Production of Nonisothermal Electrons and Langmuir Waves Because of Colliding Ion Holes and Trapping of Plasmons in an Ion Hole

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We present new simulation studies exhibiting production of nonisothermal electron distributions and Langmuir waves by colliding ion holes and trapping of plasmons in an ion hole. We find that, during head-on ion hole collisions, streams of accelerated electrons are produced by the electrostatic potentials supporting the ion holes. Subsequently, Langmuir waves are excited by a two-stream instability involving energetic electron beams. The resulting Langmuir waves can be trapped in an ion hole. The present ion-hole-Langmuir wave interactions are unique kinetic phenomena which can be dealt with a Vlasov code, which we developed recently. The results can have relevance to the understanding of particle and field data that are forthcoming from different spacecraft missions in Earth’s auroral ionosphere and the magnetosphere.