Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsh13a0405g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SH13A-0405
Physics
6250 Moon (1221), 6984 Waves In Plasma (7867), 7863 Turbulence (4490), 7867 Wave/Particle Interactions (2483, 6984), 7868 Wave/Wave Interactions
Scientific paper
Coherent narrow-band waves at ~0.9 Hz have been detected in the close vicinity of the Moon by Lunar Prospector, while passing from pole to pole on the dayside of the Moon. During these intervals, the spacecraft was not connected magnetically to Earth's bow shock. Instead, it was magnetically connected to the wake of the Moon, indicating that the waves are probably generated in the wake of the Moon, and subsequently propagate to the spacecraft along the field lines. The angle between their wave vectors and the field direction (θkB) was found to be from ~ 30° to ~ 50°. In the spacecraft frame of reference, these waves are either left- or right-hand polarized with respect to the average field direction; for θkX>90°, they are left-hand polarized and for θkX<90° they are right-hand polarized, where θkX is the angle between the wave vector and the solar wind direction. The frequencies, wave vectors, and polarization characteristics indicate that (1) the observed waves are probably right-handed whistler mode waves in the plasma frame of reference propagating along the field lines, and (2) the polarization reversal occurs only when they propagate against the solar wind due to doppler-shift induced reduction in their frequencies. In addition to the spectral peak at 0.9 Hz, corresponding to electron whistlers, Lunar Prospector has also detected weak spectral peaks at 1.8 Hz and 2.7 Hz, corresponding probably to second and third harmonic whistlers. We argue that the 0.9 Hz whistlers are probably excited by electron beams accelerated at the wake and the second and third harmonic whistlers are probably excited by non-linear wave-wave merging processes. We will also present the electron observations during these wave intervals.
Acuña Mario Humberto
Golla T.
Macdowall Robert J.
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