Multi-harmonic electron cyclotron instabilities

Abstract

The reported investigation constitutes an extension of studies conducted by Ashour-Abdalla and Kennel (1975, 1976, 1978) with respect to a basic plasma model of Young et al. (1973). The model involves a combination of a cold Maxwellian background plasma, a hot plasma, and a 'loss cone' type of free energy source. Previous results on the first cyclotron harmonic bands are extended to multiharmonics. The significance of the obtained relations is discussed and tentative conclusions are presented. Given that the spatial growth rates of the convective modes are comparable, and that simultaneous nonconvective instability (NCI) is possible, it is concluded that multiharmonic emissions ought to be a common feature of the magnetospheric electrostatic wave observations. Since the volume of parameter space for which the first harmonic is NCI, and the volume for which the convective first harmonic mode has significant spatial growth rates, exceed those for the higher harmonics, first harmonic waves should be the most commonly observed and the higher harmonics should usually be accompanied by the first harmonic.