skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Ulysses observations of magnetic waves due to newborn interstellar pickup ions. II. Application of turbulence concepts to limiting wave energy and observability

Abstract

The low-frequency magnetic waves that arise from the isotropization of newborn interstellar pickup ions (PUIs) are reasonably well described by linear and quasi-linear kinetic theory in so far as those theories predict the wave frequency and polarization in the spacecraft frame. Those theories fail to describe the scarce observability of the waves. Quasilinear theory predicts that the wave power should accumulate over long periods of time as the relatively weak kinetic instability slowly adds power to the observed spectrum. At the same time it has been argued that the same wave energy must serve as a secondary source of thermal ion heating in the outer heliosphere once the initial turbulence is depleted. To the extent that turbulent transport of the wave energy acts against the spectrally confined accumulation of wave energy, turbulence should be a limiting factor in observability. We argue that turbulence does limit the observability of the waves and we use turbulence theory to predict the observed wave energy. We compare this prediction against a database of 502 wave observations attributed to newborn interstellar PUIs observed by the Ulysses spacecraft.

Authors:
 [1]; ; ; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Physics Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 (United States)
  2. Physics Department and Space Science Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 (United States)
  3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 180-600, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22356777
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 787; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; FORECASTING; HELIOSPHERE; INSTABILITY; INTERSTELLAR SPACE; IONS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; POLARIZATION; QUASILINEAR PROBLEMS; SOLAR WIND; SPACE VEHICLES; SPECTRA; SUN; TURBULENCE; WAVE POWER

Citation Formats

Cannon, Bradford E., Smith, Charles W., Isenberg, Philip A., Vasquez, Bernard J., Joyce, Colin J., Murphy, Neil, and Nuno, Raquel G., E-mail: bc13h@my.fsu.edu, E-mail: Charles.Smith@unh.edu, E-mail: Phil.Isenberg@unh.edu, E-mail: Bernie.Vasquez@unh.edu, E-mail: cjl46@wildcats.unh.edu, E-mail: Neil.Murphy@jpl.nasa.gov, E-mail: raquel.nuno@asu.edu. Ulysses observations of magnetic waves due to newborn interstellar pickup ions. II. Application of turbulence concepts to limiting wave energy and observability. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/133.
Cannon, Bradford E., Smith, Charles W., Isenberg, Philip A., Vasquez, Bernard J., Joyce, Colin J., Murphy, Neil, & Nuno, Raquel G., E-mail: bc13h@my.fsu.edu, E-mail: Charles.Smith@unh.edu, E-mail: Phil.Isenberg@unh.edu, E-mail: Bernie.Vasquez@unh.edu, E-mail: cjl46@wildcats.unh.edu, E-mail: Neil.Murphy@jpl.nasa.gov, E-mail: raquel.nuno@asu.edu. Ulysses observations of magnetic waves due to newborn interstellar pickup ions. II. Application of turbulence concepts to limiting wave energy and observability. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/133
Cannon, Bradford E., Smith, Charles W., Isenberg, Philip A., Vasquez, Bernard J., Joyce, Colin J., Murphy, Neil, and Nuno, Raquel G., E-mail: bc13h@my.fsu.edu, E-mail: Charles.Smith@unh.edu, E-mail: Phil.Isenberg@unh.edu, E-mail: Bernie.Vasquez@unh.edu, E-mail: cjl46@wildcats.unh.edu, E-mail: Neil.Murphy@jpl.nasa.gov, E-mail: raquel.nuno@asu.edu. 2014. "Ulysses observations of magnetic waves due to newborn interstellar pickup ions. II. Application of turbulence concepts to limiting wave energy and observability". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/133.
@article{osti_22356777,
title = {Ulysses observations of magnetic waves due to newborn interstellar pickup ions. II. Application of turbulence concepts to limiting wave energy and observability},
author = {Cannon, Bradford E. and Smith, Charles W. and Isenberg, Philip A. and Vasquez, Bernard J. and Joyce, Colin J. and Murphy, Neil and Nuno, Raquel G., E-mail: bc13h@my.fsu.edu, E-mail: Charles.Smith@unh.edu, E-mail: Phil.Isenberg@unh.edu, E-mail: Bernie.Vasquez@unh.edu, E-mail: cjl46@wildcats.unh.edu, E-mail: Neil.Murphy@jpl.nasa.gov, E-mail: raquel.nuno@asu.edu},
abstractNote = {The low-frequency magnetic waves that arise from the isotropization of newborn interstellar pickup ions (PUIs) are reasonably well described by linear and quasi-linear kinetic theory in so far as those theories predict the wave frequency and polarization in the spacecraft frame. Those theories fail to describe the scarce observability of the waves. Quasilinear theory predicts that the wave power should accumulate over long periods of time as the relatively weak kinetic instability slowly adds power to the observed spectrum. At the same time it has been argued that the same wave energy must serve as a secondary source of thermal ion heating in the outer heliosphere once the initial turbulence is depleted. To the extent that turbulent transport of the wave energy acts against the spectrally confined accumulation of wave energy, turbulence should be a limiting factor in observability. We argue that turbulence does limit the observability of the waves and we use turbulence theory to predict the observed wave energy. We compare this prediction against a database of 502 wave observations attributed to newborn interstellar PUIs observed by the Ulysses spacecraft.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/133},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22356777}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 787,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}