糖心视频

A small team of astrophysicists at the University of California, Los Angeles, working with colleagues from the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Colorado, Boulder, has found evidence that Alfv茅n waves in space plasmas speed up ion beams, resulting in the creation of small-scale acoustic waves that in turn generate heat in the magnetosphere.

In their study, in the journal 糖心视频ical Review Letters, the group used data from the four-spacecraft Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission that took place in 2015 to prove a theory about heat generation in the magnetosphere.

For several years, astronomers have been studying the impact of the solar wind striking the magnetopause, which defines the outer edges of the magnetosphere. Prior research has shown that as the solar wind arrives, Alfv茅n waves are generated and the resulting energy heats up the plasma in the magnetosphere. However, the plasma there is too thin to result in a cascade.

To explain what happens, researchers have theorized that Alfv茅n waves speed up the ion beams, resulting in the creation of acoustic waves, which in turn generate heat. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence of such a chain of events, backing up the theories.

The researchers analyzed data from MMS. The unique venture involved four spacecraft that flew together in a special configuration through the magnetosphere above regions of the Earth experiencing dusk. This allowed the craft to observe large-scale topical transformations and the movement of an Alfv茅n wave. The configuration also allowed the spacecraft to monitor the motion of the ions in the surrounding plasma.

Such data, the research team discovered, could be used to prove a theory suggesting that heat generated by ion beams was the means by which Alfv茅n waves were converted to heat.

The instruments aboard the spacecraft showed that magnetic pressure variation in the Alfv茅n waves was synched with ion density fluctuations and the surrounding electric field. They also showed the speed of the ion beams matched those of the Alfv茅n wave.

Confident that the data had proven theories surrounding heat generation in the magnetosphere, the researchers created simulations of the action as it unfolded. The simulations matched both the theory and the observations they had made.

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