at distances further from the Sun. Instead, we find that stochastic heating can account for the observed ion energization; however, because the dominant contributions arise from infrequent, large-amplitude events, turbulent intermittency must be explicitly incorporated. These observations directly connect stochastic heating via breaking of the proton magnetic moment with the intermittent and inhomogeneous heating of turbulence reported in many previous studies. Our identification of stochastic heating as a dynamic mechanism responsible for intermittent heating of the solar wind has significant implications for turbulent dissipation in the lower corona, other astrophysical environments, and laboratory plasmas.