Direct observations of energy transfer from resonant electrons to whistler-mode waves in magnetosheath of Earth.

ABSTRACT: Electromagnetic whistler-mode waves in space plasmas play critical roles in collisionless energy transfer between the electrons and the electromagnetic field. Although resonant interactions have been considered as the likely generation process of the waves, observational identification has been extremely difficult due to the short time scale of resonant electron dynamics. Here we show strong nongyrotropy, which rotate with the wave, of cyclotron resonant electrons as direct evidence for the locally ongoing secular energy transfer from the resonant electrons to the whistler-mode waves using ultra-high temporal resolution data obtained by NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the magnetosheath. The nongyrotropic electrons carry a resonant current, which is the energy source of th

SUBMITTER: Kitamura N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9616889 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature