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Whistler interactions with density gradients in the magnetosphere
Author(s) -
Woodroffe J. R.,
Streltsov A. V.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2012ja018308
Subject(s) - whistler , magnetosphere , oblique case , physics , computational physics , geophysics , amplitude , plasma , transverse plane , magnetic field , electron , ionosphere , optics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , philosophy , linguistics , structural engineering , engineering
Very‐low frequency whistler‐mode waves are frequently observed in the equatorial magnetosphere. Large amplitude whistlers, capable of rapidly accelerating electrons to large energies, are typically observed to propagate at highly oblique angles relative to the background magnetic field. In this paper, we discuss a potential mechanism for the conversion of moderately oblique whistlers to highly oblique whistlers on a transverse gradient of the background plasma. We offer a theoretical explanation for this process and illustrate its operation using numerical simulations. This effect has been previously observed in laboratory experiments and it also provides a straightforward explanation for observations of highly oblique whistlers in magnetospheric plasmas.