Premium
On the polarization, compression and nonoscillatory behavior of hydromagnetic waves associated with pickup ions
Author(s) -
Brinca Armando L.,
Tsurutani Bruce T.
Publication year - 1987
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/gl014i005p00495
Subject(s) - physics , ion , polarization (electrochemistry) , magnetic field , atomic physics , magnetohydrodynamics , computational physics , ion beam , instability , solar wind , pickup , beam (structure) , dispersion (optics) , optics , mechanics , chemistry , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
Newborn ions acquire highly unstable velocity distributions that, in the solar wind frame, might range from beam‐ to ring‐like. Solution of the kinetic dispersion equation shows that heavy pickup ions with large perpendicular energies excite a new hydromagnetic wave mode with maximum growth, high (magnetic field and mass density) compression ratios, and almost linear polarization coexisting slightly away (6° ‐ 15°) from parallel propagation. The mode arises from the coupling of the heavy ion beam to the modified left‐hand wave dispersion caused by the multi‐ion nature of the medium. The ion beam can also bring about nonoscillatory, purely growing structures distinct from the mirror wave through the coupling of a counter‐streaming left‐hand mode to a co‐streaming right‐hand wave. The free energy source parameters are varied to determine their relative influence and define the domain of existence of the instability. Its characteristics may prove helpful in the interpretation of recent cometary (Halley and Giacobini‐Zinner) and artificial release (AMPTE) observations.