Wave-Particle Interaction Phenomena Associated with Shocks in the Solar Wind

Author(s):  
F. L. Scarf
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lun Xie ◽  
Ying Xiong ◽  
Suiyan Fu ◽  
Zuyin Pu

<p>Electron pitch angle distribution (PAD) is a critical parameter in the study of the dynamics of the radiation belt electrons. It is well known that solar wind pressure has an impact on the PAD of the geomagnetically trapped electrons. Using the Van Allen Probes' data, we find that the MeV electron PAD at 4.5<L*<5.5 became narrowing (PAD is mainly concentrated at 90 degree) for over three days during a prolonged enhancement of the solar wind number density on November 27-30, 2015. During that period, the EMIC waves are observed by Van Allen Probe-A and ground stations on the afternoon and dusk MLTs at L>4. Meanwile, the precipitations of tens of keV protons and MeV electrons are observed by POES satellites. Additionally, there is a growing dip in electron phase space density at L*~5, indicating a local loss caused by the wave-particle interaction. The narrowing of the electron PAD is energy-dependent and the PAD is more anisotropic for electrons with higher energy, which is consistent with the wave-particle interaction with the EMIC waves. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that high solar wind density can lead to a hot and dense plasma sheet. The inward penetration of a dense plasma-sheet down to 4 Re has been confirmed by THEMIS spacecraft. We suggest that the overlap of the plasma sheet and the plasmasphere provide a favorable condition for exciting EMIC waves and the loss of small pitch angle electrons by EMIC waves can lead to the electron PAD narrowing. </p><div> </div>


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1361-1369 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Moya ◽  
A. F. Viñas ◽  
V. Muñoz ◽  
J. A. Valdivia

Abstract. We study the wave-particle interaction and the evolution of electromagnetic waves propagating through a plasma composed of electrons and protons, using two approaches. First, a quasilinear kinetic theory has been developed to study the energy transfer between waves and particles, with the subsequent acceleration and heating of protons. Second, a one-dimensional hybrid numerical simulation has been performed, with and without including an expanding-box model that emulates the spherical expansion of the solar wind, to investigate the fully nonlinear evolution of this wave-particle interaction. Numerical results of both approaches show that there is an anisotropic evolution of proton temperature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuru Hikishima ◽  
Hirotsugu Kojima ◽  
Yuto Katoh ◽  
Yoshiya Kasahara ◽  
Satoshi Kasahara ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 85 (15) ◽  
pp. 3177-3180 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Heeter ◽  
A. F. Fasoli ◽  
S. E. Sharapov

2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Mihailo M. Martinović ◽  
Kristopher G. Klein ◽  
Tereza Ďurovcová ◽  
Benjamin L. Alterman

Abstract Instabilities described by linear theory characterize an important form of wave–particle interaction in the solar wind. We diagnose unstable behavior of solar wind plasma between 0.3 and 1 au via the Nyquist criterion, applying it to fits of ∼1.5M proton and α particle Velocity Distribution Functions (VDFs) observed by Helios I and II. The variation of the fraction of unstable intervals with radial distance from the Sun is linear, signaling a gradual decline in the activity of unstable modes. When calculated as functions of the solar wind velocity and Coulomb number, we obtain more extreme, exponential trends in the regions where collisions appear to have a notable influence on the VDF. Instability growth rates demonstrate similar behavior, and significantly decrease with Coulomb number. We find that for a nonnegligible fraction of observations, the proton beam or secondary component might not be detected, due to instrument resolution limitations, and demonstrate that the impact of this issue does not affect the main conclusions of this work.


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