Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Stansby, D.
• Horbury, T. S.
• Chen, C. H. K.
• Matteini, L.

Titel

EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF WHISTLER WAVE DISPERSION RELATION IN THE SOLAR WIND

Ist Teil von

• Astrophysical journal. Letters, 2016-09, Vol.829 (1), p.L16-L16

Ort / Verlag

United States: The American Astronomical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• ABSTRACT The origins and properties of large-amplitude whistler wavepackets in the solar wind are still unclear. In this Letter, we utilize single spacecraft electric and magnetic field waveform measurements from the ARTEMIS mission to calculate the plasma frame frequency and wavevector of individual wavepackets over multiple intervals. This allows direct comparison of experimental measurements with theoretical dispersion relations to identify the observed waves as whistler waves. The whistlers are right-hand circularly polarized, travel anti-sunward, and are aligned with the background magnetic field. Their dispersion is strongly affected by the local electron parallel beta in agreement with linear theory. The properties measured are consistent with the electron heat flux instability acting in the solar wind to generate these waves.