Search Publications
Small-amplitude Compressible Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Modulated by Collisionless Damping in Earth's Magnetosheath: Observation Matches Theory
Liu, Terry Z.; Zhao, Siqi; Yan, Huirong +2 more
Plasma turbulence is a ubiquitous dynamical process that transfers energy across many spatial and temporal scales and affects energetic particle transport. Recent advances in the understanding of compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence demonstrate the important role of damping in shaping energy distributions on small scales, yet its obse…
What is the Reynolds Number of the Solar Wind?
Wrench, Daniel; Parashar, Tulasi N.; Oughton, Sean +2 more
The Reynolds number, Re, is an important quantity for describing a turbulent flow. It tells us about the bandwidth over which energy can cascade from large scales to smaller ones, prior to the onset of dissipation. However, calculating it for nearly collisionless plasmas like the solar wind is challenging. Previous studies have used formulations o…
Upstream Plasma Waves and Downstream Magnetic Reconnection at a Reforming Quasi-parallel Shock
Yang, Zhongwei; Lu, Quanming; Gao, Xinliang +4 more
With the help of a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation model, we investigate the long-time evolution (near $100{{\rm{\Omega }}}_{i0}^{-1}$ , where Ω i0 is the ion gyrofrequency in the upstream) of a quasi-parallel shock. Some of the upstream ions are reflected by the shock front, and their interactions with the incident ions exc…
Oblique Electrostatic Solitary and Supersolitary Waves in Earth's Magnetosheath
Singh, Kuldeep; Varghese, Steffy Sara; Saini, Nareshpal Singh +1 more
Nonlinear electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) are routinely detected at various regions of Earth's magnetosphere using the Wideband Data plasma wave receivers mounted on board the Cluster satellite(s). This mission has facilitated the observation and analysis of ESW characteristics, such as amplitude and temporal duration within the magnetosheath,…
Local Transition of Electron Pitch Angle Distribution within Flux Pileup Region behind Dipolarization Front
Cao, J. B.; Liu, Y. Y.; Liu, C. M. +2 more
Dipolarization fronts (DFs), earthward-propagating magnetic transients with a strong magnetic field, are important regions favorable for energetic electron acceleration in the magnetotail. The DF-driven electron acceleration usually generates coherent pitch angle distributions (PADs) inside flux pileup regions (FPRs), i.e., strong magnetic field r…
Radial Distribution of Electron Quasi-thermal Noise in the Inner Heliosphere
Chen, Ling; Li, Yi-Lun; Wu, De-Jin
The electron population in the solar wind plasma can be described with three different components: a core, a halo, and a magnetic field aligned strahl. The electron quasi-thermal noise (QTN) is investigated by using an electron population model consisting of a core with a Maxwellian distribution and a halo with a kappa distribution, based on the e…