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Simulation study of ion two‐stream instability in the auroral acceleration region
Author(s) -
Gray Perry C.,
Hudson Mary K.,
Bergmann Rachelle,
Roth Ilan
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i010p01609
Subject(s) - instability , ion , plasma , oblique case , hydrogen , physics , acceleration , particle acceleration , atomic physics , computational physics , particle (ecology) , particle in cell , mechanics , geology , classical mechanics , nuclear physics , linguistics , philosophy , oceanography , quantum mechanics
Particle in cell plasma simulation technique has been used to study the effect of the ion two‐stream instability on hydrogen and oxygen distributions at small relative drifts ( v H + − v o +<2 c H , the hydrogen sound speed). We investigate whether heating due to parallel modes which are unstable at low drifts might be sufficient to quench oblique modes which are unstable at higher drifts. We find that this is not the case and that the oblique modes contribute significantly to heating.