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At least 271 records · Page 15
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NASA NTRS1983

Plasma and energetic particle structure of a collisionless quasi-parallel shock

The quasi-parallel interplanetary shock of November 11-12, 1978 from both the collisionless shock and energetic particle points of view were studied using measurements of the interplanetary magnetic and electric fields, solar wind electrons, plasma and MHD waves, and intermediate and high energy ions obtained on ISEE-1, -2, and -3. The interplanetary environment through which the shock was propagating when it encountered the three spacecraft was characterized; the observations of this shock are documented and current theories of quasi-parallel shock structure and particle acceleration are tested. These observations tend to confirm present self consistent theories of first order Fermi acceleration by shocks and of collisionless shock dissipation involving firehouse instability.

Kennel, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Observations of shock acceleration processes in the solar wind

Substantial evidence was accumulated over more than two decades that ion acceleration occurs at all collisionless shocks sampled directly in the solar system. The various shock waves in the heliosphere and the associated energetic particle phenomena are shown schematically. Three shocks have attracted considerable attention in recent years: corotating shocks due to the interaction of fast and slow solar wind streams during solar minimum, travelling interplanetary shocks due to coronal mass ejections, and planetary bow shocks. The signatures of these shocks and of their energetic particles are briefly reviewed. The most prominent theoretical models for shock acceleration are also reviewed. Recent observations at the earth's bow shock and at quasi-parallel interplanetary shocks are discussed in detail.

Scholer, M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Acceleration of energetic particles at solar wind shocks

A review of the acceleration of energetic ions at interplanetary shocks is presented with an emphasis on the theory of diffusive shock acceleration and interplanetary traveling shocks. The basic theory is discussed briefly, including wave excitation. Ten predictions of the theory as outlined by Kennel et al. (1985) are presented and found to compare favorably with the observations of the 11, 12 November 1978 event. Some problems are presented which should be addressed by future theoretical/experimental work. A simple illustrative application of diffusive acceleration theory is made to the acceleration of ions at shocks in the distant heliosphere and compared qualitatively with the intensity profiles observed by Pioneer 10. Finally, Some brief thoughts on shock acceleration at high solar latitudes are presented.

Lee, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Interplanetary fast shock diagnosis with the radio receiver on Ulysses

The radio receiver on Ulysses records the quasi-thermal noise which allows a determination of the density and temperature of the cold (core) electrons of the solar wind. Seven interplanetary fast forward or reverse shocks are identified from the density and temperature profiles, together with the magnetic field profile from the Magnetometer experiment. Upstream of the three strongest shocks, bursts of nonthermal waves are observed at the electron plasma frequency f(peu). The more perpendicular the shock, the longer the time interval during which these upstream bursts are observed. For one of the strongest shocks we also observe two kinds of upstream electromagnetic radiation: radiation at 2 f(peu), and radiation at the downstream electron plasma frequency, which propagates into the less dense upstream regions.

Hoang, S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A shock surface geometry - The February 15-16, 1967, event

An estimated shape is presented for the surface of the flare-associated interplanetary shock of February 15-16, 1967, as seen in the ecliptic-plane cross section. The estimate is based on observations by Explorer 33 and Pioneers 6 and 7. The estimated shock normal at the Explorer 33 position is obtained by a least-squares shock parameter-fitting procedure for that satellite's data; the shock normal at the Pioneer 7 position is found by using the magnetic coplanarity theorem and magnetic-field data. The average shock speed from the sun to each spacecraft is determined along with the local speed at Explorer 33 and the relations between these speeds and the position of the initiating solar flare. The Explorer 33 shock normal is found to be severely inclined and not typical of interplanetary shocks. It is shown that the curvature of the shock surface in the ecliptic plane near the earth-Pioneer 7 region is consistent with a radius of not more than 0.4 AU.

Lepping, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Plasma boundaries and shocks

Data obtained on the ISEE-1 and -2 spacecraft missions has allowed a discussion of the various plasma and magnetic field boundaries in the terrestrial magnetosphere. The bow shock, foreshock, and interplanetary shocks are discussed along with the magnetosheath, magnetopause, and boundary layer. Also, after a section on reconnection, a section on the plasma and neutral sheets, polar cusp, and the injection of plasma into the inner magnetosphere is presented.

Russell, C. T.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Diffuse ions produced by electromagnetic ion beam instabilities

The evolution of the electromagnetic ion beam instability driven by the reflected ion component backstreaming away from the earth's bow shock into the foreshock region is studied by means of computer simulation. The linear and quasi-linear stages of the instability are found to be in good agreement with known results for the resonant mode propagating parallel to the beam along the magnetic field and with theory developed in this paper for the nonresonant mode, which propagates antiparallel to the beam direction. The quasi-linear stage, which produces large amplitude delta B approximately B, sinusoidal transverse waves and 'intermediate' ion distributions, is terminated by a nonlinear phase in which strongly nonlinear, compressive waves and 'diffuse' ion distributions are produced. Additional processes by which the diffuse ions are accelerated to observed high energies are not addressed. The results are discussed in terms of the ion distributions and hydromagnetic waves observed in the foreshock of the earth's bow shock and of interplanetary shocks.

Winske, D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Some contributions to knowledge of the magnetospheric plasma by ISEE-1 investigators

The ability to control the separation between ISEE-1 and 2 permitted study of the motion and structure of the bow shock and magnetopause, the boundary layers, and the plasma sheet. Evidence favoring the existence of reconnection and its relevance to the transfer of magnetic flux from the frontside to the rear of the magnetosphere, was obtained. The presence of reflected and accelerated particles is shown to lead to the development of a foreshock region between the bow shock and the interplanetary magnetic field line tangential to it. Precursors to interplanetary shocks are also observed. Inside the magnetosphere, ISEE contributed to knowledge of plasma waves, and, augmenting work with GEOS, to studies of plasma composition. In the near tail, the boundary layer of the plasma sheet disclosed interesting phenomena.

Ogilive, K. W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Interplanetary energetic particles, coronal flares and hard X-ray microflares

Solar electron phenomena which can produce low levels of hard X-ray emission at the Sun are reviewed. Small approx. 2 to 100 keV solar electrons events, the most common type of impulsive solar particle emission, appear to originate in flare-like bursts high in the corona. These events often are accompanied by approx. 1 MeV/nucleon to the 3rd power He-rich particle events in which lower energy ions are apparently accelerated as well. Long-lived (many days) streams associated with large flares or interplanetary shocks dominate the interplanetary electron fluxes, but even at the quietest times a significant outflow of non-thermal approx. 2 keV electrons occurs. These electron phenomena are accompanied by coronal and interplanetary radio emission. High sensitivity hard X-ray measurements show that microflares, bursts with peak keV fluxes 10 to 100 times smaller than observed in small solar flares, may occur as often as once every 5 min near solar maximum. The proposed Pinhole/Occulter Facility hard X-ray instrumentation provides the increase in sensitivity required to image these phenomena for the first time.

Lin, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Electron heating and the potential jump across fast mode shocks

Two different methods were applied to determine the cross-shock potential jump in the de Hoffmann-Teller reference frame, using a data set that represented 66 crossings of the terrestrial bow shock and 14 interplanetary shocks observed by various ISEE spacecraft, and one crossing each of the Jovian bow shock and the Uranian bow shock made by the Voyager spacecraft. Results for estimates of the electrostatic potential based on an estimate of the jump in electron enthalpy correlated well with estimates based on Liouville's theorem, although the Liouville-determined values were systematically the higher of the two, suggesting that significant irreversible processes contribute to the shape of the downstream distribution. The potential jump corresponds to approximately 12-15 percent of the incident ion ram kinetic energy, and was found not to be controlled by the Mach number, plasma beta, shock geometry, or electron to ion temperature ratios.

Schwartz, Steven J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Electron acceleration at nearly perpendicular collisionless shocks. 3: Downstream distributions

Spacecraft observations at the Earth's bow shock and at interplanetary shocks have established that the largest fluxes of accelerated suprathermal electrons occur in so-called shock spike events immediately downstream of the shock ramp. Previous theoretical efforts have mainly focused on explaining upstream energetic electron beams. Here we investigate the general motion and acceleration of energetic electrons in a curved, nearly perpendicular shock by numerically integrating the orbits of solar wind halo electrons in shock fields generated by a hybrid simulation (core electron fluid and kinetic ions). Close to the angle Theta(sub Bn) = 90 degs between the upstream magnetic field and shock normal, the calculations result in a (perpendicular) temperature increase proportional to the magnetic field ratio and give the highest phase space densities in the overshoot. For a steep distribution, the temperature change can correspond to an enhancement of the distribution by several orders of magnitude. These results are in agreement with predictions from adiabatic mapping. With smaller angles Theta(sub Bn), the overshoot and downstream densities fall off quickly, because the adiabatic energy gain is less and fewer electrons transmit. The shock curvature also leads to an accumulation of electrons close to 90 degs. Without pitch angle scattering, energization is only significant within a few (approximately 5 to 10 degs) degrees of the point of tangency. However, shock spike events appear to be observed more easily and farther away from 90 degs. Given that over a region of several degrees around 90 degs the theory gives enhancements of up to approximately 4 orders of magnitude, such electrons could in principle account for the typically observed enhancements of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, if they were distributed over Theta(sub Bn). To test the idea that scattering could efficiently redistribute the energetic electrons, we have conducted test particle simulations in which artificial pitch angle scattering is included. We find that such a process can indeed be very efficient and can explain observations of shock spike events far away from Theta(sub Bn) is approximately 90 degs. The scattering naturally leads to much higher phase space densities at smaller Theta(sub Bn) than what a local one-dimensional mapping would predict and thus can account for an observed discrepancy with adiabatic theory stated in the literature.

Krauss-Varban, D.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Global Effects of Transmitted Shock Wave Propagation Through the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere: First Results from 3-D Hybrid Kinetic Modeling

We use a new hybrid kinetic model to simulate the response of ring current, outer radiation belt, and plasmaspheric particle populations to impulsive interplanetary shocks. Since particle distributions attending the interplanetary shock waves and in the ring current and radiation belts are non-Maxwellian, waveparticle interactions play a crucial role in energy transport within the inner magnetosphere. Finite gyroradius effects become important in mass loading the shock waves with the background plasma in the presence of higher energy ring current and radiation belt ions and electrons. Initial results show that shocks cause strong deformations in the global structure of the ring current, radiation belt, and plasmasphere. The ion velocity distribution functions at the shock front, in the ring current, and in the radiation belt help us determine energy transport through the Earth's inner magnetosphere.

Lipatov, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Solar sources of interplanetary southward Bz events responsible for major magnetic storms (1978-1979)

The solar sources of interplanetary southward Bz events responsible for major magnetic storms observed in the August 1978-December 1979 period were studied using a full complement of solar wind plasma and field data from ISEE 3. It was found that, of the ten major storms observed, seven were initiated by active region flares, and three were associated with prominence eruptions in solar quiet regions. Nine of the storms were associated with interplanetary shocks. However, a comparison of the solar events' characteristics and those of the resulting interplanetary shocks indicated that standard solar parameters did not correlate with the strengths of the resulting shocks at 1 AU.

Tang, Frances↗
NASA NTRS1977

Pioneer 10, 11 observations of evolving solar wind streams and shocks beyond 1 AU

Observations between 1 and 5 AU by Pioneers 10 and 11 have led to the identification of large numbers of interplanetary shocks. Both forward and reverse shocks, which begin to develop beyond 1.5 AU and which frequently appear as shock pairs, are found to accompany solar wind streams. The number of forward shocks continues to increase out to at least 5 AU. Reverse shocks are seen less often than forward shocks and, in some instances, disappear at larger distances. There is evidence that the shocks are corotating in the solar frame, as anticipated theoretically. The evolution of solar wind streams beyond 1 AU is profoundly affected by the shocks. A thick interaction region, with large enhancements in density, temperature, field strength and fluctuation level, forms in the region originally characterized by a positive velocity gradient. The solar wind and magnetic field properties adjacent to, and within, the interaction regions have been studied to determine their qualitative behavior and characteristic changes with distance. Several interplanetary shocks generated by solar flares have also been identified and analyzed.

Smith, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Theory and simulation of collisionless parallel shocks

This paper presents a self-consistent theoretical model for collisionless parallel shock structure, based on the hypothesis that shock dissipation and heating can be provided by electromagnetic ion beam-driven instabilities. It is shown that shock formation and plasma heating can result from parallel propagating electromagnetic ion beam-driven instabilities for a wide range of Mach numbers and upstream plasma conditions. The theoretical predictions are compared with recently published observations of quasi-parallel interplanetary shocks. It was found that low Mach number interplanetary shock observations were consistent with the explanation that group-standing waves are providing the dissipation; two high Mach number observations confirmed the theoretically predicted rapid thermalization across the shock.

Quest, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Flat Proton Spectra in Large Solar Energetic Particle Events

We present solar energetic particle events observed at 1 AU from the Sun for which the proton energy spectra at energies between ~50 keV to ~1 MeV flatten during a period of at least ~12 hours prior to the passage of the associated interplanetary shock. The flattening of the proton energy spectra occurs when the source of the particles (presumably the traveling interplanetary shock) is still downwind from the spacecraft and particle intensities are still continuously increasing. The arrival of the shock at the spacecraft is then characterized by a steepening of the spectra, where low-energy proton intensities show a more pronounced enhancement than the high-energy proton intensities. We discuss the mechanisms that may result in this flattening of the spectra in terms of current models presented in the literature.

Lario, D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Focused interplanetary transport of approximately 1 MeV solar energetic protons through self-generated Alfven waves

We present a model of the focused transport of approximately 1 MeV solar energetic protons through interplanetary Alfven waves that the protons themselves amplify or damp. It is based on the quasi-linear theory but with a phenomenological pitch angle diffusion coefficient in the 'resonance gap.' For initial Alfven wave distributions that give mean free paths greater than approximately 0.5 AU for approximately 1 MeV protons in the inner heliosphere, the model predicts greater than roughly an order of magnitude amplification (damping) in the outward (inward) propagating resonant Alfven waves at less than or approximately equal to o.3 AU heliocentric distance. As the strength of proton source is increased, the peak differential proton intensity at approximately 1 MeV at 1 AU increases to a maximum of approximately 250 particles (/(sq cm)(s)(sr)(MeV)) and then decreases slowly. It may be attenuated by a factor of 5 or more relative to the case without wave evolution, provided that the proton source is sufficiently intense that the resulting peak differential intensity of approximately 1 MeV protons at 1 AU exceeds approximately 200 particles (/(sq cm)(s)(sr)(MeV)). Therefore, in large solar proton events, (1) one may have to take into account self-amplified waves in studying solar particle propagation, (2) the number of accelerated protons escaping from a flare or interplanetary shock may have been underestimated in past studies by a significant factor, and (3) accelerated protons escaping from a traveling interplanetary shock at r less than or approximately equal to 0.3 AU should amplify the ambient hydromagnetic waves siginificantly to make the shock an efficient accelerator, even if initially the mean free path is greater than or approximately equal to 1 AU.

Ng, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Distances to the termination shock and heliopause from a simulation analysis of the 1992-93 heliospheric radio emission event

A new heliospheric radio emission event observed by Voyagers 1 and 2 in mid-1992 is believed to have been produced by the interaction of an interplanetary shock with the heliopause. The shock is thought to have oriented near the Sun during a period of intense solar activity in late-May and early-June, 1991. The observed travel time of the shock to the heliopause is 408 days; the initial speed is estimated to be between 600 and 800 km/s. We use a numerical gasdynamic simulation of an interplanetary shock, propagating through an equilibrium solution of the solar wind/interstellar medium interaction, to compute the distances to the termination shock and the heliopause that are consistent with these observations. For a shock speed of 600 km/s, the termination shock is located at 92 AU, and the heliopause is located at 128 AU. These distances increase to 112 AU and 156 AU when the shock speed is increased to 800 km/s.

Steinolfson, R. S.↗