Phase coherence of MHD waves in the solar wind

Large amplitude MHD waves are commonly found in the solar wind. Nonlinear interactions between the MHD waves are likely to produce finite correlation among the wave phases. For discussions of various transport processes of energetic particles, it is fundamentally important to determine whether the wave phases are randomly distributed (as assumed in quasi-linear theories) or they have a finite coherence. Using a method based on a surrogate data technique and a fractal analysis, we analyzed Geotail magnetic field data (provided by S. Kokubun and T. Nagai through DARTS at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) to evaluate the phase coherence among the MHD waves in the earth's foreshock region. The correlation of wave phases does exist, indicating that the nonlinear interactions between the waves is in progress. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Initial ISEE magnetometer results: Shock observation

ISEE-1 and -2 magnetic field profiles across 6 terrestrial bow shock and one interplanetary shock are examined. The interplanetary shock illustrates the behavior of a low Mach number shock. It had an upstream whistler wave precursor with an apparent wavelength of 180 km. The shock thickness was about 90 km for the thickness of the final field jump or 270 km for the exponential growth of the precursor wave packet. The ion inertial length was 50 km, upstream of the shock.Three examples of low or moderate , high Mach number, quasiperpendicular shocks are examined. These did not have upstream waves, but rather had waves growing in the field gradient. The growth length for these waves and the shock profile was of the order of the ion inertial length.Two examples of high shocks showed little coherence in field variation even though the two vehicles were only a few hundred kilometers apart. Thus, we cannot gauge their velocity and turn the time profiles into distances. The final crossing examined shows clearly the effect of changing the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. Initially the upstream magnetic field made an angle of about 80° to the shock normal and the shock position remained fairly steady. Then the field rotated to 45° to the normal and the field profiles became very irregular and the shock position very unstable. Discrete wave packets appeared.Finally, we present the joint behavior of wave, particle and field data across some of these shocks to show some of the myriad of shock features whose behavior we are now beginning to investigate.     

Inversion of Meteor Rayleigh Waves on Earth and Modeling of Air Coupled Rayleigh Waves on Mars

Meteor impacts and/or meteor events generate body and surface seismic waves on the surface of a planet. When meteoroids burst in the atmosphere, they generate shock waves that subsequently convert into acoustic waves in the atmosphere and seismic waves in the ground. This effect can be modeled as the amplitude of Rayleigh and other Spheroidal modes excitation, due to atmospheric/ground coupling effects.First, an inversion of the seismic source of Chelyabinsk superbolide is performed. We develop an approach in order to model a line source in the atmosphere, corresponding to the consecutive generation of shock waves by the interaction with the atmosphere. The model is based on the known trajectory. We calculate the synthetic seismograms of Rayleigh waves associated with the event by the summation of normal modes of a model of the solid part and the atmosphere of the planet. Through an inversion technique based on singular value decomposition, we perform a full Rayleigh wave inversion and we provide solutions for the moment magnitude.SEIS will likely detect seismic waves generated by impacts and the later might be further located by remote sensing differential processing. In the case of Mars, we use the same method to obtain waveforms associated with impacts on the planetary surface or in low altitudes in the Martian atmosphere. We show that the contribution of the fundamental spheroidal solid mode is dominating the waveforms, compared to that of the first two overtones. We perform an amplitude comparison and we show that small impactors (diameter of 0.5 to 2 m), can be detected by the SEIS VBB seismometer of InSight mission, even in short epicentral distances, in the higher frequencies of the Rayleigh waves. We perform an analysis based on impact rate estimations and we calculate the number of detectable events of 1 meter diameter meteor impacts to be 6.7 to 13.4 per 1 Martian year for a \(Q=500\).     

Ion Acoustic Waves in the Heliosphere

Observations of ion acoustic waves in the solar wind during the first and second orbit of the Ulysses spacecraft are presented. The observations show variations of the wave activity with the heliolatitude and with the phase of the solar cycle. The interrelationships between the wave intensity and the electron heat flux and the ratio of electron to proton temperature, T _e/T _p, are examined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Two-fluid 2.5D MHD Simulations of the Fast Solar Wind in Coronal Holes and the Relation to UVCS Observations

Recent SOHO/UVCS observations indicate that the perpendicular proton and ion temperatures are much larger than electron temperatures. In the present study we simulate numerically the solar wind flow in a coronal hole with the two-fluid approach. We investigate the effects of electron and proton temperatures on the solar wind acceleration by nonlinear waves. In the model the nonlinear waves are generated by Alfvén waves with frequencies in the 10^-3 Hz range, driven at the base of the coronal hole. The resulting electron and proton flow profile exhibits density and velocity fluctuations. The fluctuations may steepen into shocks as they propagate away from the sun. We calculate the effective proton temperature by combining the thermal and wave velocity of the protons, and find qualitative agreement with the proton kinetic temperature increase with height deduced from the UVCS Ly-α observations by Kohl et al. (1998). This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Absolute and Convective Instabilities of Circularly Polarized Alfvén Waves

We discuss the recent progress in studying the absolute and convective instabilities of circularly polarized Alfvén waves (pump waves) propagating along an ambient magnetic field in the approximation of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We present analytical results obtained for pump waves with small dimensionless amplitude a, and compare them with numerical results valid for arbitrary a. The type of instability, absolute or convective, depends on the velocity U of the reference frame where the pump wave is observed with respect to the rest plasma. One of the main results of our analysis is that the instability is absolute when U _l < U < U _r and convective otherwise. We study the dependences of U _l and U _r on a and the ratio of the sound speed to the Alfvén speed b. We also present the results of calculation of the increment of the absolute instability on U for different values of a and b. When the instability is convective (U < U _l or U > U _r) we consider the signalling problem, and show that spatially amplifying waves exist only when the signalling frequency is in two symmetric frequency bands. Then, we write down the analytical expressions determining the boundaries of these frequency bands and discuss how they agree with numerically calculated values. We also present the dependences of the maximum spatial amplification rate on U calculated both analytically and numerically. The implication of the obtained results on the interpretation of observational data from space missions is discussed. In particular, it is shown that circularly polarized Alfvén waves propagating in the solar wind are convectively unstable in a reference frame of any realistic spacecraft.     

Wave motions in the atmosphere and related ionospheric phenomena

We review important studies in the field of stratosphere-ionosphere coupling, including recent studies of wave motions of planetary waves, atmospheric tides and internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. The interrelation between stratospheric sudden warmings and winter anomaly of radio absorption, a dynamical model of stratospheric sudden warmings and some production mechanisms of intensified electron density in the D region are discussed. Other topics presented are atmospheric tides in the lower thermosphere including dynamo action, and internal gravity waves, by which we intend to explain travelling ionospheric disturbances in the F ₂ region and sporadic E layer at midlatitude (wave-enhanced sporadic E). Thermospheric winds are also reviewed and wind effects on the F ₂ layer are discussed. For each atmospheric event systematic observations of suitable physical quantities with proper time and spatial intervals are desirable.     

计算振动翼面非定常气动力的Fourier级数展开法

将翼面绕基准状态作任意形态的振动,用Ｆｏｕｒｉｅｒ级数展为ｎ个不同振幅、不同频率的谐波;用Ｇｒｅｅｎ函数法计算每个谐波引起的非定常气动力;然后在时域中将它们叠加,即可求得该翼面在时域中以给定的波形作振动时的非定常气动力。重点讨论了翼面作接近方波形振动时的非定常气动力。算例表明,该方法所得结果与其他方法及实验结果吻合。     

扰动波相位差对剪切层中相干结构的影响

当自由剪切层中存在多个扰动时,扰动波的相位差对大尺度相干结构的发展具有一定的作用。本文用数值模拟的方法对此进行了探讨,发现相位差的变化可使大尺度相干结构的演化表现为旋涡的合并或撕裂,并在一定程度上影响剪切层动量厚度的发展。     

Interaction of non-perpendicular/parallel solar wind shock waves with the earth's magnetosphere

The interaction of travelling interplanetary shock waves with the bow shock-magnetosphere system is considered. We consider the general case when the interplanetary magnetic field is oblique to the Sun-planetary axis, thus, the interplanetary shock is neither parallel nor perpendicular. We find that an ensemble of shocks are produced after the interaction for a representative range of shock Mach numbers. First, we find that the system S ₊ R _– CS _– S ₊ appears after the collision of travelling fast shock waves S ₊ (Mach number M = 2 to 7) with the bow shock. Here, S _– and R _– represent the slow shock wave and slow rarefaction wave, and C represents the contact surface. It is shown that in the presence of an interplanetary field that is inclined by 45° to the radial solar wind velocity vector, the waves R _– and S _– are weak waves and, to the first degree of approximation, the situation is similar to the previously studied normal perpendicular case. The configuration, R ₊ C _m S _– S ₊ or R ₊ C _m R _– S ₊ where C _m is the magnetopause, appears as the result of the fast shock wave's collision with the magnetopause. In this case the waves S _– and R _– are weak. The fast rarefaction wave reflected from the magnetosphere is developed similar to the case for the collision of a perpendicular shock. The shock wave intensity is varied for Mach numbers from 2 to 10. Thus, in the limits of the first approximation, the validity of the one-dimensional consideration of the nonstationary interaction of travelling interplanetary shock waves with the bow shock-magnetosphere system is proved. The appearance of the fast rarefaction wave, R ₄, decreasing the pressure on the magnetosphere of the Earth after the abrupt shock-like contraction, is proved. A possible geomagnetic effect during the global perturbation of the SSC or SI⁺ type is discussed.An invited paper presented at STIP Workshop on Shock Waves in the Solar Corona and Interplanetary Space, 15–19 June, 1980, Smolenice, Czechoslovakia.     

Type-III radio bursts and their interpretation

The observations of type-III solar radio bursts are briefly reviewed to set requirements on a model for their interpretation. The most important of these requirements is that the source must be an electron stream which is in a state of continuous quasilinear relaxation and which initially must have a nearly monotonically decreasing velocity distribution. The problem of constructing a model is broken into three parts: (1) The plasma wave source which depends on the interaction of the electron stream with electron plasma waves. (2) The radiation source which depends on the interaction of plasma waves and transverse electromagnetic waves or in a magnetized plasma the ordinary and extraordinary modes of magnetoionic theory. (3) The propagation of radiation between the source and the observer which depends on the transmission of radiation through a scattering refracting absorbing magnetized plasma.Progress on a model for the plasma wave source is reviewed and it is concluded that no existing models are adequate. The equations which would lead to an adequate model are written down, but not solved. These include, in addition to collisional damping, Landau damping both by the exciting stream and the background plasma, and spontaneous and induced processes for a three-dimensional distribution of plasma waves. Possible limitations to a quasilinear approach such as pile-up of plasma waves and nonlinear effects are considered. Processes which affect the gross structure of the source such as electron trajectories in coronal streamers and electron scattering by inhomogeneities are reviewed.Progress on the radiation source is considered both in the absence and presence of a magnetic field. At high frequencies (e.g., 80 MHz) observations of radiation near the fundamental and second harmonic of the plasma frequency allow a unique determination of source size and the energy density in plasma waves within the uncertainties of geometry by source ray tracing. This determination is extremely critical because the fundamental must be amplified and thus production of the fundamental is effectively a much more highly nonlinear process than production of the second harmonic. At low frequencies (e.g., 500 kHz) the second harmonic is shown to be dominant because amplification of the fundamental becomes an inefficient process.Calculations of scattering of radiation in a random medium are reviewed. It is concluded that these are adequate at high and low frequencies, but have not been carried out properly at intermediate frequencies where amplification of the fundamental may still be present. It is shown in particular that when scattering is taken into account at high frequencies all observations can be explained by isotropic emission near the second harmonic. At low frequencies the nature of the scatterers is determined by source occultations unlike the case at high frequencies where these are free parameters. This fact allows the possibility of determining true source sizes at low frequencies by subtracting out the contribution due to scattering. A mechanism for producing the possibly observed linear or highly elliptical polarization of type-III bursts, which must be imposed far from the source due to Faraday rotation, is reviewed.Finally, the questions of what remains to be done and what we can hope to obtain upon completion of this work are briefly considered.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Radio plasma imager simulations and measurements

The Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) will be the first-of-its kind instrument designed to use radio wave sounding techniques to perform repetitive remote sensing measurements of electron number density (N _e) structures and the dynamics of the magnetosphere and plasmasphere. RPI will fly on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission to be launched early in the year 2000. The design of the RPI is based on recent advances in radio transmitter and receiver design and modern digital processing techniques perfected for ground-based ionospheric sounding over the last two decades. Free-space electromagnetic waves transmitted by the RPI located in the low-density magnetospheric cavity will be reflected at distant plasma cutoffs. The location and characteristics of the plasma at those remote reflection points can then be derived from measurements of the echo amplitude, phase, delay time, frequency, polarization, Doppler shift, and echo direction. The 500 m tip-to-tip X and Y (spin plane) antennas and 20 m Z axis antenna on RPI will be used to measures echoes coming from distances of several R _E. RPI will operate at frequencies between 3 kHz to 3 MHz and will provide quantitative N _e values from 10^–1 to 10⁵ cm^–3. Ray tracing calculations, combined with specific radio imager instrument characteristics, enables simulations of RPI measurements. These simulations have been performed throughout an IMAGE orbit and under different model magnetospheric conditions. They dramatically show that radio sounding can be used quite successfully to measure a wealth of magnetospheric phenomena such as magnetopause boundary motions and plasmapause dynamics. The radio imaging technique will provide a truly exciting opportunity to study global magnetospheric dynamics in a way that was never before possible.     

The emission mechanisms for solar radio bursts

Emission mechanisms for meter- solar radio bursts are reviewed with emphasis on fundamental plasma emission.The standard version of fundamental plasma emission is due to scattering of Langmuir waves into transverse waves by thermal ions. It may be treated semi-quantitatively by analogy with Thomson scattering provided induced scattering is unimportant. A physical interpretation of induced scattering is given and used to derive the transfer equation in a semi-quantitative way. Solutions of the transfer equation are presented and it is emphasized that standard fundamental emission with brightness temperatures 10⁹ K can be explained only under seemingly exceptional circumstances.Two alternative fundamental emission mechanisms are discussed: coalescence of Langmuir waves with low-frequency waves and direct conversion due to a density inhomogeneity. It is pointed out for the first time that the coalescence process (actually a related decay process) can lead to amplified transverse waves. The coalescence process saturates when the effective temperature T ^t of the transverse waves reaches the effective temperature T ^l of the Langmuir waves. This saturation occurs provided the energy density in the low-frequency waves exceeds a specific value which is about 10^-9 of the thermal energy density for emission from the corona at 100 MHz. It is suggested that direct emission has been dismissed as a possible alternative without adequate justification.Second harmonic plasma emission is discussed and compared with fundamental plasma emission. It also saturates at T ^t T ^l , and this saturation should occur in the corona roughly for T ^l 10¹⁵ K. If fundamental plasma emission is attributed to coalescence with low-frequency waves, then for T ^l 10¹⁵ K the brightness temperatures at the two harmonics should be equal and equal to T ^l . This offers a natural explanation for the approximate equality of the two brightness temperature often found in type II and type III bursts.Analytic treatments of gyro-synchrotron emission are reviewed. The application of the mechanism to moving type IV bursts is discussed in view of bursts with 10¹⁰ K at 43 MHz.     

Emission mechanism for low-frequency radiation in the outer heliosphere

The question of how low-frequency radio emissions in the outer heliosphere might be generated is considered. It is argued that the free energy contained in an electron beam distribution is first transformed into electrostatic Langmuir waves. The nonlinear interactions of these waves which can produce electromagnetic waves are then treated in the semi-classical formalism. Comparison of the results of the discussed model with electromagnetic radiation coming from upstream of the Earth's bow shock shows that the model adequately explains the generation of plasma waves at planetary shocks. By analogy, this model can provide a quantitative explanation of intensity of radio emissions at 2 to 3 kHz detected by the Voyager plasma wave instrument in the outer heliosphere provided that the electron beams generating Langmuir waves exist also in the postshock plasma due to secondary shocks in the compressed solar wind beyond the termination shock. The field strength of Langmuir waves required to generate the second harmonic emissions are approximately of 100–200 V m^–1 for the primary and 50–100 V m^–1 for the secondary foreshocks. However, only in the secondary foreshock the expected density is consistent with the observed frequency.     

Small Scale Alfvénic Structure in the Aurora

This paper presents a comprehensive review of dispersive Alfvén waves in space and laboratory plasmas. We start with linear properties of Alfvén waves and show how the inclusion of ion gyroradius, parallel electron inertia, and finite frequency effects modify the Alfvén wave properties. Detailed discussions of inertial and kinetic Alfvén waves and their polarizations as well as their relations to drift Alfvén waves are presented. Up to date observations of waves and field parameters deduced from the measurements by Freja, Fast, and other spacecraft are summarized. We also present laboratory measurements of dispersive Alfvén waves, that are of most interest to auroral physics. Electron acceleration by Alfvén waves and possible connections of dispersive Alfvén waves with ionospheric-magnetospheric resonator and global field-line resonances are also reviewed. Theoretical efforts are directed on studies of Alfvén resonance cones, generation of dispersive Alfvén waves, as well their nonlinear interactions with the background plasma and self-interaction. Such topics as the dispersive Alfvén wave ponderomotive force, density cavitation, wave modulation/filamentation, and Alfvén wave self-focusing are reviewed. The nonlinear dispersive Alfvén wave studies also include the formation of vortices and their dynamics as well as chaos in Alfvén wave turbulence. Finally, we present a rigorous evaluation of theoretical and experimental investigations and point out applications and future perspectives of auroral Alfvén wave physics.     

Effects of Superthermal Particles on Waves in Magnetized Space Plasmas

Distributions with excess numbers of superthermal particles are common in space environments. They are well modelled by the isotropic kappa distribution, or, where magnetic effects are important, the kappa-Maxwellian. This paper presents a review of some studies of electrostatic and electromagnetic waves in such plasmas, based on the associated generalized plasma dispersion functions, Z _κ and Z _κM. In particular, the effects of low values of κ are considered, i.e. strongly accelerated distribution functions. Recently the full susceptibility tensor for oblique propagation of electromagnetic waves in a kappa-Maxwellian magnetoplasma has been established and has been applied to the study of whistler waves.     

In situ Wave Phenomena Associated with Magnetic Clouds and Other Ejecta

We present Ulysses Unified Radio and Plasma Wave (URAP) observations of ion-acoustic waves associated with magnetic clouds and ejecta. The peak intensities of these waves, which usually occur inside CMEs when T _e/T _i≫1, are not correlated with heliocentric distance or electron to ion temperature ratio inside the CMEs. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

面向高轨目标的强度相干成像技术研究

强度相干成像技术是指利用地基强度相干阵列测量空间目标光强随机涨落的相干性,可获得目标的空间频谱模值,结合目标先验信息即可恢复目标光强分布图像.这种成像方法具有成像分辨力高、设备精度要求低、受大气湍流影响小等优点,目前已应用于恒星目标的成像观测领域,是一种有发展前景的地基光学成像手段.在综述强度相干技术原理与发展历程基础上,分析了利用强度相干阵列对高轨目标成像的可行性,认为在利用强度相干阵列对高轨目标成像过程中,主要存在空间频谱探测信噪比低和相位恢复复杂2大难题,提出利用激光主动照明对目标进行探测,同时采用符合计数方法和正则化优化方法可提高探测信噪比与相位恢复质量,对实现高轨目标成像有一定参考.