Search Publications
Narrowband Large Amplitude Whistler-mode Waves in the Solar Wind and Their Association with Electrons: STEREO Waveform Capture Observations
Breneman, A. W.; Cattell, C. A.; Short, B. +1 more
Large amplitude (up to 70 mV m-1) whistler-mode waves at frequencies of ∼0.2-0.4 fce (electron cyclotron frequency) are frequently observed in the solar wind. The waves are obliquely propagating at angles close to the resonance cone, resulting in significant electric fields parallel to the background magnetic field, enabling …
Whistler Waves and Electron Properties in the Inner Heliosphere: Helios Observations
Alexandrova, Olga; de Wit, Thierry Dudok; Maksimovic, Milan +4 more
We present the analysis of narrowband whistler wave signatures observed in the inner heliosphere (0.3-1 au). These signatures are bumps in the spectral density in the 10-200 Hz frequency range of the AC magnetic field as measured by the search coil magnetometer on board the Helios 1 spacecraft. We show that the majority of whistler signatures are …
Monitoring the Spatio-temporal Evolution of a Reconnection X-line in Space
Vaivads, A.; Wang, Z.; Cao, J. B. +3 more
Inherently, magnetic reconnection—the process responsible for stellar flares and magnetospheric substorms—is very dynamic in space, owing to magnetic fluctuations and unsteady inflows. However, this process was always explained as a static picture in spacecraft measurements, neglecting the temporal evolution. This picture is not correct. Here we p…
Direct Measurement of the Solar-wind Taylor Microscale Using MMS Turbulence Campaign Data
Strangeway, Robert J.; Russell, Christopher T.; Chasapis, Alexandros +7 more
Using the novel Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission data accumulated during the 2019 MMS Solar Wind Turbulence Campaign, we calculate the Taylor microscale (λT) of the turbulent magnetic field in the solar wind. The Taylor microscale represents the onset of dissipative processes in classical turbulence theory. However, an accurate e…
Magnetosheath Jets and Plasmoids: Characteristics and Formation Mechanisms from Hybrid Simulations
Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl; Burgess, David; Trotta, Domenico +2 more
Magnetosheath jets and plasmoids are very common phenomena downstream of Earth's quasi-parallel bow shock. As the increase of the dynamic pressure is one of the principal characteristics of magnetosheath jets, the embedded paramagnetic plasmoids have been considered as an special case of the former. Although the properties of both types of structu…
Numerical Modeling of Suprathermal Electron Transport in the Solar Wind: Effects of Whistler Turbulence
Zank, Gary P.; Tang, Bofeng; Kolobov, Vladimir I.
The solar wind electron velocity distribution function deviates significantly from an equilibrium Maxwellian distribution and is composed of a Maxwellian core, a suprathermal halo, a field-aligned component strahl, and a higher-energy superhalo. Wave-particle interactions associated with whistler wave turbulence are introduced into the kinetic tra…
Electron Temperature Anisotropy and Electron Beam Constraints from Electron Kinetic Instabilities in the Solar Wind
Xie, Huasheng; Wu, Dejin; Sun, Heyu +2 more
Electron temperature anisotropies and electron beams are nonthermal features of the observed nonequilibrium electron velocity distributions in the solar wind. In collision-poor plasmas these nonequilibrium distributions are expected to be regulated by kinetic instabilities through wave-particle interactions. This study considers electron instabili…
Fluid Theory of Coherent Magnetic Vortices in High-β Space Plasmas
Alexandrova, Olga; Maksimović, Milan; Jovanović, Dušan +1 more
In situ observations in Earth's and Saturn's magnetosheaths and in the solar wind reveal the presence of Alfvén vortices as intermittent structures in the range of scales from fluid lengths down to a few ion lengths. The density and the magnetic field associated with them appear to be compressible for higher plasma betas. Until now, only incompres…
Effects of Solar Activity on Taylor Scale and Correlation Scale in Solar Wind Magnetic Fluctuations
Zhou, G.; Wan, W.; He, H. -Q.
The correlation scale and the Taylor scale are evaluated for interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations from two-point, single time correlation function using the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Wind, and Cluster spacecraft data during the time period from 2001 to 2017, which covers over an entire solar cycle. The correlation scale and the Ta…
Relationship between Current Filaments and Turbulence During a Turbulent Reconnection
Yu, Y.; Chen, Z. Z.; Chen, F. +1 more
Both magnetic reconnection and turbulence can play crucial roles in space plasmas. The current layers, developing during magnetic reconnection, can collapse into various small-scale coherent structures, such as current filaments. These current filaments can significantly modulate the kinetic-scale turbulence. However, the quantitative correlation …