Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userOn the competition between the mirror and electromagnetic ion cyclotron modes
106
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We give a simple argument for the exclusive existence of mirror and electromaghetic ion cyclotron modes in anisotropic high-$beta$ plasmas. It is shown that, in addition to a large domain of coexistence of both modes, two domains exist in parameter space $(A,beta_perp)$ where solely either mirror modes or electromagnetic ion cyclotron modes can be excited. In the overlap region the modes with the larger growth rate should win. However nonlinear effects may modify such a conclusion.
rate research
Read More
We perform direct analysis of mirror mode instabilities from the general dielectric tensor for several model distributions, in the longwavelength limit. The growth rate at the instability threshold depends on the derivative of the distribution for zero parallel energy. The maximum growth rate is always $sim k_parallel v_{Tparallel}$ and the instability is of nonresonant kind. The instability growth rate and its dependence on the propagation angle depend on the shape of the ion and electron distribution functions.
The mirror mode evolving in collisionless magnetised high-temperature thermally anisotropic plasmas is shown to develop an interesting macro-state. Starting as a classical zero frequency ion fluid instability it saturates quasi-linearly at very low magnetic level, while forming elongated magnetic bubbles which trap the electron component to perform an adiabatic bounce motion along the magnetic field. {Further evolution of the mirror mode towards a stationary state is determined by the bouncing trapped electrons which interact with the thermal level of ion sound waves, generate attractive wake potentials which give rise to formation of electron pairs in the lowest-energy singlet state of two combined electrons. Pairing takes preferentially place near the bounce-mirror points where the pairs become spatially locked with all their energy in the gyration. The resulting large anisotropy of pairs enters the mirror growth rate in the quasi-linearly stable mirror mode. It breaks the quasilinear stability and causes further growth. Pressure balance is either restored by dissipation of the pairs and their anisotropy or inflow of plasma from the environment. In the first case new pairs will continuously form until equilibrium is reached. In the final state the fraction of pairs can be estimated. This process is open to experimental verification. To our knowledge it is the only process where in high temperature plasma pairing may occur and has an important observable macroscopic effect: breaking the quasilinear limit and generation of localised diamagnetism.}
Electromagnetic cyclotron waves (ECWs) near the proton cyclotron frequency are frequently observed in the solar wind, yet their generation mechanism is still an open question. Based on the Wind data during the years 2005$-$2015, this paper carries out a statistical study on plasma characteristics associated with the occurrence of ECWs. The probability density distributions (PDDs) of proton temperature anisotropy ($T_perp/T_parallel$) and proton parallel beta ($beta_parallel$) are investigated, where $perp$ and $parallel$ refer to perpendicular and parallel to the background magnetic field, respectively. The PDDs depend on solar wind types as well as wave polarizations, and those for ECWs with left-handed (LH) polarization exhibit considerable differences from the PDDs for ambient solar winds. The distributions of occurrence rates of LH ECWs in ($beta_parallel$, $T_perp/T_parallel$) space show a tendency that the occurrence rates increase with proton temperature anisotropies. The $beta_parallel$ with maximum of occurrence rates is near 0.1 when $T_perp/T_parallel > 1$ while it is around 1 when $T_perp/T_parallel < 1$. The presence of alpha$-$proton differential flow with large kinetic energy corresponds to a much high occurrence rate as well as the domination of LH polarization of ECWs. Based on these observations and existing theories, we propose that the proton cyclotron and parallel firehose instabilities with effects of alpha$-$proton differential flow are likely responsible for the local generation of LH ECWs in the solar wind. The generation mechanism of right-handed ECWs seems to be complicated and more discussions are needed in future researches.
Mirror modes in collisionless high-temperature plasmas represent macroscopic high-temperature quasi-superconductors. We explicitly calculate the bouncing electron contribution to the ion-mode growth rate, diamagnetic surface current responsible for the Meissner effect, and the weak attracting electric field. The mean electric field turns out to be negligible. Pairing is a second-order effect of minor importance. The physically important effect is the resonant interaction between bouncing electrons and the thermal ion-sound background. It is responsible for the mirror mode to evolve as a phase transition from normal to quasi-superconducting state.
First results from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission have revealed ubiquitous coherent ion-scale waves in the inner heliosphere, which are signatures of kinetic wave-particle interactions and fluid-scale instabilities. However, initial studies of the circularly polarized ion-scale waves observed by PSP have only thoroughly analyzed magnetic field signatures, precluding a determination of solar-wind frame propagation direction and intrinsic wave-polarization. A comprehensive determination of wave-properties requires measurements of both electric and magnetic fields. Here, we use full capabilities of the PSP/FIELDS instrument suite to measure both the electric and magnetic components of circularly polarized waves. Comparing spacecraft frame magnetic field measurements with the Doppler-shifted cold-plasma dispersion relation for parallel transverse waves constrains allowable plasma frame polarizations and wave-vectors. We demonstrate that the Doppler-shifted cold-plasma dispersion has a maximum spacecraft frequency $f_{sc}^{*}$ for which intrinsically right-handed fast-magnetosonic waves (FMWs) propagating sunwards can appear left-handed in the spacecraft frame. Observations of left-handed waves with $|f|>f_{sc}^{*}$ are uniquely explained by intrinsically left-handed, ion-cyclotron, waves (ICWs). We demonstrate that electric field measurements for waves with $|f|>f_{sc}^{*}$ are consistent with ICWs propagating away from the sun, verifying the measured electric field. Applying the verified electric field measurements to the full distribution of waves suggests that, in the solar wind frame, the vast majority of waves propagate away from the sun, indicating that the observed population of coherent ion-scale waves contains both intrinsically left and right hand polarized modes.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
