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Observations of whistler mode waves with nonlinear parallel electric fields near the dayside magnetic reconnection separatrix by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission
Author(s) -
Wilder F. D.,
Ergun R. E.,
Goodrich K. A.,
Goldman M. V.,
Newman D. L.,
Malaspina D. M.,
Jaynes A. N.,
Schwartz S. J.,
Trattner K. J.,
Burch J. L.,
Argall M. R.,
Torbert R. B.,
Lindqvist P.A.,
Marklund G.,
Le Contel O.,
Mirioni L.,
Khotyaintsev Yu. V.,
Strangeway R. J.,
Russell C. T.,
Pollock C. J.,
Giles B. L.,
Plaschke F.,
Magnes W.,
Eriksson S.,
Stawarz J. E.,
Sturner A. P.,
Holmes J. C.
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 - 10.1002/2016gl069473
Subject(s) - whistler , physics , electric field , magnetic reconnection , computational physics , geophysics , phase velocity , magnetic field , electron , optics , quantum mechanics
We show observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission of whistler mode waves in the Earth's low‐latitude boundary layer (LLBL) during a magnetic reconnection event. The waves propagated obliquely to the magnetic field toward the X line and were confined to the edge of a southward jet in the LLBL. Bipolar parallel electric fields interpreted as electrostatic solitary waves (ESW) are observed intermittently and appear to be in phase with the parallel component of the whistler oscillations. The polarity of the ESWs suggests that if they propagate with the waves, they are electron enhancements as opposed to electron holes. The reduced electron distribution shows a shoulder in the distribution for parallel velocities between 17,000 and 22,000 km/s, which persisted during the interval when ESWs were observed, and is near the phase velocity of the whistlers. This shoulder can drive Langmuir waves, which were observed in the high‐frequency parallel electric field data.