Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake
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 measurem...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118896 |
| _version_ | 1826217422055538688 |
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| author | Malaspina, David M. Hutchinson, Ian Horner |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center Malaspina, David M. Hutchinson, Ian Horner |
| author_sort | Malaspina, David M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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 |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:03:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/118896 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:03:23Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1188962022-09-29T23:23:51Z Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake Malaspina, David M. Hutchinson, Ian Horner Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center Hutchinson, Ian Horner Hutchinson, Ian Horner 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 United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX16AG82G) 2018-11-05T20:14:27Z 2018-11-05T20:14:27Z 2018-05 2017-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118896 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 en_US https://doi.org/10.1029/2017GL076880 Geophysical Research Letters 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. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) Prof. Hutchinson via Chris Sherratt |
| spellingShingle | Malaspina, David M. Hutchinson, Ian Horner Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title | Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title_full | Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title_fullStr | Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title_short | Prediction and Observation of Electron Instabilities and Phase Space Holes Concentrated in the Lunar Plasma Wake |
| title_sort | prediction and observation of electron instabilities and phase space holes concentrated in the lunar plasma wake |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118896 |
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