Local Excitation of Whistler Mode Waves and Associated Langmuir Waves at Dayside Reconnection Regions
Abstract
In the Earth's dayside reconnection boundary layer, whistler mode waves coincide with magnetic field openings and the formation of the resultant anisotropic electrons. Depending on the energy range of anisotropic electrons, whistlers can grow at frequencies in the upper and/or lower band. Observations show that whistler mode waves modulate Langmuir wave amplitude as they propagate toward the X line. Observations of whistler mode wave phase and Langmuir waves packets, as well as coincident electron measurements, reveal that whistler mode waves can accelerate electrons via Landau resonance at locations where E||is antiparallel to the wave propagation direction. The accelerated electrons produce localized beams, which subsequently drive the periodically modulated Langmuir waves. The close association of those two wave modes reveals the microscale electron dynamics in the exhaust region, and the proposed mechanism could potentially be applied to explain the modulation events observed in planetary magnetospheres and in the solar wind.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 12, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1029/2018gl078287
Entities
People
- Christopher T. Russell
- Cong Zhao
- Craig Pollock
- Jacob Bortnik
- James L. Burch
- Jean Berchem
- Jinxing Li
- Meng Zhou
- Olivier Le Contel
- Per-Arne Lindqvist
- Robert Ergun
- Roy Torbert
- Shan Wang
- Wen Li
- Xin An
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Boston University
- CNES
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Center for Scientific Research
- National Science Foundation
- Royal Institute of Technology
- Sorbonne University
- Southwest Research Institute
- University of Maryland
- University of New Hampshire