Empirical model of whistler anisotropy instability

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3647504· OSTI ID:22046928

Yoon, Peter H ^[1]; Seough, Jung Joon; Lee, Junggi; An, Junmo; Lee, Jae Ok ^[2]

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1. IPST, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)
2. School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University (Korea, Republic of)

Empirical formulae for the real frequency and growth rate associated with the whistler anisotropy instability are obtained. The electrons are assumed to have an anisotropic distribution function, with Maxwellian parallel distribution. Under such an assumption complex roots of the dispersion relation depend only on two dimensionless parameters, namely, the temperature anisotropy factor A = T{sub perpendiculare}/T{sub ||e} - 1, where T{sub perpendiculare} and T{sub ||e} are the perpendicular and parallel electron temperatures, respectively, and parallel electron beta, {beta}{sub ||} = (8{pi}nT{sub ||e}/B{sup 2}){sup 1/2}, where n and B are the plasma density and magnetic field intensity, respectively. Comparison against exact numerical roots show that analytical formulae describe the whistler instability over a wide range of parallel electron beta and temperature anisotropy factor. The present result may be useful for circumstances in which the use of exact numerical roots becomes impractical, such as in the radiation belt quasi-linear transport coefficient calculation.

• OSTI ID: 22046928
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 18; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ANISOTROPY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISPERSION RELATIONS
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELECTRONS
ION TEMPERATURE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES
RADIATION BELTS
RADIATION TRANSPORT
WHISTLER INSTABILITY