Wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere of Uranus

Technical Report · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988

OSTI ID:6591466

Kurth, W S; Gurnett, D A; Scarf, F L; Coroniti, F V

The Voyager 2 encounter of Uranus has provided observations of plasma waves in and near the magnetosphere. These data, while the first from Uranus, will also be the only direct information on wave-particle interactions at this planet for many years to come. The observations include electrostatic waves upstream of the bow shock, turbulence in the shock, Bernstein emissions and whistler mode waves in the magnetosphere, broadband electrostatic noise in the magnetotail, and a number of the other types of plasma waves which have yet to be clearly identified. Each of these types of waves exist in a plasma environment which both supports the growth of the waves and is modified by interactions with the waves. Wave-particle interactions provide the channels through which the waves can accelerate, scatter, or thermalize the plasmas. The most spectacular example in the case of Uranus is the extremely intense whistler mode activity in the inner magnetosphere which is the source of strong pitch angle diffusion. The resulting electron precipitation is sufficient to produce the auroral emissions observed by Voyager. The strong diffusion, however, presents the problem of supplying electrons in the range of 5 to 40 keV in order to support the losses to the atmosphere.

• Research Organization: Iowa Univ., Iowa City (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6591466
• Report Number(s): N-89-11678; NASA-CR-183299; NAS-1.26:183299; UI-88-13
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATMOSPHERES
AURORAE
CHARGED-PARTICLE PRECIPITATION
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON PRECIPITATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
INTERACTIONS
NOISE
NUMERICAL DATA
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
PLANETARY MAGNETOSPHERES
PLANETS
PLASMA WAVES
RADIATIONS
RADIO NOISE
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SHOCK WAVES
TURBULENCE
URANUS PLANET
WAVE PROPAGATION
WHISTLERS