EGU21-16078, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16078
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Statistical Study of ICW Events and Associated Ion Velocity Distributions in the Inner Heliosphere

Xingyu Zhu1, Jiansen He1, Daniel Verscharen2,3, Die Duan1, Christopher Owen2, and Timothy Horbury4
Xingyu Zhu et al.
  • 1Peking University, Institute of Space Physics & Applied Technology, China (ghoti@pku.edu.cn)
  • 2Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking RH5 6NT, UK
  • 3Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824, USA
  • 4Space and Atmospheric Physics, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Ion cyclotron waves (ICWs) frequently occur in the solar wind and are detected by PSP within 0.3 AU (Bowen et al. 2020), by MESSENGER from 0.3 AU to 0.7 AU (Jian et al. 2010, Boardsen et al. 2015) and by STEREO at 1 AU (Jian et al. 2009; He et al. 2011). However, the relation between the wave properties and the kinetic features of different ion components (proton core, proton beam and helium) are not widely discussed in the existing literature. We statistically analyze the polarization and propagation properties of hundreds of ICW events using measurements from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. We find three types of ICW events in terms of their occurrence and duration: clustering ICW events with long durations; sporadic ICW events immersed in a quiet background magnetic field; and ICW events alongside discontinuities. We perform an investigation of the ion velocity distribution functions (VDFs) and draw comparisons of the kinetic behavior of each ion component during intervals with and without ICWs. The plasma parameters of the different ion components are acquired by our newly developed fitting program.

How to cite: Zhu, X., He, J., Verscharen, D., Duan, D., Owen, C., and Horbury, T.: Statistical Study of ICW Events and Associated Ion Velocity Distributions in the Inner Heliosphere, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-16078, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16078, 2021.

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