Journal article
Intense plasma waves at and near the solar wind termination shock
Nature (London), Vol.454(7200), pp.78-80
07/03/2008
DOI: 10.1038/nature07023
PMID: 18596804
Abstract
Plasma waves are a characteristic feature of shocks in plasmas, and are produced by non- thermal particle distributions that develop in the shock transition layer. The electric fields of these waves have a key role in dissipating energy in the shock and driving the particle distributions back towards thermal equilibrium(1). Here we report the detection of intense plasma- wave electric fields at the solar wind termination shock. The observations were obtained from the plasma- wave instrument on the Voyager 2 spacecraft(2). The first evidence of the approach to the shock was the detection of upstream electron plasma oscillations on 1 August 2007 at a heliocentric radial distance of 83.4 AU ( 1 AU is the Earth - Sun distance). These narrowband oscillations continued intermittently for about a month until, starting on 31 August 2007 and ending on 1 September 2007, a series of intense bursts of broadband electrostatic waves signalled a series of crossings of the termination shock at a heliocentric radial distance of 83.7 AU. The spectrum of these waves is quantitatively similar to those observed at bow shocks upstream of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Intense plasma waves at and near the solar wind termination shock
- Creators
- D. A. Gurnett - University of IowaW. S. Kurth - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature (London), Vol.454(7200), pp.78-80
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- DOI
- 10.1038/nature07023
- PMID
- 18596804
- ISSN
- 0028-0836
- eISSN
- 1476-4687
- Number of pages
- 3
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/03/2008
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984455548502771
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