Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm32a20j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM32A-20
Physics
2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2451 Particle Acceleration, 2487 Wave Propagation (6934), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves are excited by many sources of free energy in the magnetosphere/ionosphere such as temperature anisotropy, electron and/or ion beams, and velocity shears. Once excited, these waves propagate along magnetic field lines due to their field aligned group velocity. As the waves propagate along field lines, the local gyrofrequency gradually changes leading to coupling and mode conversion between the predominantly right and left hand polarized waves. Near the heavy ion resonances wave energy can be absorbed leading to heating of oxygen and helium. Such heating is known to be important for the formation of ion conics and ion outflows in the topside auroral ionosphere. Ion cyclotron heating of heavy ions is also thought to be important in the solar atmosphere. We present full wave calculations for electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves propagating along a magnetic field line using the finite element technique which is an ideal method for including mode conversion and kinetic effects. We present the wave solutions in terms of observables such as wave amplitude, polarization, and Poynting flux. We determine from the wave solutions the fraction of wave energy absorbed by heavy ions. Results are presented for waves incident from the low field side of the ion resonances which is applicable to magnetospheric waves resonating in the ionosphere as well as for waves incident from the high field side of the ion resonance which would be applicable to waves generated in the ionosphere/solar atmosphere resonating at a higher altitude. These results can be used to improve understanding of the location and amount of ion heating resulting from an observed wave spectrum. Finally, we discuss the roles of an ionospheric boundary and kinetic effects due to heated ion populations.
Cheng C. Z.
Johnson Jay Robert
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