Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation

Details Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006georl..3324104o&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 33, Issue 24, CiteID L24104

Physics

Plasma Physics

15

Interplanetary Physics: Energetic Particles (7514), Interplanetary Physics: Plasma Waves And Turbulence, Space Plasma Physics: Particle Acceleration, Space Plasma Physics: Shock Waves (4455), Space Plasma Physics: Wave/Particle Interactions (2483, 6984)

Scientific paper

The `whistler critical Mach number', M crit w , is one of the dimensionless parameters that characterizes collisionless shocks. Originally, it was introduced to indicate the critical point above which whistler waves do not propagate upstream. Indeed our analysis of Geotail data at the Earth's bow shock shows intense whistler waves in the sub-critical regime, M A < M crit w , but not in the super-critical regime. In this paper, we further report that M crit w seems to regulate the electron acceleration efficiency at the shocks. At the shock transition layer it is found that the spectral index Γ of electron energy spectra defined by f(E) $\propto$ E -Γ is distributed between 3.5 and 5.0 in the sub-critical regime, while the hardest energy spectra with Γ = 3-3.5 are detected in the super-critical regime. We discuss a possible relationship between M crit w and the electron acceleration.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation 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 Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Whistler critical Mach number and electron acceleration at the bow shock: Geotail observation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1544904