Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers

Details Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers

May 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sh31b06s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SH31B-06

Other

2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2194 Instruments And Techniques, 7855 Spacecraft Sheaths, Wakes, Charging

Scientific paper

Accurate measurements of the solar wind electron density and temperature are key elements in understanding the properties and the physics of the solar wind. Usually these quantities are obtained as moments of the measured electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs), obtained from electrostatic particle analyzers. However, these measurements are affected by several biases~: (i) photoelectrons produced by the spacecraft illumination, (ii) spacecraft charging, and (iii) the incomplete sampling of the electron distribution due to a non zero low energy threshold of the energy sweeping in the electron spectrometer. Correcting fully for these effects is difficult, especially without the help of data from other experiments that can be taken as a reference. We present here a new, simple and semi-empirical method for determining accurate solar wind electron macroscopic parameters from the raw electron moments obtained from measured electron distribution functions, taking advantage of the fact that high resolution solar wind electron parameters are obtained on board WIND using two different instruments~: the electron electrostatic analyzer of the 3-D plasma experiment (3DP) which provide 3D electron velocity distribution functions every 99 sec as well as high time resolution (3 sec) computed on-board moments, and the Thermal Noise Receiver (TNR) which yields electron density and temperature with a time resolution of 4.5 sec from the spectroscopy of the quasi-thermal noise (QTN) around the electron plasma frequency, technique which is quite immune to perturbations affecting particle analyzers. The present correction method is based on a simplified model evaluating the electron density and temperature as measured by the electron spectrometer, by taking into account both the spacecraft charging and the low energy cutoff effects. Approximating the solar wind electron distributions by an isotropic Maxwellian, we derive simple analytical relations for the measured electron moments as functions of the real ones, in order to setup a simple "scalar correction" by taking the TNR electron density and temperature as a good estimates of the real ones. We discuss also the reliability of the method, as well as its byproducts and its limitations.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Determination of accurate Solar Wind electron parameters using particle detectors and radio wave receivers will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1274433