Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh13b1524b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH13B-1524
Physics
Plasma Physics
[7800] Space Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
We present the first solar wind observations of monochromatic waveforms in the frequency range 10-100 Hz, consistent with the whistler mode. These waveforms are only observable in the high time resolution waveform data provided by the Time Domain Sampler (TDS) instrument on STEREO. The whistlers occur in groups that are strongly correlated with stream interaction regions (SIRs). The groups persist from a few seconds to minutes and are observed at 90% of SIRs and 20% of shocks from available 2007 data. A more detailed look shows that the whistler groups are closely related to sudden disturbances of the solar wind magnetic field and plasma. An example is presented of whistlers in association with a small reverse shock upstream of a SIR. Wave amplitudes range from a few to >25mV/m peak-to-peak, one to four orders of magnitude larger than any previous observations of whistler mode waves near SIRs or shocks. The whistlers are oblique by propagating with a large electrostatic component and are right-handed elliptically polarized in the spacecraft frame. We suggest that, due to the oblique and monochromatic nature of these waves, an electron or ion beam instability may be responsible for their creation. Test particle simulations show that the waves can interact strongly with halo (>60 eV) electrons. Test electrons were scattered by 10s of degrees and energized/de-energized by up to 50% in a few 10s of msec. Thus these whistlers may play an important role in the dynamics of solar wind electrons within SIRs and near some shocks.
Breneman Aaron W.
Cattell Cynthia A.
Goetz Keith
Kellogg Paul J.
Kersten Kris
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