Abstract
Kinetic Alfvén waves: Linear theory and a particle-in-cell simulation
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
An Alfvén-cyclotron fluctuation of sufficiently short wavelength has a strong proton cyclotron resonance at propagation parallel to the background magnetic field B o in a homogeneous, collisionless electron-proton plasma. As k ∥, the wavevector component parallel to B o , decreases, the proton cyclotron wave-particle interaction becomes nonresonant, and the electron Landau resonance becomes effective at propagation oblique to B o . Here linear Vlasov theory is used to determine the dispersion and damping properties of Alfvén-cyclotron fluctuations associated with the transition from the proton cyclotron resonance regime to the electron Landau resonance regime. Also, a particle-in-cell plasma simulation is used to examine the electron response to the initial imposition of an Alfvén-cyclotron wave in the electron Landau resonance regime. The computation shows heating of the electrons in the direction parallel to B o and the formation of a beam in the direction of the parallel component of k.
Received 15 September 2003; accepted 10 December 2003; published 14 February 2004.
Citation: (2004), Kinetic Alfvén waves: Linear theory and a particle-in-cell simulation, J. Geophys. Res., 109, A02109, doi:10.1029/2003JA010239.
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