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On the theory of the incoherent scatter gyrolines
Author(s) -
Hysell D. L.,
Vierinen J.,
Sulzer M. P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1002/2017rs006283
Subject(s) - incoherent scatter , physics , ionosphere , whistler , computational physics , earth's magnetic field , dispersion relation , feature (linguistics) , dispersion (optics) , optics , range (aeronautics) , coherent backscattering , magnetic field , scattering , geophysics , quantum mechanics , linguistics , philosophy , materials science , composite material
The incoherent scatter spectrum feature referred to as the “gyroline” is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The gyroline is associated with the dispersion relation for electrostatic whistler waves. Earlier treatments by Trulsen and Bjørna (1978, and references therein) derive the frequency and growth rate for these waves, but their derivation is only accurate for very small magnetic aspect angles, i.e., for wave vectors close to perpendicular to the geomagnetic field. Their expression for the frequency has the form of a low‐order Padé approximate, but we find that a simple formula of this kind accurate for arbitrary magnetic aspect angles does not exist. We therefore analyze the incoherent scatter gyroline feature computationally. The analysis is supported by range‐resolved incoherent scatter spectrograms measured recently at Arecibo. The gyroline feature is shown to be strongest in the midlatitude E and valley regions where the electron temperature is low enough to avoid cyclotron damping.