Evidence for electron Landau damping in space plasma turbulence
Tuesday
CB1.1
Abstract details
id
Evidence for electron Landau damping in space plasma turbulence
Date Submitted
2021-04-29 13:49:00
Christopher
Chen
Queen Mary University of London
Wave-Particle Interactions in Space and Astrophysical Plasmas
Contributed
C. H. K. Chen, K. G. Klein, G. G. Howes
How turbulent energy is dissipated in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas is a major open question. Here, we present the application of a field-particle correlation technique to directly measure the transfer of energy between the turbulent electromagnetic field and electrons in the Earth’s magnetosheath, the region of solar wind downstream of the Earth’s bow shock. The measurement of the secular energy transfer from the parallel electric field as a function of electron velocity shows a signature consistent with Landau damping. This signature is coherent over time, close to the predicted resonant velocity, similar to that seen in kinetic Alfven turbulence simulations, and disappears under phase randomisation. This suggests that electron Landau damping could play a significant role in turbulent plasma heating, and that the technique is a valuable tool for determining the particle energisation processes operating in space and astrophysical plasmas.
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