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In the Earth's magnetosheath (MSH), several processes contribute to energy dissipation and plasma heating, one of which is wave-particle interactions between whistler waves and electrons. However, the overall impact of whistlers on electron dynamics in the MSH remains to be quantified. We analyze 18 hours of burst-mode measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, including data from the unbiased magnetosheath campaign during February-March 2023. We present a statistical study of 34,409 whistler waves found using automatic detection. We compare wave occurrence in the different MSH geometries and find three times higher occurrence in the quasi-perpendicular MSH compared to the quasi-parallel case. We also study the wave properties and find that the waves propagate quasi-parallel to the background magnetic field, have a median frequency of 0.2 times the electron cyclotron frequency, median amplitude of 0.03-0.06 nT (30-60 pT), and median duration of a few tens of wave periods. The whistler waves are preferentially observed in local magnetic dips and density peaks and are not associated with an increased temperature anisotropy. Also, almost no whistlers are observed in regions with parallel electron plasma beta lower than 0.1. Importantly, when estimating pitch-angle diffusion times we find that the whistler waves cause significant pitch-angle scattering of electrons in the MSH., Comment: Published 16 June 2024 in JGR Space Physics. 19 pages, 11 figures

Adiabatic and non-adiabatic electron dynamics have been proposed to explain electron heating across collisionless shocks. We analyze the evolution of the suprathermal electrons across 310 quasi-perpendicular shocks with $1.7

We use multi-spacecraft Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations to investigate electric fields and ion reflection at a non-stationary collisionless perpendicular plasma shock. We identify sub-proton scale (5-10 electron inertial lengths) large-amplitude normal electric fields, balanced by the Hall term ($\mathbf{J} \times \mathbf{B}/ne$), as a transient feature of the shock ramp related to non-stationarity (rippling). The associated electrostatic potential, comparable to the energy of the incident solar wind protons, decelerates incident ions and reflects a significant fraction of protons, resulting in more efficient shock-drift acceleration than a stationary planar shock., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, supplementary material

Collisionless shock waves have long been considered amongst the most prolific particle accelerators in the universe. Shocks alter the plasma they propagate through and often exhibit complex evolution across multiple scales. Interplanetary (IP) traveling shocks have been recorded in-situ for over half a century and act as a natural laboratory for experimentally verifying various aspects of large-scale collisionless shocks. A fundamentally interesting problem in both helio and astrophysics is the acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies (more than 300 keV) by traveling shocks. This letter presents first observations of field-aligned beams of relativistic electrons upstream of an IP shock observed thanks to the instrumental capabilities of Solar Orbiter. This study aims to present the characteristics of the electron beams close to the source and contribute towards understanding their acceleration mechanism. On 25 July 2022, Solar Orbiter encountered an IP shock at 0.98 AU. The shock was associated with an energetic storm particle event which also featured upstream field-aligned relativistic electron beams observed 14 minutes prior to the actual shock crossing. The distance of the beam's origin was investigated using a velocity dispersion analysis (VDA). Peak-intensity energy spectra were anaylzed and compared with those obtained from a semi-analytical fast-Fermi acceleration model. By leveraging Solar Orbiter's high-time resolution Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), we have successfully showcased an IP shock's ability to accelerate relativistic electron beams. Our proposed acceleration mechanism offers an explanation for the observed electron beam and its characteristics, while we also explore the potential contributions of more complex mechanisms., Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 2 figures. Supplementary material: 6 pages, 7 figures

Solar Orbiter, a mission developed by the European Space Agency, explores in situ plasma across the inner heliosphere while providing remote-sensing observations of the Sun. Our study examines particle observations for the 30 October 2021 shock. The particles provide clear evidence of ion reflection up to several minutes upstream of the shock. Additionally, the magnetic and electric field observations contain complex electromagnetic structures near the shock, and we aim to investigate how they are connected to ion dynamics. The main goal of this study is to advance our understanding of the complex coupling between particles and the shock structure in high Mach number regimes of interplanetary shocks. We used observations of magnetic and electric fields, probe-spacecraft potential, and thermal and energetic particles to characterize the structure of the shock front and particle dynamics. Furthermore, ion velocity distribution functions were used to study reflected ions and their coupling to the shock. To determine shock parameters and study waves, we used several methods, including cold plasma theory, singular-value decomposition, minimum variance analysis, and shock Rankine-Hugoniot relations. To support the analysis and interpretation of the experimental data, test-particle analysis, and hybrid particle in-cell simulations were used. The ion velocity distribution functions show clear evidence of particle reflection in the form of backstreaming ions several minutes upstream. The shock structure has complex features at the ramp and whistler precursors. The backstreaming ions may be modulated by the complex shock structure, and the whistler waves are likely driven by gyrating ions in the foot. Supra-thermal ions up to 20 keV were observed, but shock-accelerated particles with energies above this were not.

Determination of the wave mode of short-wavelength electrostatic waves along with their generation mechanism requires reliable measurement of the wave electric field. We investigate the reliability of the electric field measurement for short-wavelength waves observed by MMS. We develop a method, based on spin-plane interferometry, to reliably determine the full 3D wave vector of the observed waves. We test the method on synthetic data and then apply it to ion acoustic wave bursts measured in situ in the solar wind. By studying the statistical properties of ion acoustic waves in the solar wind we retrieve the known results that the wave propagation is predominantly field-aligned. We also determine the wavelength of the waves. We find that the distribution peaks at around 100 m, which when normalized to the Debye length corresponds to scales between 10 and 20 Debye lengths.

Predictions of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) are a central issue in space weather forecasting. In recent years, interest in space weather predictions has expanded to include impacts at other planets beyond Earth as well as spacecraft scattered throughout the heliosphere. In this sense, the scope of space weather science now encompasses the whole heliospheric system, and multi-point measurements of solar transients can provide useful insights and validations for prediction models. In this work, we aim to analyse the whole inner heliospheric context between two eruptive flares that took place in late 2020, i.e. the M4.4 flare of November 29 and the C7.4 flare of December 7. This period is especially interesting because the STEREO-A spacecraft was located ~60{\deg} east of the Sun-Earth line, giving us the opportunity to test the capabilities of "predictions at 360{\deg}" using remote-sensing observations from the Lagrange L1 and L5 points as input. We simulate the CMEs that were ejected during our period of interest and the SEPs accelerated by their shocks using the WSA-Enlil-SEPMOD modelling chain and four sets of input parameters, forming a "mini-ensemble". We validate our results using in-situ observations at six locations, including Earth and Mars. We find that, despite some limitations arising from the models' architecture and assumptions, CMEs and shock-accelerated SEPs can be reasonably studied and forecast in real time at least out to several tens of degrees away from the eruption site using the prediction tools employed here., Comment: 50 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Space Weather (v2 contains updated CCMC links after their website update)

When analyzing plasma waves, a key parameter to determine is the phase velocity. It enables us to, for example, compute wavelengths, wave potentials, and determine the energy of resonant particles. The phase velocity of a wave, observed by a single spacecraft equipped with electric field probes, can be determined using interferometry techniques. While several methods have been developed to do this, they have not been documented in detail. In this study, we use an analytical model to analyze and compare three interferometry methods applied on the probe geometry of the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft. One method relies on measured probe potentials, whereas the other two use different E-field measurements: one by reconstructing the E-field between two probes and the spacecraft, the other by constructing four pairwise parallel E-field components in the spacecraft spin-plane. We find that the potential method is sensitive both to how planar the wave is, and to spacecraft potential changes due to the wave. The E-field methods are less affected by the spacecraft potential, and while the reconstructed E-field method is applicable in some cases, the second E-field method is almost always preferable. We conclude that the potential based interferometry method is useful when spacecraft potential effects are negligible and the signals of the different probes are very well correlated. The method using two pairs of parallel E-fields is practically always preferable to the reconstructed E-field method and produces the correct velocity in the spin-plane, but it requires knowledge of the propagation direction to provide the full velocity., Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures, 1 table

Solar wind electrons play an important role in the energy balance of the solar wind acceleration by carrying energy into interplanetary space in the form of electron heat flux. The heat flux is stored in the complex electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs) shaped by expansion, Coulomb collisions, and field-particle interactions. We investigate how the suprathermal electron deficit in the anti-strahl direction, which was recently discovered in the near-Sun solar wind, drives a kinetic instability and creates whistler waves with wave vectors that are quasi-parallel to the direction of the background magnetic field. We combine high-cadence measurements of electron pitch-angle distribution functions and electromagnetic waves provided by Solar Orbiter during its first orbit. Our case study is based on a burst-mode data interval from the Electrostatic Analyser System (SWA-EAS) at a distance of 112 $R_S$ (0.52 au) from the Sun, during which several whistler wave packets were detected by Solar Orbiter's Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument. The sunward deficit creates kinetic conditions under which the quasi-parallel whistler wave is driven unstable. We directly test our predictions for the existence of these waves through solar wind observations. We find whistler waves that are quasi-parallel and almost circularly polarised, propagating away from the Sun, coinciding with a pronounced sunward deficit in the electron VDF. The cyclotron-resonance condition is fulfilled for electrons moving in the direction opposite to the direction of wave propagation, with energies corresponding to those associated with the sunward deficit.

Aims: We present the first measurements of the solar-wind angular-momentum (AM) flux recorded by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. Our aim is the validation of these measurements to support future studies of the Sun's AM loss. Methods: We combine 60-minute averages of the proton bulk moments and the magnetic field measured by the Solar Wind Analyser (SWA) and the magnetometer (MAG) onboard Solar Orbiter. We calculate the AM flux per solid-angle element using data from the first orbit of the mission's cruise phase during 2020. We separate the contributions from protons and from magnetic stresses to the total AM flux. Results: The AM flux varies significantly over time. The particle contribution typically dominates over the magnetic-field contribution during our measurement interval. The total AM flux shows the largest variation and is typically anti-correlated with the radial solar-wind speed. We identify a compression region, potentially associated with a co-rotating interaction region or a coronal mass ejection, that leads to a significant localised increase in the AM flux, yet without a significant increase in the AM per unit mass. We repeat our analysis using the density estimate from the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument. Using this independent method, we find a decrease in the peaks of positive AM flux but otherwise consistent results. Conclusions: Our results largely agree with previous measurements of the solar-wind AM flux in terms of amplitude, variability, and dependence on radial solar-wind bulk speed. Our analysis highlights the potential for future, more detailed, studies of the solar wind's AM and its other large-scale properties with data from Solar Orbiter. We emphasise the need to study the radial evolution and latitudinal dependence of the AM flux in combination with data from Parker Solar Probe and assets at heliocentric distances of 1 au and beyond., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Magnetic reconnection (MR) and the associated concurrently occurring waves have been extensively studied at large-scale plasma boundaries, in quasi-symmetric and asymmetric configurations in the terrestrial magnetotail and at the magnetopause. Recent high-resolution observations by MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) spacecraft indicate that MR can occur also in the magnetosheath where the conditions are highly turbulent when the upstream shock geometry is quasi-parallel. The strong turbulent motions make the boundary conditions for evolving MR complicated. In this paper it is demonstrated that the wave observations in localized regions of MR can serve as an additional diagnostic tool reinforcing our capacity for identifying MR events in turbulent plasmas. It is shown that in a close resemblance with MR at large-scale boundaries, turbulent reconnection associated whistler waves occur at separatrix/outflow regions and at the outer boundary of the electron diffusion region, while lower hybrid drift waves are associated with density gradients during the crossing of the current sheet. The lower hybrid drift instability can make the density inhomogeneities rippled. The identification of MR associated waves in the magnetosheath represents also an important milestone for developing a better understanding of energy redistribution and dissipation in turbulent plasmas.

We report observations of electromagnetic electron holes (EHs). We use multi-spacecraft analysis to quantify the magnetic field contributions of three mechanisms: the Lorentz transform, electron drift within the EH, and Cherenkov emission of whistler waves. The first two mechanisms account for the observed magnetic fields for slower EHs, while for EHs with speeds approaching half the electron Alfv\'en speed, whistler waves excited via the Cherenkov mechanism dominate the perpendicular magnetic field. The excited whistlers are kinetically damped and typically confined within the EHs., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the properties of the ion sky maps produced by the Dual Ion Spectrometers (DIS) from the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI). We have trained a convolutional neural network classifier to predict four regions crossed by the MMS on the dayside magnetosphere: solar wind, ion foreshock, magnetosheath, and magnetopause using solely DIS spectrograms. The accuracy of the classifier is >98%. We use the classifier to detect mixed plasma regions, in particular to find the bow shock regions. A similar approach can be used to identify the magnetopause crossings and reveal regions prone to magnetic reconnection. Data processing through the trained classifier is fast and efficient and thus can be used for classification for the whole MMS database., Comment: Accepted to JGR: Space Physics

The description of the local turbulent energy transfer, and the high-resolution ion distributions measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, together provide a formidable tool to explore the cross-scale connection between the fluid-scale energy cascade and plasma processes at sub-ion scales. When the small-scale energy transfer is dominated by Alfv\'enic, correlated velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, beams of accelerated particles are more likely observed. Here, for the first time we report observations suggesting the nonlinear wave-particle interaction as one possible mechanism for the energy dissipation in space plasmas., Comment: Includes Supplemental material

The anisotropic nature of solar wind magnetic turbulence fluctuations is investigated scale-by-scale using high cadence in-situ magnetic field measurements from the Cluster and ACE spacecraft missions. The data span five decades in scales from the inertial range to the electron Larmor radius. In contrast to the inertial range, there is a successive increase towards isotropy between parallel and transverse power at scales below the ion Larmor radius, with isotropy being achieved at the electron Larmor radius. In the context of wave-mediated theories of turbulence, we show that this enhancement in magnetic fluctuations parallel to the local mean background field is qualitatively consistent with the magnetic compressibility signature of kinetic Alfven wave solutions of the linearized Vlasov equation. More generally, we discuss how these results may arise naturally due to the prominent role of the Hall term at sub-ion Larmor scales. Furthermore, computing higher-order statistics, we show that the full statistical signature of the fluctuations at scales below the ion Larmor radius is that of a single isotropic globally scale-invariant process distinct from the anisotropic statistics of the inertial range., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (manuscript number: ApJ88636)

Although the effects of magnetic reconnection in magnetospheres can be observed at planetary scales, reconnection is initiated at electron scales in a plasma. Surrounding the electron diffusion region, there is an Ion-Decoupling Region (IDR) of the size of the ion length scales (inertial length and gyroradius). Reconnection at the Earths magnetopause often includes cold magnetospheric (few tens of eV), hot magnetospheric (10 keV), and magnetosheath (1 keV) ions, with different gyroradius length scales. We report observations of a subregion inside the IDR of the size of the cold ion population gyroradius (approx. 15 km) where the cold ions are demagnetized and accelerated parallel to the Hall electric field. Outside the subregion, cold ions follow the E x B motion together with electrons, while hot ions are demagnetized. We observe a sharp cold ion density gradient separating the two regions, which we identify as the cold and hot IDRs.