Ionospheric Plasma Study.
Abstract
The basic understanding of plasma instabilities, ionospheric turbulence and particle energization processes in the magnetosphere and ionosphere. The following are examples for which theoretical explanations have been obtain: ion conics, effects of magnetic shear on the beam induced instability, pitch-angle diffusion, wave-particle interactions, nonclassical polar wind, and strong plasma turbulence. Specific topics include: 1. Ion acceleration by lower hybrid waves in the topside ionosphere. 2. Transverse acceleration of oxygen ions in the central plasma sheet region by electromagnetic ion cyclotron resonance with broad band left hand polarized waves. 3. Analytic description of ion conics in the inhomogeneous terrestrial magnetic field. 4. Effect of magnetic shear on the nonlocal stability of beam-induced lower hybrid waves. 5. The loss cone population of charged particles in the magnetosphere. 6. Charged particle injection experiments in space. 7. Critical fluctuations around non-equilibrium states and strong turbulence. 8. Heat flux distribution and associated instabilities in the polar wind and solar wind.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 15, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA175695
Entities
People
- Tom Chang
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology