Ion stochastic heating by obliquely propagating magnetosonic waves

Journal Article · Fri Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4731707· OSTI ID:22072450

Xinliang, Gao; Quanming, Lu; Mingyu, Wu; Shui, Wang ^[1]

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1. CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)

The ion motions in obliquely propagating Alfven waves with sufficiently large amplitudes have already been studied by Chen et al.[Phys. Plasmas 8, 4713 (2001)], and it was found that the ion motions are stochastic when the wave frequency is at a fraction of the ion gyro-frequency. In this paper, with test particle simulations, we investigate the ion motions in obliquely propagating magnetosonic waves and find that the ion motions also become stochastic when the amplitude of the magnetosonic waves is sufficiently large due to the resonance at sub-cyclotron frequencies. Similar to the Alfven wave, the increase of the propagating angle, wave frequency, and the number of the wave modes can lower the stochastic threshold of the ion motions. However, because the magnetosonic waves become more and more compressive with the increase of the propagating angle, the decrease of the stochastic threshold with the increase of the propagating angle is more obvious in the magnetosonic waves than that in the Alfven waves.

• OSTI ID: 22072450
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 19; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALFVEN WAVES
AMPLITUDES
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
IONS
MAGNETOACOUSTIC WAVES
PLASMA SIMULATION
RESONANCE
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
TEST PARTICLES