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Electron Temperature Anisotropy and Electron Beam Constraints From Electron Kinetic Instabilities in the Solar Wind
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Electron temperature anisotropies and electron beams are nonthermal features of the observed nonequilibrium electron velocity distributions in the solar wind. In collision-poor plasmas these nonequilibrium distributions are expected to be regulated by kinetic instabilities through wave-particle interactions. This study considers electron instabilities driven by the interplay of core electron temperature anisotropies and the electron beam, and firstly gives a comprehensive analysis of instabilities in arbitrary directions to the background magnetic field. It clarifies the dominant parameter regime (e.g., parallel core electron plasma beta $\beta_{\mathrm{ec\parallel}}$, core electron temperature anisotropy $A_{\mathrm{ec}}\equiv T_{\mathrm{ec\perp}}/T_{\mathrm{ec\parallel}}$, and electron beam velocity $V_{\mathrm{eb}}$) for each kind of electron instability (e.g., the electron beam-driven electron acoustic/magnetoacoustic instability, the electron beam-driven whistler instability, the electromagnetic electron cyclotron instability, the electron mirror instability, the electron firehose instability, and the ordinary-mode instability). It finds that the electron beam can destabilize electron acoustic/magnetoacoustic waves in the low-$\beta_{\mathrm{ec\parallel}}$ regime, and whistler waves in the medium- and large-$\beta_{\mathrm{ec\parallel}}$ regime. It also finds that a new oblique fast-magnetosonic/whistler instability is driven by the electron beam with $V_{\mathrm{eb}}\gtrsim7V_{\mathrm{A}}$ in a regime where $\beta_{\mathrm{ec\parallel}}\sim0.1-2$ and $A_{\mathrm{ec}}<1$. Moreover, this study presents electromagnetic responses of each kind of electron instability. These results provide a comprehensive overview for electron instability constraints on core electron temperature anisotropies and electron beams in the solar wind.
- Subjects :
- Physics - Space Physics
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2010.01066
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abb3ca