Open AccessIonospheric ion‐acoustic enhancements by turbulent counterstreaming electron beam‐plasma interaction
Author(s) -
Pavan J.,
Ziebell L. F.,
Yoon P. H.,
Gaelzer R.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2009ja014448
Subject(s) - physics , ionosphere , plasma , turbulence , context (archaeology) , electron , ion , computational physics , beam (structure) , acoustic wave , space physics , ion acoustic wave , atomic physics , geophysics , optics , mechanics , paleontology , quantum mechanics , biology
Ion‐acoustic enhancements are investigated within the context of turbulent beam‐plasma interaction processes. The analysis assumes a pair of counterstreaming electron beams interacting with the background plasma. Two‐dimensional velocity space and two‐dimensional wave number space are assumed for the analysis, with physical parameters that characterize typical ionospheric conditions. The solutions of the electrostatic weak turbulence theory show that the ion‐acoustic wave levels are significantly enhanced when the computation is initialized with a pair of counterstreaming beams in contrast to a single beam. We suggest that this finding is highly relevant for the observed ion‐acoustic enhancements in the Earth's ionosphere that are known to be correlated with auroral activity.