Tunneling and mode conversion of fast magnetosonic waves in the magnetospheres of Earth and Mercury
Journal article, 2015

Narrow-band linearly polarized waves, having a resonant structure and a peak frequency between the local cyclotron frequency of protons and heavy ions, have been detected in the magnetospheres of Earth and of Mercury. Some of these wave events have been suggested to be driven by linear mode conversion (MC) of the fast magnetosonic waves (FWs) at the ion–ion hybrid (IIH) resonances. Since the resonant IIH frequency is linked to the plasma composition, solving the inverse problem allows one to infer the concentration of the heavy ions from the measured frequency spectra. In this paper, we identify the conditions when the MC efficiency is maximized in the magnetospheric plasmas and discuss how this can be applied for estimating the heavy ion concentration in the magnetospheres of Earth and Mercury.

Author

Yevgen Kazakov

Royal Military Academy

Tünde Fülöp

Chalmers, Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering

Journal of Plasma Physics

0022-3778 (ISSN) 1469-7807 (eISSN)

Vol. 81 2 00113

Roots

Basic sciences

Subject Categories

Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics

DOI

10.1017/S0022377814001135

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 6