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Direct measurement of electron sloshing of an inertial Alfvén wave
Author(s) -
Schroeder J. W. R.,
Skiff F.,
Kletzing C. A.,
Howes G. G.,
Carter T. A.,
Dorfman S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl068865
Subject(s) - physics , electron , inertial frame of reference , excitation , computational physics , magnetic field , kinetic energy , inertial wave , wavenumber , atomic physics , alfvén wave , classical mechanics , wave propagation , magnetohydrodynamics , optics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , mechanical wave , longitudinal wave
We report laboratory measurements of the parallel current carried by suprathermal electrons associated with inertial Alfvén wave excitation in the laboratory. The experiments presented here use a novel wave absorption diagnostic that measures the suprathermal tails of the electron distribution parallel to the mean magnetic field. The diagnostic is used to probe the electron distribution as an inertial Alfvén wave propagates along the mean magnetic field. These results identify, for the first time, the periodic motion of suprathermal electrons participating in the inertial Alfvén wave itself, in agreement with predictions from linear kinetic theory.