Determining the Wave Vector Direction of Equatorial Fast Magnetosonic Waves

We perform polarization analysis of the equatorial fast magnetosonic waves electric field over a 20‐min interval of Van Allen Probes A waveform receiver burst mode data. The wave power peaks at harmonics of the proton cyclotron frequency indicating that the spacecraft is near or in the source region...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2018-08, Vol.45 (16), p.7951-7959
Main Authors: Boardsen, Scott A., Hospodarsky, George B., Min, Kyungguk, Averkamp, Terrance F., Bounds, Scott R., Kletzing, Craig A., Pfaff, Robert F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activation
Components
Computation
Cyclotron frequency
Cyclotrons
Direction
E field polarization analysis
Earth
Earth magnetosphere
Electric field
Electric fields
Energy flow
equatorial fast magnetosonic
Fluctuations
Flux
Harmonics
Magnetic field
Magnetic fields
Magnetosphere
Noise levels
Pitch (inclination)
Polarization
Poynting flux analysis
Proton ring
Protons
Radiation
Radiation belt electrons
Ring currents
Scattering of radiation
Spacecraft
Wave amplification
Wave power
Wave propagation
wave vector analysis
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Summary:We perform polarization analysis of the equatorial fast magnetosonic waves electric field over a 20‐min interval of Van Allen Probes A waveform receiver burst mode data. The wave power peaks at harmonics of the proton cyclotron frequency indicating that the spacecraft is near or in the source region. The wave vector is inferred from the direction of the major axis of the electric field polarization ellipsoid and the sign of the phase between the longitudinal electric and compressional magnetic field components. We show that wave vector is preferentially in the azimuthal direction as opposed to the radial direction. From Poynting flux analysis one would infer that the wave vector is primarily in the radial direction. We show that the error in the Poynting flux is large ~90°. These results strongly imply that the wave growth occurs during azimuthal propagation in the source region for this event. Plain Language Summary Near‐equatorial fast magnetosonic waves are strongly prevalent in the Earth's inner magnetosphere. They strongly interact with the proton component (8 pro
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2018GL078695