Abstract
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 91, NO. A12,
PP. 13,699-13,703, 1986
doi:10.1029/JA091iA12p13699
Linearly Polarized Magnetic Fluctuations at Comet Giacobini-Zinner
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
The fully electromagnetic linear Vlasov dispersion equation for instabilities in a homogeneous, magnetized plasma is solved. Parameters appropriate to conditions observed during the ICE encounter with comet Giacobini-Zinner are used to study the polarization of electromagnetic instabilities driven by the relative streaming of two ion components. If the ion/ion relative drift is near the Alfvén speed, the associated long-wavelength modes may be approximately linearly polarized at relatively small angles of propagation with respect to the magnetic field. The relatively inhomogeneous plasma background of the comet may impose such oblique propagation, so that this result provides an alternate explanation to the observations of linearly polarized waves near the comet.
Received 8 May 1986; accepted 6 August 1986; .
Citation: (1986), Linearly Polarized Magnetic Fluctuations at Comet Giacobini-Zinner, J. Geophys. Res., 91(A12), 13,699–13,703, doi:10.1029/JA091iA12p13699.
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