Journal article
The Importance of Electron Landau Damping for the Dissipation of Turbulent Energy in Terrestrial Magnetosheath Plasma
Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.126(12), e2021JA029578
12/13/2021
DOI: 10.1029/2021JA029578
Abstract
Heliospheric plasma turbulence plays a key role in transferring the energy of large-scale magnetic field and plasma flow fluctuations to smaller scales where the energy can be dissipated, ultimately leading to plasma heating. High-quality measurements of electromagnetic fields and electron velocity distributions by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in Earth's magnetosheath present a unique opportunity to characterize plasma turbulence and to determine the mechanisms responsible for its dissipation. We apply the field-particle correlation technique to a set of 20 MMS magnetosheath intervals to identify the dissipation mechanism and quantify the dissipation rate. It is found that 95% of the intervals have velocity-space signatures of electron Landau damping that are quantitatively consistent with linear kinetic theory for the collisionless damping of kinetic Alfvén waves. About 75% of the intervals contain asymmetric signatures, indicating a local imbalance of kinetic Alfvén wave energy flux in one direction along the magnetic field than the other. About one-third of the intervals have an electron energization rate with the same order-of-magnitude as the estimated turbulent cascade rate, suggesting that electron Landau damping plays a significant, and sometimes dominant, role in the dissipation of the turbulent energy in these magnetosheath intervals.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Importance of Electron Landau Damping for the Dissipation of Turbulent Energy in Terrestrial Magnetosheath Plasma
- Creators
- Arya Afshari - University of IowaGregory Howes - University of IowaCraig Kletzing - University of IowaDavid Hartley - University of IowaScott Boardsen - University of Maryland, Baltimore
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.126(12), e2021JA029578
- DOI
- 10.1029/2021JA029578
- ISSN
- 2169-9380
- eISSN
- 2169-9402
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100008284, name: University of New Hampshire
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/13/2021
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984428670602771
Metrics
2 Record Views