Electron acceleration in stochastic double layers

Details Electron acceleration in stochastic double layers Electron acceleration in stochastic double layers

May 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987nascp2469..209l&link_type=abstract

In NASA. Marshall Space Flight Center Double Layers in Astrophysics p 209 (SEE N87-23313 16-88)

Physics

Auroras, Electric Current, Electric Fields, Electron Acceleration, Mathematical Models, Plasma Layers, Plasmas (Physics), Stochastic Processes, Electron Energy, Fokker-Planck Equation, Magnetic Fields, Phase-Space Integral, Velocity Distribution

Scientific paper

Transversely localized double layers evolve randomly in turbulent regions of strongly magnetized plasma carrying current along the magnetic field. Results from numerical simulations and spacecraft observations in the auroral plasma indicate that the parallel electric field in such regions is microscopically intermittent or stochastic. The implications of stochastic double layer fields on electron acceleration will be discussed in terms of a statistical process involving ensemble averages over test particle motion. A Fokker-Planck equation can be derived for the electron phase space density, which depends on the mean and rms amplitudes of the double layers, the mean double layer density, and the initial electron velocity distribution. It is shown that the resulting electron acceleration is very sensitive to the ratio of the initial electron energy to the rms double layer amplitude. When this ratio is large, the acceleration process differs little from that expected in a dc electric field. When it is small, stochastic heating competes with directed acceleration. Evidence for both cases can be found in the auroral ionosphere in association with so-called inverted-V precipitation and collimated edge precipitation.

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