Proton Cyclotron Waves and Pickup Ion Ring Distribution Instabilities Upstream of Mars
| Title: | Proton Cyclotron Waves and Pickup Ion Ring Distribution Instabilities Upstream of Mars |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Kun Cheng, Kaijun Liu, Ameneh Mousavi, Misa Cowee, Xianming Zheng, Jingyi Zhou, Yan Wang, Yuqi Liu, Xinye Wang |
| Source: | Geophysical Research Letters, Vol 51, Iss 21, Pp n/a-n/a (2024) |
| Publisher Information: | Wiley, 2024. |
| Publication Year: | 2024 |
| Collection: | LCC:Geophysics. Cosmic physics |
| Subject Terms: | Geophysics. Cosmic physics, QC801-809 |
| More Details: | Abstract Proton cyclotron waves (PCWs) upstream of Mars are thought to be associated with the instabilities of pickup ions. The instabilities of pickup ions of ring distributions have larger maximum growth rates compared with beam distributions. However, observations revealed a notably‐reduced occurrence rate of PCWs for pickup ions of ring distributions. Linear instability analysis and a corresponding two‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell (PIC) simulation are performed to investigate the instabilities of pickup ion ring distributions upstream of Mars. Linear instability analysis indicates that a pickup ion ring distribution is unstable to the ion cyclotron, ion Bernstein, and mirror instabilities. The corresponding PIC simulation confirms the linear analysis results and further demonstrates that the pickup ions are scattered toward an isotropic shell distribution by the waves excited. Interestingly, the saturation energy of the waves is much lower than that driven by a corresponding pickup ion beam distribution, and mirror waves eventually dominate the system. |
| Document Type: | article |
| File Description: | electronic resource |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 1944-8007 0094-8276 |
| Relation: | https://doaj.org/toc/0094-8276; https://doaj.org/toc/1944-8007 |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2024GL111657 |
| Access URL: | https://doaj.org/article/b45765cab199415c9fce5401bf3750a3 |
| Accession Number: | edsdoj.b45765cab199415c9fce5401bf3750a3 |
| Database: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
| ISSN: | 19448007 00948276 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1029/2024GL111657 |
| Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Language: | English |