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Title: Whistler anisotropy instabilities as the source of banded chorus: Van Allen Probes observations and particle-in-cell simulations

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JA020364· OSTI ID:1212455
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.
  4. Auburn Univ., Auburn, AL (United States). Dept. of Physics.
  5. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Magnetospheric banded chorus is enhanced whistler waves with frequencies ωr < Ωe, where Ωe is the electron cyclotron frequency, and a characteristic spectral gap at ωr ≃ Ωe/2. This paper uses spacecraft observations and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in a magnetized, homogeneous, collisionless plasma to test the hypothesis that banded chorus is due to local linear growth of two branches of the whistler anisotropy instability excited by two distinct, anisotropic electron components of significantly different temperatures. The electron densities and temperatures are derived from Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron instrument measurements on the Van Allen Probes A satellite during a banded chorus event on 1 November 2012. The observations are consistent with a three-component electron model consisting of a cold (a few tens of eV) population, a warm (a few hundred eV) anisotropic population, and a hot (a few keV) anisotropic population. The simulations use plasma and field parameters as measured from the satellite during this event except for two numbers: the anisotropies of the warm and the hot electron components are enhanced over the measured values in order to obtain relatively rapid instability growth. The simulations show that the warm component drives the quasi-electrostatic upper band chorus and that the hot component drives the electromagnetic lower band chorus; the gap at ~Ωe/2 is a natural consequence of the growth of two whistler modes with different properties.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1212455
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 10; ISSN 2169-9380
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 93 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (17)

Lower Band Cascade of Whistler Waves Excited by Anisotropic Hot Electrons: One‐Dimensional PIC Simulations journal October 2017
Oblique Whistler-Mode Waves in the Earth’s Inner Magnetosphere: Energy Distribution, Origins, and Role in Radiation Belt Dynamics journal April 2016
Remote Sensing of Radiation Belt Energetic Electrons Using Lightning Triggered Upper Band Chorus journal January 2019
Analytical Chorus Wave Model Derived from Van Allen Probe Observations journal February 2019
The Effects of Thermal Electrons on Whistler Mode Waves Excited by Anisotropic Hot Electrons: Linear Theory and 2‐D PIC Simulations journal July 2019
Periodic Excitation of Chorus and ECH Waves Modulated by Ultralow Frequency Compressions journal November 2019
Wave energy budget analysis in the Earth’s radiation belts uncovers a missing energy journal May 2015
Origin of two-band chorus in the radiation belt of Earth journal October 2019
Relativistic electron scattering by magnetosonic waves: Effects of discrete wave emission and high wave amplitudes journal June 2015
Polarization of obliquely propagating whistler mode waves based on linear dispersion theory journal December 2016
Electron-acoustic solitary waves in the Earth's inner magnetosphere journal February 2018
Theoretical analysis on lower band cascade as a mechanism for multiband chorus in the Earth’s magnetosphere journal May 2018
An excitation mechanism of electromagnetic pulses by relativistic electrons in the brown dwarfs rarefied magnetosphere journal August 2018
An excitation mechanism for discrete chorus elements in the magnetosphere journal January 2018
Excitation of chorus with small wave normal angles due to beam pulse amplifier (BPA) mechanism in density ducts journal January 2019
Remote Sensing of Radiation Belt Energetic Electrons Using Lightning Triggered Upper Band Chorus conference January 2019
An excitation mechanism for discrete chorus elements in the magnetosphere journal May 2018

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