EGU21-16137, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16137
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Gap formation around 0.5Ωe of whistler-mode waves excited by electron temperature anisotropy

Huayue Chen1, Xinliang Gao1, Quanming Lu1, and Konrad Sauer2
Huayue Chen et al.
  • 1University of Science and Technology of China, Earth and Space Science, Earth and Space Science, China (beat@mail.ustc.edu.cn)
  • 2Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany (up to 2005)

With a 1-D PIC simulation model, we have investigated the gap formation around 0.5Ωe of the quasi-parallel whistler-mode waves excited by an electron temperature anisotropy. When the frequencies of excited waves in the linear stage cross 0.5Ωe, or when they are slightly larger than 0.5Ωe but then drift to lower values, the Landau resonance can make the electron distribution form a beam-like/plateau population. Such an electron distribution only slightly changes the dispersion relation of whistler-mode waves, but can cause severe damping around 0.5Ωe via cyclotron resonance. At last, the wave spectrum is separated into two bands with a power gap around 0.5Ωe. The condition under different electron temperature anisotropy and plasma beta is also surveyed for such kind of power gap. Besides, when only the waves with frequencies lower than 0.5Ωe are excited in the linear stage, a power gap can also be formed due to the wave-wave interactions, i.e., lower band cascade. Our study provides a clue to reveal the well-known 0.5Ωe power gap of whistler-mode waves ubiquitously observed in the inner magnetosphere.

How to cite: Chen, H., Gao, X., Lu, Q., and Sauer, K.: Gap formation around 0.5Ωe of whistler-mode waves excited by electron temperature anisotropy, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-16137, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16137, 2021.