Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake
Name
Hutch AGU 2017GL076880.pdf
Size
1.35 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
16ae7f58649d8347fbc77cc20fc8d2db
Author(s)
Malaspina, David M.
Hutchinson, Ian Horner
Date Issued
May 2018
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Hutchinson, Ian H. and David M. Malaspina. “Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake.” Geophysical Research Letters 45, 9 (May 2018): 3838–3845 © 2018 American Geophysical Union
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Recent theory and numerical simulation predicts that the wake of the solar wind flow past the Moon should be the site of electrostatic instabilities that give rise to electron holes. These play an important role in the eventual merging of the wake with the background solar wind. Analysis of measurements from the ARTEMIS satellites, orbiting the Moon at distances from 1.2 to 11 R[subscript M], detects holes highly concentrated in the wake, in agreement with prediction. The theory also predicts that the hole flux density observed should be hollow, peaking away from the wake axis. Observation statistics qualitatively confirm this hollowness, lending extra supporting evidence for the identification of their generation mechanism. Keywords: lunar wake; solar wind; electron hole; electrostatic instability; ARTEMIS
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2017GL076880
