Search Publications
Review of modeling of losses and sources of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt II: Local acceleration and loss
Meredith, Nigel P.; Shprits, Yuri Y.; Subbotin, Dmitriy A. +1 more
This paper focuses on the modeling of local acceleration and loss processes in the outer radiation belt. We begin by reviewing the statistical properties of waves that violate the first and second adiabatic invariants, leading to the loss and acceleration of high energy electrons in the outer radiation belt. After a brief description of the most c…
The unexpected origin of plasmaspheric hiss from discrete chorus emissions
Meredith, Nigel P.; Thorne, Richard M.; Bortnik, Jacob
Plasmaspheric hiss is a type of electromagnetic wave found ubiquitously in the dense plasma region that encircles the Earth, known as the plasmasphere. This important wave is known to remove the high-energy electrons that are trapped along the Earth's magnetic field lines, and therefore helps to reduce the radiation hazards to satellites and human…
Small-Scale Energy Cascade of the Solar Wind Turbulence
Alexandrova, O.; Carbone, V.; Veltri, P. +1 more
Magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind are distributed according to Kolmogorov's power law f-5/3 below the ion cyclotron frequency fci. Above this frequency, the observed steeper power law is usually interpreted in two different ways, as a dissipative range of the solar wind turbulence, or another turbulent cascade, the natu…
Electron temperature anisotropy constraints in the solar wind
Maksimovic, Milan; Marsch, Eckart; Scime, Earl E. +3 more
We have performed a statistical study of a substantial amount of electron data acquired in the solar wind to understand the constraints on electron temperature anisotropy by plasma instabilities and Coulomb collisions. We use a large data set of electron measurements from three different spacecraft (Helios I, Cluster II, and Ulysses) collected in …
Observation of energetic electrons within magnetic islands
Daly, P. W.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Vaivads, A. +10 more
Magnetic reconnection is the underlying process that releases impulsively an enormous amount of magnetic energy in solar flares , flares on strongly magnetized neutron stars and substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere. Studies of energy release during solar flares, in particular, indicate that up to 50% of the released energy is carried by accelera…
Electron density estimations derived from spacecraft potential measurements on Cluster in tenuous plasma regions
Sauvaud, J. -A.; Dandouras, I.; André, M. +13 more
Spacecraft potential measurements by the EFW electric field experiment on the Cluster satellites can be used to obtain plasma density estimates in regions barely accessible to other type of plasma experiments. Direct calibrations of the plasma density as a function of the measured potential difference between the spacecraft and the probes can be c…
Properties of magnetosheath mirror modes observed by Cluster and their response to changes in plasma parameters
Dandouras, Iannis; Lucek, Elizabeth; Soucek, Jan
Mirror modes are large amplitude nonpropagating compressive structures frequently observed in the magnetosheath. They appear in the form of quasi-sinusoidal oscillations in the magnetic field, profound magnetic decreases (dips) or magnetic enhancements (peaks), accompanied by a corresponding anticorrelated signature in plasma density. In this stud…
Transient and localized processes in the magnetotail: a review
Zelenyi, L. M.; Sauvaud, J. -A.; Louarn, P. +16 more
Many phenomena in the Earth's magnetotail have characteristic temporal scales of several minutes and spatial scales of a few Earth radii (RE). Examples of such transient and localized mesoscale phenomena are bursty bulk flows, beamlets, energy dispersed ion beams, flux ropes, traveling compression regions, night-side flux transfer event…
Cluster observations of energetic electrons and electromagnetic fields within a reconnecting thin current sheet in the Earth's magnetotail
Eastwood, J. P.; Daly, P. W.; André, M. +12 more
We study the acceleration of energetic electrons during magnetotail reconnection by using Cluster simultaneous measurements of three-dimensional electron distribution functions, electric and magnetic fields, and waves in a thin current sheet. We present observations of two consecutive current sheet crossings where the flux of electrons 35-127 keV …
Spectra and anisotropy of magnetic fluctuations in the Earth's magnetosheath: Cluster observations
Alexandrova, O.; Mangeney, A.; Lacombe, C.
We investigate the spectral shape, the anisotropy of the wave vector distributions and the anisotropy of the amplitudes of the magnetic fluctuations in the Earth's magnetosheath within a broad range of frequencies [10-3, 10] Hz which corresponds to spatial scales from ~10 to 105 km. We present the first observations of a Kolm…