Resonant Scattering of Relativistic Outer Zone Electrons by Plasmaspheric Plume Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves

The bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck equation is solved to study the relativistic electron phase space density （PSD） evolution in the outer radiation belt due to resonant interactions with plasmaspheric plume electromagnetic ion cyclotron （EMIC） waves. It is found that the PSDs of relativistic electrons can be depleted by 1-3 orders of magnitude in 5h, supporting the previous finding that resonant interactions with EMIC waves may account for the frequently observed relativistic electron flux dropouts in the outer radiation belt during the main phase of a storm. The significant precipitation loss of ~MeV electrons is primarily induced by the EMIC waves in H＋ and He＋ bands. The rapid remove of highly relativistic electrons （〉5MeV） is mainly driven by the EMIC waves in O＋ band at lower pitch-angles, as well as the EMIC waves in H＋ and He＋ bands at larger pitch-angles. Moreover, a stronger depletion of relativistic electrons is found to occur over a wider pitch angle range when EMIC waves are centering relatively higher in the band.     

Test particle simulations of resonant interactions between energetic electrons and discrete,multi-frequency artificial whistler waves in the plasmasphere

Modulated high frequency(HF) heating of the ionosphere provides a feasible means of artificially generating extremely low frequency(ELF)/very low frequency(VLF) whistler waves, which can leak into the inner magnetosphere and contribute to resonant interactions with high energy electrons. Combining the ray tracing method and test particle simulations, we evaluate the effects of energetic electron resonant scattering driven by the discrete, multi-frequency artificially generated ELF/VLF waves. The simulation results indicate a stochastic behavior of electrons and a linear profile of pitch angle and kinetic energy variations averaged over all test electrons. These features are similar to those associated with single-frequency waves. The computed local diffusion coefficients show that, although the momentum diffusion of relativistic electrons due to artificial ELF/VLF whistlers with a nominal amplitude of ～ 1 pT is minor, the pitch angle scattering can be notably efficient at low pitch angles near the loss cone, which supports the feasibility of artificial triggering of multi-frequency ELF/VLF whistler waves for the removal of high energy electrons from the magnetosphere. We also investigate the dependences of diffusion coefficients on the frequency interval(△f) of the discrete, multi-frequency waves.We find that there is a threshold value of △f for which the net diffusion coefficient of multi-frequency whistlers is inversely proportional to △f(proportional to the frequency components Nw) when △f is below the threshold value but it remains unchanged with increasing △f when △f is larger than the threshold value. This is explained as being due to the fact that the resonant scattering effect of broadband waves is the sum of the effects of each frequency in the ‘effective frequency band’. Our results suggest that the modulation frequency of HF heating of the ionosphere can be appropriately selected with reasonable frequency intervals so that better performance of controlled precipitation of high energy electrons in the plasmasphere by artificial ELF/VLF whistler waves can be achieved.     

Unstable mode of ion-acoustic waves with two temperature q-nonextensive distributed electrons

The linear characteristics of the unstable mode of ion-acoustic waves are examined in an electrostatic electron-ion plasma composed of streaming hot electrons, non-streaming cold electrons and dynamical positive ions. The plasma under consideration is modeled by using a non-gyrotropic nonextensive q-distribution function in which the free energy source for wave excitation is provided by the relative directed motion of streaming hot electrons with respect to the other plasma species. In the frame work of kinetic model, a linearized set of Vlasov–Poisson's equations are solved to obtain the analytical expressions for dispersion relation and Landau damping rate. The threshold condition for the unstable ionacoustic wave is derived to assess the stability of the wave in the presence of nonextensive effects. Growth in the wave spectrum and nontrivial effects of q-nonextensive parameter on the ion-acoustic waves can be of interest for the readers in the regions of Saturns' s magnetosphere.     

Evolution of Ring Current Protons Induced by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves

We investigate the evolution of the phase space density （PSD） of ring current protons induced by electromagnetic ion cyclotron （EMIC） waves at the location L=3.5, calculate the diffusion coefficients in pitch angle and momentum, and solve the standard two-dimensional Fokker-Planck diffusion equation. The pitch angle diffusion coefficient is found to be larger than the momentum diffusion coefficient by a factor of about 103 or above at lower pitch angles. We show that EMIC waves can produce efficient pitch angle scattering of energetic （- 100 keV） protons, yielding a rapid decrement in PSD, typically by a factor of - 10 within a few hours, consistent with observational data. This result further supports previous findings that wave-particle interaction is responsible for the rapid ring current decay.     

Excitation of Whistler-Mode （Chorus） Emissions during Terrestrial Substorms

The enhanced growth rate of whistler mode waves has been evaluated during an injection event associated with an isolated terrestrial substorm that occurred at 23：00 UT, on January 21, 1991. The electron phase space density observed by an LEPA instrument on the board of the CRRES spacecraft is modelled by using a bi-loss-cone distribution function （composed of a high anisotropic component and a quasi-isotropic component）. During the injection event, the path integrated gain may increase by a factor of 5 over a frequency range near a few tenths of the electron gyrofrequency, which is consistent with the enhancement observed in the CRRES plasma wave experiment （PWE） emissions. Scattering of electrons by the enhanced whistler mode waves causes the pitch angle distribution of resonant electrons to a quasi isotropic （fiat-top） distribution during the terrestrial substorm injection event.     

Nonlinear time-dependent simulation of helix traveling wave tubes

A one-dimensional nonlinear time-dependent theory for helix traveling wave tubes is studied. A generalized electromagnetic field is applied to the expression of the radio frequency field. To simulate the variations of the high frequency structure, such as the pitch taper and the effect of harmonics, the spatial average over a wavelength is substituted by a time average over a wave period in the equation of the radio frequency field. Under this assumption, the space charge field of the electron beam can be treated by a space charge wave model along with the space charge coefficient. The effects of the radio frequency and the space charge fields on the electrons are presented by the equations of the electron energy and the electron phase. The time-dependent simulation is compared with the frequency-domain simulation for a helix TWT, which validates the availability of this theory.     

Pitch Angle Distribution Evolution of Energetic Electrons by Whistler-Mode Chorus

We develop a two-dimensional momentum and pitch angle code to solve the typical Fokker-Planck equation which governs wave-particle interaction in space plasmas. We carry out detailed calculations of momentum and pitch angle diffusion coefficients, and temporal evolution of pitch angle distribution for a band of chorus frequency distributed over a standard Gaussian spectrum particularly in the heart of the Earth＇s radiation belt L = 4.5, where peaks of the electron phase space density are observed. We find that the Whistler-mode chorus can produce significant acceleration of electrons at large pitch angles, and can enhance the phase space density for energies of 0.5 - 1 MeV by a factor of 10 or above after about 24h. This result can account for observation of significant enhancement in flux of energetic electrons during the recovery phase of a geomagnetic storm.     

Interferences in photo-detached electron spectra from a non-collinear tri-atomic anion

The electron flux oscillations in photo-detachment of a non-collinear tri-atomic anion have been studied by taking each atom of the system as a coherent source of detached-electron wave. These electron waves traversing along three different trajectories result in a quantum interference. An analytical expression of detached-electron flux is evaluated for various detached-electron energies and for different geometrical shapes of the system. The results show that the electron flux distributions exhibit molecular shape-induced oscillatory structures. These oscillations are explained using the semi- classical closed-orbit theory; the outgoing electron waves produced from one center are propagated in the vicinity of the sources at other centers. It is also observed that in a particular case our non-collinear tri-atomic system reduces to the collinear tri-atomic system recently published.     

Particle Simulation of Electrostatic Waves Driven by an Electron Beam

A one-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell simulation is performed to study electrostatic wave excitation due to an electron beam in a plasma system. The excited fundamental and harmonic waves are analyzed with the fast Fourier transformation and the wavelet transformation. The second harmonic is suggested to be generated by wave-wave coupling during the nonlinear evolution, which involves forward propagating and backward propagating Langmuir waves. Furthermore, the background electrons may be heated and accelerated by the electrostatic waves.     

Whistler-Mode Waves Growth by a Generalized Relativistic Kappa-Type Distribution

The instability of field-aligned Whistler-mode waves in space plasmas is studied by using a recently developed generalized relativistic kappa-type （KT） distribution. Numerical calculations are performed for a direct comparison between the new KT distribution and the current kappa distribution. We show that the wave growth for the KT distribution tends to occur in the lower wave frequency （e.g.,ω 〈~0.1Ω） due to a larger fractional number of the resonant electrons ηrel （which controls the wave growth）, while primarily locating in the higher wave frequency for the kappa distribution. Moreover, the relativistic anisotropy Are1 by the KT distribution is found to be smaller than that by the kappa distribution, leading to a smaller peak of wave growth. The results present a further understanding of plasma wave instability particularly in those plasmas where relativistic electrons are present.