Theory of wave activity occurring in the AMPTE artificial comet

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physics of Fluids B; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859984· OSTI ID:5540330

Bingham, R ^[1]; Shapiro, V D ^[2]; Tsytovich, V N ^[3]; de Angelis, U ^[4]; Gilman, M; Shevchenko, V I ^[2]

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1. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom (GB)
2. Space Research Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR (SU)
3. General Physics Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR (SU)
4. Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Naples, Naples, Italy (IT)

One of the main experiments of the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE) (J. Geophys. Res. {bold 91}, 10013 (1986)) satellite mission was the release of neutral barium atoms in the solar wind. The barium atoms ionized by photoionization extremely rapidly forming a dense, expanding, plasma cloud that interrupted the solar wind flow creating diamagnetic cavities. On the upstream side of the cavity a region of compressed plasma and enhanced magnetic field was created as the result of being produced by the slowing down and deflection of the solar wind, and magnetic field line draping. Intense electrostatic and magnetic turbulence was observed by both the IRM (J. Geophys. Res. {bold 91}, 10 013 (1986)) and UKS (J. Geophys. Res. {bold 91}, 1320 (1986)) satellites at the boundary of the diamagnetic cavity, with the most intense waves being detected near the outer boundary of the compressed region. This paper examines how the newly created expanding plasma couples to the solar wind by means of plasma--beam and current-driven instabilities. In particular, it is shown how lower-hybrid and lower-hybrid drift waves are generated by cross-field proton--barium streaming instabilities and cross-field electron currents. The saturation mechanism for these waves is considered to be the modulational instability, this instability can also lead to filamentation and coupling to magnetosonic modes, which are also observed. As the result of modulational instability the {ital k}{sub {parallel}} component increases, which allows the heating and acceleration of electrons that is consistent with the observations.

• OSTI ID: 5540330
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (USA), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (USA) Vol. 3:7; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ATOMS
BARIUM
COMETS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
ELEMENTS
EXPANSION
IONIZATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
METALS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PHOTOIONIZATION
PLASMA
PLASMA EXPANSION
SATELLITES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TURBULENCE