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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Nonlinear Waves and Particle Heating in the Auroral Ionosphere

In the two year period, the researchers have developed innovative 2-D simulation codes for modeling the interaction between electron beams and plasma waves and particles in the auroral ionosphere. These new simulations include kinetic wave particles as well as wave-wave interactions near and above approximately 500 km. The principal numerical model consists of partial-differential equations which evolve large amplitude magnetized 2-D Langmuir waves self-consistently with the electron distribution function. Progress was also made in developing 2-D Particle in Cell (PIC) codes.

Goldman, Martin↗
NASA NTRS1993

Alternative descriptions of wave and particle aspects of the harmonic oscillator

The dynamical properties of the wave and particle aspects of the harmonic oscillator can be studied with the help of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation (SE). Especially the time-dependence of maximum and width of Gaussian wave packet solutions allow to show the evolution and connections of those two complementary aspects. The investigation of the relations between the equations describing wave and particle aspects leads to an alternative description of the considered systems. This can be achieved by means of a Newtonian equation for a complex variable in connection with a conservation law for a nonclassical angular momentum-type quantity. With the help of this complex variable, it is also possible to develop a Hamiltonian formalism for the wave aspect contained in the SE, which allows to describe the dynamics of the position and momentum uncertainties. In this case the Hamiltonian function is equivalent to the difference between the mean value of the Hamiltonian operator and the classical Hamiltonian function.

Schuch, Dieter↗
NASA NTRS1981

Upstream waves and particles - An overview of ISEE results

A brief survey is presented of papers given at the Upstream Wave and Particle Workshop held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 15-16, 1980. Particular consideration is given to upstream energetic particles, upstream plasma waves, and acceleration processes. An attempt is made to view the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction as a general process and to state some of the obvious astrophysical implications.

Tsurutani, B. T.↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Statistical Properties of Solar Wind Temperature Parameters Near 1 Au

We present a long-duration (approx. 10 yr) statistical analysis of the temperatures, plasma betas, and temperature ratios for the electron, proton, and alpha-particle populations observed by the Wind spacecraft near 1 au. The mean(median) scalar temperatures are T(sub e)(sub tot) = 12.2(11.9) eV, T(sub p)(sub tot) = 12.7(8.6) eV, and T(sub a)(sub tot) = 23.9(10.8) eV. The mean(median) total plasma betas are Beta(sub e)(sub tot) = 2.31(1.09), Beta(sub p)(sub tot) = 1.79(1.05), and Beta(sub a)(sub tot) = 0.17(0.05). The mean(median) temperature ratios are (T(sub e)/T(sub p))(sub tot) = 1.64(1.27), (T(sub e)/T(sub a))(sub tot) = 1.24(0.82), and (T(sub a)/T(sub p))(sub tot) = 2.50(1.94). We also examined these parameters during time intervals that exclude interplanetary (IP) shocks, times within the magnetic obstacles (MOs) of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), and times that exclude MOs. The only times that show significant alterations to any of the parameters examined are those during MOs. In fact, the only parameter that does not show a significant change during MOs is the electron temperature. Although each parameter shows a broad range of values, the vast majority are near the median. We also compute particle–particle collision rates and compare to effective wave–particle collision rates. We find that, for reasonable assumptions of wave amplitude and occurrence rates, the effect of wave–particle interactions on the plasma is equal to or greater than the effect of Coulomb collisions. Thus, wave–particle interactions should not be neglected when modeling the solar wind.

Wilson, Lynn B., III↗
NASA NTRS1993

DE 1 particle and wave observations in Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR) source regions

The high-altitude plasma instrument on board the DE 1 satellite was operating during several near crossings of the AKR source in the nightside auroral region. Observations of electron distributions indicate a region of perpendicular heating adjacent to, and within, the source region. Loss cones, trapped particles, beams, and electron conical distributions are also observed near and within the source region, which extends perpendicular to the magnetic field line for at least 20 km. Near the AKR source region wave-particle interactions appear to have modified the observed electron distributions. We compare the observations to those predicted by recently published numerical simulations.

Menietti, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Correlation between convection electric fields in the nightside magnetosphere and several wave and particle phenomena during two isolated substorms.

Correlation of several magnetoionospheric wave and particle phenomena previously linked observationally to magnetospheric substorms and inferred to involve convection electric fields with whistler measurements of convection activity during two relatively isolated substorms. The events occurred at about 0600 UT on July 15, 1965, and about 0500 UT on Oct. 13, 1965. The correlated phenomena include cross-L inward plasma drifts near midnight within the plasmaphere, diffuse auroral radar echoes observed near the dusk meridian, IPDP micropulsations (intervals of pulsations of diminishing period) in the premidnight sector, apparent contractions and expansions of the plasma sheet at about 20 earth radii in the magnetotail, and Pc 1/Pi 1 micropulsation events near or before midnight. Two new vlf phenomena occurred during the October 13 event - a noise band within the plasmasphere associated with a convecting whistler path, and ?hisslers,' falling-tone auroral-hiss forms repeated at intervals of about 2 sec.

Carpenter, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Electron heating in quasi-perpendicular shocks - A Monte Carlo simulation

To study the problem of electron heating in quasi-perpendicular shocks, under the combined effects of 'reversible' motion, in the shock electric potential and magnetic field, and wave-particle interactions a diffusion equation was derived, in the drift (adiabatic) approximation and it was solved by using a Monte Carlo method. The results show that most of the observations can be explained within this framework. The simulation has also definitively shown that the electron parallel temperature is determined by the dc electromagnetic field and not by any wave particle induced heating. Wave-particle interactions are effective in smoothing out the large gradients in phase space produced by the 'reversible' motion of the electrons, thus producing a 'cooling' of the electrons. Some constraints on the wave-particle interaction process may be obtained from a detailed comparison between the simulation and observations. In particular, it appears that the adiabatic approximation must be violated in order to explain the observed evolution of the perpendicular temperature.

Veltri, Pierluigi↗
NASA NTRS2014

Quantified Energy Dissipation Rates in the Terrestrial Bow Shock: Waves and Dissipation - 2

We present the first quantified measure of the energy dissipation rates, due to wave-particle interactions, in the transition region of the Earth's collision-less bow shock using data from the Time History of Events and Macro-Scale Interactions during Sub-Storms spacecraft. Our results show that wave-particle interactions can regulate the global structure and dominate the energy dissipation of collision-less shocks. In every bow shock crossing examined, we observed both low-frequency (less than 10 hertz) and high-frequency (approximately or greater than10 hertz) electromagnetic waves throughout the entire transition region and into the magnetosheath. The low-frequency waves were consistent with magnetosonic-whistler waves. The high-frequency waves were combinations of ion-acoustic waves, electron cyclotron drift instability driven waves, electrostatic solitary waves, and whistler mode waves. The high-frequency waves had the following: (1) peak amplitudes exceeding delta B approximately equal to 10 nanoteslas and delta E approximately equal to 300 millivolts per meter, though more typical values were delta B approximately equal to 0.1-1.0 nanoteslas and delta E approximately equal to 10-50 millivolts per meter (2) Poynting fluxes in excess of 2000 microWm(sup −2) (micro-waves per square meter) (typical values were approximately 1-10 microWm(sup −2) (micro-waves per square meter); (3) resistivities greater than 9000 omega meters; and (4) associated energy dissipation rates greater than 10 microWm(sup −3) (micro-waves per cubic meter). The dissipation rates due to wave-particle interactions exceeded rates necessary to explain the increase in entropy across the shock ramps for approximately 90 percent of the wave burst durations. For approximately 22 percent of these times, the wave-particle interactions needed to only be less than or equal to 0.1 percent efficient to balance the nonlinear wave steepening that produced the shock waves. These results show that wave-particle interactions have the capacity to regulate the global structure and dominate the energy dissipation of collision-less shocks.

Terrestrial bow 2↗
NASA NTRS1986

Particle propagation, wave growth and energy dissipation in a flaring flux tube

Wave amplification by downgoing particles in a common flare model is investigated. The flare is assumed to occur at the top of a coronal magnetic flux loop, and results in the heating of plasma in the flaring region. The hot electrons propagate down the legs of the flux tube towards increasing magnetic field. It is simple to demonstrate that the velocity distributions which result in this model are unstable to both beam instabilities and cyclotron maser action. An explanation is presented for the propagation effects on the distribution, and the properties of the resulting amplified waves are explored, concentrating on cyclotron maser action, which has properties (emission in the z mode below the local gyrofrequency) quite different from maser action by other distributions considered in the context of solar flares. The z mode waves will be damped in the coronal plasma surrounding the flaring flux tube and lead to heating there. This process may be important in the overall energy budget of the flare. The downgoing maser is compared with the loss cone maser, which is more likely to produce observable bursts.

White, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Unmagnetized diffusion for azimuthally symmetric wave and particle distributions

The quasi-linear diffusion of particles from resonant interactions with a spectrum of electrostatic waves is investigated theoretically, extending results obtained for no magnetic field and for strong magnetic fields to cases where the ambient magnetic field which organizes azimuthally symmetric wave and particle distributions does not have to be taken into consideration in evaluating the local interaction. The derivation of the governing equations is explained, and numerical results are presented in extensive graphs and characterized in detail. Slow-mode ion-acoustic waves are shown to be unstable under the plasma conditions studied, and the dependence of resonant-ion diffusion rates with pitch angle, speed, and the distribution of wave energy in wavenumber space is explored. The implications of the present findings for theoretical models of the earth bow shock and plasma-sheet boundary layer are indicated.

Dusenbery, P. B.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Deflection of Solar Energetic Protons by an Ion Thruster

While Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) represent a long-term cancer risk to deep space human missions, Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) represent a significant acute radiation hazard to human spaceflight. This work investigates wave-particle interactions caused by the incidence of a beam of energetic protons, representing a notional SEP event, onto a cloud of ions representing a notional ion thruster plume. The resulting electromagnetic ion/ion instability is developed to investigate the degree to which energetic protons can be scattered out of the initial beam. This work includes investigations of deflection rate dependences on incident SEP energy and flux, ion thruster power and orientation relative to SEP incidence, plume ion species, and background plasma. Also investigated are the spectrum and angular distribution of electromagnetic radiation resulting from the wave-particle interactions. The primary objective of this investigation is to develop a technique for active mitigation of SEP radiation threats to spacecraft and crew, by exploring the wave-particle interaction of a SEP event with the plasma plume expelled from an ion thruster. Since the cost in expended fuel restricts this technique to intermittent use during interplanetary flights, effective prediction of when a SEP event might impact the mission is still important, and the observation of conditions that might lead to SEP events, human-in-the-loop space weather analyses, and development of SEP prediction models remain essential to crew safety, spacecraft function, and mission success.

Interplanetary Space Flight↗
NASA NTRS1977

Coherent wave induced particle precipitation into the upper atmosphere

A description is presented of the results of a computer simulation involving a study of the particle precipitation induced by coherent VLF waves in the magnetosphere. The results of a computation for a 10 picoweber/sq m wave amplitude are shown in a graph. The precipitated flux for three different energies is given in a table. For 1.5 keV the energy deposition rate is about 0.8 erg/sq cm-sec, almost as intense as a moderate aurora. It is concluded that significant energy is deposited by a wave of 10 picoweber/sq m intensity. Such a wave amplitude is representative of highly coherent VLF wave types that are found in the magnetosphere. On the basis of the considered results it appears that controlled VLF wave injection in the magnetosphere could be an important and useful tool to study the coupling processes between the atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Inan, U. S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Thermodynamic effect of the ion sound instability in the ionosphere

During geomagnetic disturbances when the ring current interacts intensely with the plasmasphere, the plasma of this region undergoes a strong heating due to an ion cyclotron instability. This is followed by the transfer of heat along geomagnetic field lines from the heating region to the ionosphere. One of the results of this process is the formation of non-isothermal region (in which T(sub e) greater than 3.4 T(sub i) at ionospheric heights) caused by a rapid cooling the H(+) ions due to their resonant charge exchange with neutral hydrogen. Heat transfer from the top of the flux tube to the ionosphere is investigated using a hydrodynamic model for the ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling. Field-aligned currents, present in the topside ionosphere, are often accompanied by ion sound turbulence. The turbulence scatters electrons, increasing the total electron collision frequency through wave-particle effects. The influence of wave-particle interactions introduces an anomalous component to the total collision frequency, which modifies substantially the heat conduction coefficient of the plasma. As a result, the plasma is heated more intensely above than below this region of ion sound turbulence.

Khazanov, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The scattering of energetic particles by waves in a finite beta plasma

Solutions are presented for the dispersion relation of waves propagating parallel to the ambient magnetic field, in a plasma having an arbitrary ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure, beta. Previous results applicable only to wave frequencies much lower than the ion cyclotron frequency are extended to include all frequencies lower than the electron cyclotron frequency. The cyclotron turnovers are found to occur at significantly lower frequencies in finite beta plasmas. Cyclotron damping is significant for small wavelength waves. These results show that in energetic particle scattering by electromagnetic turbulence in a plasma with beta value greater than 40, scattering by waves with wave frequencies greater than the ion cyclotron frequency can be neglected. This condition is satisfied in many astrophysical plasmas.

Davila, J. M.↗