Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “WHISTLER”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Electrostatic and whistler instabilities excited by an electron beam

The electron beam-plasma system is ubiquitous in the space plasma environment. Here in this paper, using a Darwin particle-in-cell method, the excitation of electrostatic and whistler instabilities by a gyrating electron beam is studied in support of recent laboratory experiments. It is assumed that the total plasma frequency (ω pe ) is larger than the electron cyclotron frequency (Ω e ). The fast-growing electrostatic beam-mode waves saturate in a few plasma oscillations by slowing down and relaxing the electron beam parallel to the background magnetic field. Upon their saturation, the finite amplitude electrostatic beam-mode waves can resonate with the tail of the background thermal electrons and accelerate them to the beam parallel velocity. The slower-growing whistler waves are excited in primarily two resonance modes: (a) through Landau resonance due to the inverted slope of the beam electrons in the parallel velocity and (b) through cyclotron resonance by scattering electrons to both lower pitch angles and smaller energies. It is demonstrated that, for a field-aligned beam, the whistler instability can be suppressed by the electrostatic instability due to a faster energy transfer rate between the beam electrons and electrostatic waves. Such a competition of growth between whistler and electrostatic waves depends on the ratio of ω pe /Ω e . In terms of wave propagation, beam-generated electrostatic waves are confined to the beam region, whereas beam-generated whistler waves transport energy away from the beam.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

First Direct Observation of Runaway-Electron-Driven Whistler Waves in Tokamaks

DIII-D experiments at low density (n e ~10 19 m -3 ) have directly measured whistler waves in the 100– 200 MHz range excited by multi-MeV runaway electrons. Whistler activity is correlated with runaway intensity (hard x-ray emission level), occurs in novel discrete frequency bands, and exhibits nonlinear limitcycle- like behavior. The measured frequencies scale with the magnetic field strength and electron density as expected from the whistler dispersion relation. The modes are stabilized with increasing magnetic field, which is consistent with wave-particle resonance mechanisms. The mode amplitudes show intermittent time variations correlated with changes in the electron cyclotron emission that follow predator-prey cycles. These can be interpreted as wave-induced pitch angle scattering of moderate energy runaways. The tokamak runaway-whistler mechanisms have parallels to whistler phenomena in ionospheric plasmas. The observations also open new directions for the modeling and active control of runaway electrons in tokamaks.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1976

Temperature anisotropy and beam type whistler instabilities

Whistler instabilities have been investigated for two different types; i.e., a temperature-anisotropy type instability and a beam-type instability. A comparison between the two types of whistler instabilities is made within the framework of linear theory. A transition from one type to the other is also discussed, which is an extension of the work on electrostatic beam and Landau instabilities performed by O'Neil and Malmberg (1968) for electromagnetic whistler instabilities. It is clarified that the essential source of the whistler instability is not beam kinetic energy but a temperature anisotropy, even for the beam-type whistler instability.

Hashimoto, K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Propagation of trans-equatorial deuteron whistlers in the low latitude topside ionosphere

The high latitude limit of transequatorial deuteron whistlers is found to occur at latitudes where B(m) = B/2, in which B is the local magnetic field at the satellite and B(m) is the minimum magnetic field on the field line through the satellite. The high latitude limit of transequatorial proton whistlers, often extends to the latitude where B(m) = B/4 in the autumn and winter. Transequatorial deuteron whistlers have a constant time interval for an echo train. The damping rate of the cyclotron resonant interaction with rare deuteron is large enough to generate deuteron whistlers. Ray tracing results for nonducted propagation of transequatorial deuteron whistlers show that rays are guided by the geomagnetic field within one degree in invariant latitude for several bounces between the two hemispheres.

Watanabe, S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

VLF noises triggered by whistlers as observed in the topside ionosphere

ISIS-1, ISIS-2, and DE-1 VLF electric field data from Kashima station, Japan are used to investigate characteristics of whistler triggered emissions in the topside ionosphere. The occurrence rate for nonducted whistler triggered emission is shown to be distributed randomly between L = 2.0 and 4.2, while the occurrence rate of ducted whistler triggered emissions increases with latitudes between L = 1.5 and 2.9, attains a maximum at L = 2.7, and abruptly drops off at L = 3.0. The findings indicate that some whistler triggered emissions may be generated by the interaction of whistlers with magnetospheric electrons.

Nakamura, Yoshikatsu↗
NASA NTRS1994

An analysis of whistler waves at interplanetary shocks

We present an analysis of whistler wave magnetic and electric field amplitude ratios from which we compute wave propagation angles and energies of electrons in resonance with the waves. To do this analysis, we compute the theoretical dependence of ratios of wave components on the whistler wave propagation angle Theta for various combinations of orthogonal wave components. Ratios of wave components that would be observed by a spinning spacecraft are determined, and the effects of arbitrary inclinations of the spacecraft to the ambient magnetic field and to the whistler wave vector are studied. This analysis clearly demonstrates that B/E, the ratio of magnetic to electric field amplitudes, cannot be assumed to be the wave index of refraction, contrary to assumptions of some earlier studies. Therefore previous interpretations of whistler wave observations based on this assumption must be reinvestigated. B/E ratios derived using three orthogonal wave components can be used to unambiguously determine Theta. Using spin plane observations alone, a significant uncertainty occurs in the determination of Theta. Nevertheless, for whistler waves observed downstream of several interplanetary shocks by the Ulysses plasma wave experiment we find that Theta is highly oblique. We suggest that the analysis of wave amplitude ratios used in conjunction with traditional stability analyses provide a promising tool for determining which particle distributions and resonances are likely to be dominant contributors to wave growth.

Lengyel-Frey, D.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Whistlers Observed Outside the Plasmasphere: Correlation to Plasmaspheric/Plasmapause Features and Implications for the Scattering of Radiation-Belt Electrons

Magnetospherically reflected, lightning-generated whistler waves are an important potential contributor to pitch-angle scattering loss processes of the electron radiation belts. While lightning-generated whistlers are a common feature at, and just inside, the plasmapause, they are infrequently observed outside the plasmasphere. As such, their potential contribution to outer radiation belt loss processes is more tenuous. Recently, Platino et al. [2005] has reported on whistlers observed outside the plasmasphere by Cluster. Here, we present correlative global observations of the plasmasphere, for the reported periods of Cluster-observed whistlers outside the plasmasphere, using IMAGE-EUV data. The intent of this study is to seek the underlying mechanisms that result in whistlers outside the plasmasphere and consequently the anticipated morphology and significance these waves may have on radiation belt dynamics.

Adrian, Mark L.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Characteristics of Electron Distributions Observed During Large Amplitude Whistler Wave Events in the Magnetosphere

We present a statistical study of the characteristics of electron distributions associated with large amplitude whistler waves inside the terrestrial magnetosphere using waveform capture data as an addition of the study by Kellogg et al., [2010b]. We identified three types of electron distributions observed simultaneously with the whistler waves including beam-like, beam/flattop, and anisotropic distributions. The whistlers exhibited different characteristics dependent upon the observed electron distributions. The majority of the waveforms observed in our study have f/fce < or = 0.5 and are observed primarily in the radiation belts outside the plasmapause simultaneously with anisotropic electron distributions. We also present an example waveform capture of the largest magnetic field amplitude (> or = 8 nT pk-pk) whistler wave measured in the radiation belts. The majority of the largest amplitude whistlers occur during magnetically active periods (AE > 200 nT).

Wilson, Lynn B., III↗
NASA NTRS2018

Generation of Electron Whistler Waves at the Mirror Mode Magnetic Holes: MMS Observations and PIC Simulation

The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission has observed electron whistler waves at the center and at the edges of magnetic holes in the dayside magnetosheath. The magnetic holes are nonlinear mirror structures since their magnitude is anticorrelated with particle density. In this article, we examine the growth mechanisms of these whistler waves and their interaction with the host magnetic hole. In the observations, as magnetic holes develop and get deeper, an electron population gets trapped and develops a temperature anisotropy favorable for whistler waves to be generated. In addition, the decrease in magnetic field magnitude and the increase in density reduce the electron resonance energy, which promotes the electron cyclotron resonance. To investigate this process, we used expanding box particle-in-cell simulations to produce the mirror instability, which then evolve into magnetic holes. The simulation shows that whistler waves can be generated at the center and edges of magnetic holes, which reproduces the primary features of the MMS observations. The simulation shows that the electron temperature anisotropy develops in the center of the magnetic hole once the mirror instability reaches its nonlinear stage of evolution. The plasma is then unstable to whistler waves at the minimum of the magnetic field structures. In the saturation regime of mirror instability, when magnetic holes are developed, the electron temperature anisotropy appears at the edges of the holes and electron distributions become more isotropic at the magnetic field minimum. At the edges, the expansion of magnetic holes decelerates the electrons, which leads to temperature anisotropies.

Magnetospheric Multiscale↗
NASA NTRS2023

Diffuse Auroral Intensities Produced By Whistler Mode and Electron Cyclotron Harmonic Waves

Whistler mode waves and ECH waves as observed by the THEMIS-D and THEMIS-E satellites have been analyzed. It is observed that ECH waves are very weak for pitch-angle diffusion whereas whistler mode waves are more efficient. Bounce-averaged pitch-angle diffusion rates at the edge of atmospheric loss-cone have been calculated for both waves. Further, these are used to obtain electron precipitation flux inside the loss-cone. The electron flux at the edge of the loss-cone is represented by the kappa distribution. Numerical calculation of precipitation flux is performed by varying the fitting parameters (which determine the shape of electron precipitation flux) appearing in the kappa distribution. Precipitation flux is used to obtain volume excitation rates and height-integrated volume excitation rates for the seven excitation states. Calculations have been performed using two standard atmosphere models corresponding to mean and high solar and geomagnetic activities. It has been observed from studies that the excitation rates produced by the ECH wave are several orders of magnitude smaller than the rates produced by whistler mode waves. We show that the scattering efficiency of whistler Mode is higher than that of ECH waves. The oblique whistler mode waves allow efficient scattering of electrons in diffuse aurora. Outcomes are discussed.

Arvind K. Tripathi↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic antenna excitation of whistler modes. I. Basic properties

Properties of magnetic loop antennas for exciting electron whistler modes have been investigated in a large laboratory plasma. The parameter regime is that of large plasma frequency compared to the cyclotron frequency and signal frequency below half the cyclotron frequency. The antenna diameter is smaller than the wavelength. Different directions of the loop antenna relative to the background magnetic field have been measured for small amplitude waves. The differences in the topology of the wave magnetic field are shown from measurements of the three field components in three spatial directions. The helicity of the wave magnetic field and of the hodogram of the magnetic vector in space and time are clarified. The superposition of wave fields is used to investigate the properties of two antennas for small amplitude waves. Standing whistler waves are produced by propagating two wave packets in opposite directions. Directional radiation is obtained with two phased loops separated by a quarter wavelength. Rotating antenna fields, produced with phased orthogonal loops at the same location, do not produce directionality. The concept of superposition is extended in a Paper II to generate antenna arrays for whistlers. These produce nearly plane waves, whose propagation angle can be varied by the phase shifting the currents in the array elements. Focusing of whistlers is possible. These results are important for designing antennas on spacecraft or diagnosing and heating of laboratory plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic antenna excitation of whistler modes. II. Antenna arrays

The excitation of whistler modes from magnetic loop antennas has been investigated experimentally. The field topology of the excited wave driven by a single loop antenna has been measured for different loop orientations with respect to the uniform background field. The fields from two or more antennas at different locations are then created by superposition of the single-loop data. It is shown that an antenna array can produce nearly plane waves which cannot be achieved with single antennas. By applying a phase shift along the array, oblique wave propagation is obtained. This allows a meaningful comparison with plane wave theory. The Gendrin mode and oblique cyclotron resonance are demonstrated. Wave helicity and polarization in space and time are demonstrated and distinguished from the magnetic helicity of the wave field. The superposition of two oblique plane whistler modes produces in a “whistler waveguide” mode whose polarization and helicity properties are explained. The results show that single point measurements cannot properly establish the wave character of wave packets. The laboratory observations are relevant for excitation and detection of whistler modes in space plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Laboratory Measurement of Large-Amplitude Whistler Pulses Generated by Fast Magnetic Reconnection

Here, we introduce observations of large-amplitude (δB/B~ 0.01) oblique whistler wave pulses generated by a spontaneous, 3-D localized magnetic reconnection event in the Caltech jet experiment. The wave pulses are measured more than 50 ion skin depths from the reconnection location by a tetrahedron array of three-axis B-dot probes that mimic the pyramid flight formations of the Cluster and Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission spacecraft. Measurements of background parameters, wave polarization, and wave dispersion confirm that the pulses are whistler modes. These findings demonstrate that localized impulsive reconnection events can generate large-amplitude, oblique whistler wave pulses that propagate far outside the reconnection region. This offers a new pathway for the generation of magnetospheric whistler pulses and may help explain relativistic particle acceleration in phenomena such as solar flares that incorporate 3-D localized impulsive magnetic reconnection.

3‐D magnetic reconnection↗
DOE OSTI2014

Perpendicular ion acceleration in whistler turbulence

Whistler turbulence is an important contributor to solar wind turbulence dissipation. This turbulence contains obliquely propagating whistler waves at electron scales, and these waves have electrostatic components perpendicular to the mean magnetic field. In this paper, a full kinetic, two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation shows that whistler turbulence can accelerate ions in the direction perpendicular to the mean magnetic field. When the ions pass through wave-particle resonances region in the phase space during their cyclotron motion, the ions are effectively accelerated in the perpendicular direction. The simulation results suggest that whistler turbulence contributes to the perpendicular heating of ions observed in the solar wind.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electron scattering and nonlinear trapping by oblique whistler waves: The critical wave intensity for nonlinear effects

In this paper, we consider high-energy electron scattering and nonlinear trapping by oblique whistler waves via the Landau resonance. We use recent spacecraft observations in the radiation belts to construct the whistler wave model. The main purpose of the paper is to provide an estimate of the critical wave amplitude for which the nonlinear wave-particle resonant interaction becomes more important than particle scattering. To this aim, we derive an analytical expression describing the particle scattering by large amplitude whistler waves and compare the corresponding effect with the nonlinear particle acceleration due to trapping. The latter is much more rare but the corresponding change of energy is substantially larger than energy jumps due to scattering. We show that for reasonable wave amplitudes ∼10–100 mV/m of strong whistlers, the nonlinear effects are more important than the linear and nonlinear scattering for electrons with energies ∼10–50 keV. We test the dependencies of the critical wave amplitude on system parameters (background plasma density, wave frequency, etc.). We discuss the role of obtained results for the theoretical description of the nonlinear wave amplification in radiation belts.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Localization and implication of oblique whistler wave in the magnetopause region

Nonlinear interaction between highly oblique whistler wave and ion acoustic wave pertinent to magnetopause has been investigated. The density perturbation in whistler wave is supposed to be originated due to the presence of ion acoustic wave in the background. The ponderomotive force components arising due to the high amplitude pump wave, viz., whistler wave are constituted in the nonlinear dynamics of low frequency ion acoustic wave. The coupled nonlinear dynamical equations are then modelled in the form of modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation by considering adiabatic response of low frequency ion acoustic wave. The numerical simulation of this coupled nonlinear equation is performed to study the temporal evolution of nonlinear whistler wave. The obtained simulation results show that the temporal evolution also leads to the cascade of broadband turbulence spectrum at smaller wavelengths. The relevance of the obtained results with the observations of THEMIS spacecraft in the magnetopause region has been pointed out.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Low-frequency whistler waves in quiescent runaway electron plasmas

In quiescent runaway electron plasmas in the DIII-D tokamak, whistler waves with frequencies between 90 and 200 MHz are driven unstable in plasmas with appreciable hard x-ray and non-thermal electron cyclotron emission (ECE). Narrow (δf < 50 kHz) discrete modes with erratically spaced frequencies are observed. Unstable modes often extend over a range Δf ≃ 50 MHz but lower frequency unstable modes are usually most intense. The dependency of the frequency on field and density implies a wavenumber k ≃ 150 m -1 with parallel wavenumber k ∥ < k. Results show that reducing the gap between the plasma and the wall increases the number of detected modes. Lowering the magnetic field promotes instability. Nonlinear limit-cycle-like oscillations in the whistler amplitude occur on a 10 ms timescale. The ECE signals often jump at whistler bursts, suggesting that the modes pitch-angle scatter the runaways. Additionally, sawteeth cause transient stabilization of the whistlers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Electron Scattering by High-frequency Whistler Waves at Earth’s Bow Shock

Electrons are accelerated to non-thermal energies at shocks in space and astrophysical environments. While different mechanisms of electron acceleration have been proposed, it remains unclear how non-thermal electrons are produced out of the thermal plasma pool. Here, we report in situ evidence of pitch-angle scattering of non-thermal electrons by whistler waves at Earth’s bow shock. On 2015 November 4, the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission crossed the bow shock with an Alfvén Mach number ∼11 and a shock angle ∼84°. In the ramp and overshoot regions, MMS revealed bursty enhancements of non-thermal (0.5–2 keV) electron flux, correlated with high-frequency (0.2–0.4 Ω{sub ce}, where Ω{sub ce} is the cyclotron frequency) parallel-propagating whistler waves. The electron velocity distribution (measured at 30 ms cadence) showed an enhanced gradient of phase-space density at and around the region where the electron velocity component parallel to the magnetic field matched the resonant energy inferred from the wave frequency range. The flux of 0.5 keV electrons (measured at 1 ms cadence) showed fluctuations with the same frequency. These features indicate that non-thermal electrons were pitch-angle scattered by cyclotron resonance with the high-frequency whistler waves. However, the precise role of the pitch-angle scattering by the higher-frequency whistler waves and possible nonlinear effects in the electron acceleration process remains unclear.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗