Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T00:33:53.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Obliquely propagating unstable whistler waves: a computer simulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

S. Cuperman
Affiliation:
Ciers, University of Colorado and Space Environment Laboratory, NOAA-ERL, Boulder, Colorado
A. Sternnlieb
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel

Abstract

Obliquely propagating unstable electron cyclotron electromagnetic (whistler) waves have been studied with the aid of an especially designed computer simulation experiment. The plasma–wave system considered is homogeneous and infinite, and the plasma is taken to be a mixture of warm (bi-maxwellian) and cold populations. With no cold plasma, the rates of growth of the low k modes maximize for the case of parallel propagation (¸ = 0°;) and decrease as ¸ increases; for higher k modes, the opposite occurs. Changing from k space to ω space the above results indicate that off-angle propagation tends to stabilize the low-frequency whistlers but to destabilize the higher-frequency ones. These results are consistent with linear predictions. In all cases, however, the total electromagnetic energy generated in the system decreases with increasing θ. When cold plasma is added to the system, the total generated electromagnetic energy can maximize for a non-zero propagation angle.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Brinca, A. L. 1972 J. Geophys. Res. 77, 3495.Google Scholar
Cuperman, S. & Landau, R. 1973 J. Ceophys. Res. (To be published.)Google Scholar
Cuperman, S. & Salu, Y. 1972 Proc. 5th European Conf. on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Phys., p. 140.Google Scholar
Cuperman, S. & Salu, Y. 1973 a J. Plasma Phys, 9, 195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuperman, S. & Salu, Y. 1973 b J. Geophys. Res. (To be published.)Google Scholar
Cuperman, S., Salu, Y., Bernstein, W. & Willliams, D. J. 1973 J. Geophys. Res. 78, 7372.Google Scholar
Kennel, C. F. 1966 Phys. Fluids, 9, 2190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennel, C. F. & Petschek, H. E. 1966 J. Geophys. Res. 71, 1.Google Scholar
Kennel, C. F. & Thorne, R. M. 1967 J. Geophys. Res. 72, 871.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, L. R., Thorne, R. M. &Kennel, C. F. 1972 J. Geophys. Res. 77, 3455.Google Scholar
Ossakow, S. L., Haber, I. & Ott, E. 1972 Phys. Fluids, 15, 2314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stix, T. 1962 Plasma Waves. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Thorne, R. M., Smith, E. J., Burton, R. K. & Holzer, R. E. 1973 J. Geophys. Res. 78, 1581.Google Scholar
Walter, F. & Angermi, J. 1969 J. Geophys. Res. 74, 6352.Google Scholar