Premium
MMS Observations of Harmonic Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves
Author(s) -
Usanova M. E.,
Ahmadi N.,
Malaspina D. M.,
Ergun R. E.,
Trattner K. J.,
Reece Q.,
Leonard T.,
Fuselier S. A.,
Torbert R. B.,
Russell C. T.,
Burch J. L.
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1029/2018gl079006
Subject(s) - cyclotron , physics , harmonics , fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance , atomic physics , harmonic , ion , ion cyclotron resonance , electromagnetic radiation , electron , computational physics , optics , acoustics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , voltage
Abstract Harmonically related electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves with the fundamental frequency near the double oxygen cyclotron frequency were observed by the MMS spacecraft on 18–20 May 2016. The wave activity lasted for three days, detected by the spacecraft on their consecutive inbound passages through the Earth's plasma sheet boundary layer. The waves were seen in both magnetic and electric fields, formed by over 10 higher order harmonics. Simultaneous ion flux measurements show the presence of ion ring distributions suggesting the energy source for the observed waves. The ion cyclotron harmonics were observed together with broadband waves extending from ~Hz to ~kHz frequency range, ion and electron phase space holes, and chorus waves. During some intervals, there is a clear modulation of chorus wave packets at the ion cyclotron fundamental harmonic frequency. These observations are particularly interesting since they suggest cross‐frequency and cross‐species coupling between processes happening on ion and electron scales.