Logo image
Plasma Double Layers at the Boundary between Venus and the Solar Wind
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Plasma Double Layers at the Boundary between Venus and the Solar Wind

D.M. Malaspina, K. Goodrich, R. Livi, J. Halekas, M. Mcmanus, S. Curry, S.D. Bale, J.W. Bonnell, Thierry Dudok de Wit, K. Goetz, …
Geophysical research letters, Vol.Accepted Manuscript(20), pp.e2020GL090115-n/a
10/28/2020
DOI: 10.1029/2020GL090115
PMCID: PMC7757269
PMID: 33380758
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7757269View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The solar wind is slowed, deflected, and heated as it encounters Venus's induced magnetosphere. The importance of kinetic plasma processes to these interactions has not been examined in detail, due to a lack of constraining observations. In this study, kinetic‐scale electric field structures are identified in the Venusian magnetosheath, including plasma double layers. The double layers may be driven by currents or mixing of inhomogeneous plasmas near the edge of the magnetosheath. Estimated double layer spatial scales are consistent with those reported at Earth. Estimated potential drops are similar to electron temperature gradients across the bow shock. Many double layers are found in few high cadence data captures, suggesting that their amplitudes are high relative to other magnetosheath plasma waves. These are the first direct observations of plasma double layers beyond near‐Earth space, supporting the idea that kinetic plasma processes are active in many space plasma environments.
Sciences of the Universe

Details

Metrics

Logo image