Electron energization in lunar magnetospheres

The interaction of the solar wind with lunar surface magnetic fields produces a bow shock and a magnetosphere-like structure. In front of the shock wave energetic electrons up to keV energies are produced. This paper describes how resonant interactions between plasma turbulence in the form of lower-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of plasma physics 2010-12, Vol.76 (6), p.915-918
Main Authors: BINGHAM, R., BAMFORD, R., KELLETT, B. J., SHAPIRO, V. D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrons
Magnetic fields
Moon
Plasma physics
Shock waves
Turbulence
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The interaction of the solar wind with lunar surface magnetic fields produces a bow shock and a magnetosphere-like structure. In front of the shock wave energetic electrons up to keV energies are produced. This paper describes how resonant interactions between plasma turbulence in the form of lower-hybrid waves and electrons can result in field aligned electron acceleration. The turbulent wave fields close to the lower-hybrid resonant frequency are excited most probably by the modified two-stream instability, driven by the solar wind ions that are reflected and deflected by the low shock.
ISSN:0022-3778
1469-7807
DOI:10.1017/S0022377810000462