Wind Observations of Foreshock Cavities

Details Wind Observations of Foreshock Cavities Wind Observations of Foreshock Cavities

May 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsh32b..09s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SH32B-09

Physics

2154 Planetary Bow Shocks, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

Wave-particle interactions energize a small fraction of the solar wind ions in the foreshock to high energies. Pressures associated with the energized ions cause bundles of magnetic field lines connected to the bow shock to expand, resulting in the formation of crater-like density, magnetic field strength, and temperature structures. While no events have been reported at the L1 libration point, previous reports indicate that the events are common just outside the subsolar bow shock, where they reach large amplitudes. We present a case study employing upstream monitors at three radial distances from Earth and then a statistical survey of Wind 3DP plasma and MFI magnetic field observations from 1994 to 1999 to determine the radial dependence of event characteristics. Plasma and magnetic field perturbations within the events are proportional to the flux of energetic ions, and densities within the events are typically depressed some 20 per cent from those in the ambient solar wind. As the flux of energetic ions decays and pitch angle distributions transition from diffuse to streaming with upstream distance, so do the perturbations. Consequently, the cavities attain greatest prominance (and significance to the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction) just outside the bow shock during periods of low solar wind density and magnetic field strength.

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