Suprathermal electrons are an important population of the Martian ionosphere, either produced by photoionization of atmospheric neutrals or supplied from the Solar Wind (SW). This study is dedicated to an in-depth inv...Suprathermal electrons are an important population of the Martian ionosphere, either produced by photoionization of atmospheric neutrals or supplied from the Solar Wind (SW). This study is dedicated to an in-depth investigation of the pitch angle distribution of suprathermal electrons at two representative energies, 19−55 eV and 124−356 eV, using the extensive measurements made by the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer on board the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution. Throughout the study, we focus on the overall degree of anisotropy, defined as the standard deviation of suprathermal electron intensity among different directions which is normalized by the mean omni-directional intensity. The available data reveal the following characteristics: (1) In general, low energy electrons are more isotropic than high energy electrons, and dayside electrons are more isotropic than nightside electrons;(2) On the dayside, the anisotropy increases with increasing altitude at low energies but remains roughly constant at high energies, whereas on the nightside, the anisotropy decreases with increasing altitude at all energies;(3) Electrons tend to be more isotropic in strongly magnetized regions than in weakly magnetized regions, especially on the nightside. These observations indicate that the anisotropy is a useful diagnostic of suprathermal electron transport, for which the conversion between the parallel and perpendicular momenta as required by the conservation of the first adiabatic invariant, along with the atmospheric absorption at low altitudes, are two crucial factors modulating the observed variation of the anisotropy. Our analysis also highlights the different roles on the observed anisotropy exerted by suprathermal electrons of different origins.展开更多
Observation has clearly shown that natural space plasmas generally possess a pronounced non-Maxwellian high-energy tail distribution that can be well modeled by a kappa distribution. In this study we investigate the p...Observation has clearly shown that natural space plasmas generally possess a pronounced non-Maxwellian high-energy tail distribution that can be well modeled by a kappa distribution. In this study we investigate the proton cyclotron wave instability driven by the temperature anisotropy （T⊥/TH 〉1） of suprathermal protons modeled with a typical kappa distribution in the magnetosheath. It is found that as in the case for a regular bi-Maxwellian, the supratherreal proton temperature anisotropy is subject to the threshold condition of this proton cyclotron instability and the instability threshold condition satisfies a general form T⊥/T｜｜ - 1 = S/β｜｜^α, with a very narrow range of the fitting parameters： 0.40 ≤ α ≤ 0.45, and a relatively sensitive variation 0.27 ≤ S ≤ 0.65, over 0.01 ≤β｜｜ 〈 10. Furthermore, the difference in threshold conditions between the kappa distribution and the bi-Maxwellian distribution is found to be small for a relatively strong growth but becomes relatively obvious for a weak wave growth. The results may provide a deeper insight into the physics of this instability threshold for the proton cyclotron waves.展开更多
The energy spectrum of energetic particles in space often shows a non-thermal spectral shape with two spectral transitions/breaks over a wide energy range, carrying crucial information about their acceleration, releas...The energy spectrum of energetic particles in space often shows a non-thermal spectral shape with two spectral transitions/breaks over a wide energy range, carrying crucial information about their acceleration, release and transportation process. To self-consistently characterize the spectral features of energetic particles, here we propose a novel extended pan-spectrum(EPS) formula to fit the particle energy-flux spectrum, which has the merit that can incorporate many commonly used spectrum functions with one spectral transition, including the pan-spectrum, double-power-law, Kappa, Ellison-Ramaty(ER) functions, etc. The formula can also determine the spectral shape with two spectral transitions, including the triple-power-law function, Kappa distribution(at low energy)plus power law(at high energy), power law(at low energy) plus ER function, etc. Considering the uncertainties in both J and E, we can fit this EPS formula well to the representative energy spectra of various particle phenomena in space, including solar energetic particles(electrons, protons, ~3He and heavier ions), anomalous cosmic rays, solar wind suprathermal particles(halo and superhalo electrons;pick-up ions and the suprathermal tail), etc. Therefore, the EPS fitting can help us self-consistently determine the spectral features of different particle phenomena, and improve our understanding of the physical nature of the origin, acceleration, and transportation of energetic particles in space.展开更多
Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility and theoretical modeling suggest that side stimulated Raman scattering(SSRS)instability could reduce laser–plasma coupling and generate considerable fluxes of supr...Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility and theoretical modeling suggest that side stimulated Raman scattering(SSRS)instability could reduce laser–plasma coupling and generate considerable fluxes of suprathermal hot electrons under interaction conditions envisaged for direct-drive schemes for inertial confinement fusion.Nonetheless,SSRS remains to date one of the least understood parametric instabilities.Here,we report the first angularly and spectrally resolved measurements of scattered light at laser intensities relevant for the shock ignition scheme(I×10^(16)W/cm^(2)),showing significant SSRS growth in the direction perpendicular to the laser polarization.Modification of the focal spot shape and orientation,obtained by using two different random phase plates,and of the density gradient of the plasma,by utilizing exploding foil targets of different thicknesses,clearly reveals a different dependence of backward SRS(BSRS)and SSRS on experimental parameters.While convective BSRS scales with plasma density scale length,as expected by linear theory,the growth of SSRS depends on the spot extension in the direction perpendicular to laser polarization.Our analysis therefore demonstrates that under current experimental conditions,with density scale lengths L_(n)≈60–120μm and spot sizes FWHM≈40–100μm,SSRS is limited by laser beam size rather than by the density scale length of the plasma.展开更多
In order to investigate the suprathermal electron flux(>30 ke V) around dipolarization fronts(DFs), we statistically studied the suprathermal electron flux variations and pitch angle distributions of hundreds of ea...In order to investigate the suprathermal electron flux(>30 ke V) around dipolarization fronts(DFs), we statistically studied the suprathermal electron flux variations and pitch angle distributions of hundreds of earthward propagating DFs observed by THEMIS spacecraft during its tail seasons in years 2008–2009. We focused on the electron flux variations across DFs and electron anisotropies behind DFs. We divided DF into three sectors in the equatorial plane: Dusk, central and dawn sectors. The sectors are defined according to the DF normals with respect to DF's meridian in the equatorial plane(the symmetric line of DF). We found that events with electron flux increases and decreases behind the fronts had no particular dependence on the observation locations. In addition, there was no obvious dependence of electron anisotropy behind DF on the different sectors of DF.展开更多
Fifty-five suprathermal particle events were selected from WIND observations between 1995 and 1999. Based on systematic analysis on the observational characteristics of these events a two-parameter (the rising time an...Fifty-five suprathermal particle events were selected from WIND observations between 1995 and 1999. Based on systematic analysis on the observational characteristics of these events a two-parameter (the rising time and the flux ratio of electrons to protons in each event) classification method was proposed to classify these events. The three clas-sified classes are (1) impulsive electron events with the flux ratio of electrons to protons being bigger than 1 and rising time being shorter than 200 min, (2) impulsive proton events with the flux ratio being smaller than 1 and rising time being shorter than 200 min, and (3) gradual proton events with the flux ratio being smaller than 1 and the rising time being longer than 200 min. In the past, "impulsive solar electron events" were under in-tense research. However, because the selection standards of their velocity dispersions or pitch-angle distributions were inadequate, statistical surveys of selected events were dif-ferent from each other and even some conclusions were not consistent with the theory, for example, the relation of type-III solar radio bursts to the "impulsive solar electron events". The first class of impulsive electron events are associated with type-III radio bursts and with clear velocity dispersions; therefore they ought to originate from the Sun. The second class of the events, which have short continuance time and usually are not associated with type-III radio bursts and without velocity dispersion, are still far away from inter-planetary shocks and most of them do not one-to-one correspond to corrotating interact-ing regions (CIRs); such events are possible results of local interplanetary magnetic field reconnection or electromagnetic disturbances. Finally, about 2/3 gradual proton events of the third class occur with interplanetary shocks, the delay times of which are almost equal to the rising time. Some of these events can be understood as particle accelerations by shocks.展开更多
Data from spacecrafts suggest that space plasma has an abundance of suprathermal particles which are controlled by the spectral index κ when modeled on kappa particle velocity distribution. In this paper, considering...Data from spacecrafts suggest that space plasma has an abundance of suprathermal particles which are controlled by the spectral index κ when modeled on kappa particle velocity distribution. In this paper, considering homogeneous plasma, the effect of integer values of κ on the damping rate of an obliquely propagating magnetosonic（MS） wave is studied. The frequency of the MS wave is assumed to be less than ion cyclotron frequency, i.e.,iw（28）w. Under this assumption, the dispersion relation is investigated both numerically and analytically, and it is found that the real frequency of the wave is not a sensitive function of κ, but the imaginary part of the frequency is. It is also shown that for those values of κ where a large number of resonant particles participate in wave–particle interaction, the wave is heavily damped, as expected. The possible application of the results to the solar wind is discussed.展开更多
The expansion of laser-produced plasma(LPP),an important process to be understood to design the debris mitigation system of an extreme ultraviolet(EUV)light source,is governed by its associated electron and ion thermo...The expansion of laser-produced plasma(LPP),an important process to be understood to design the debris mitigation system of an extreme ultraviolet(EUV)light source,is governed by its associated electron and ion thermodynamics,the modeling of which is,however,a subject of debate.By applying the polytropic equation of state(EoS)for both electron and ion,we have derived the hydrodynamic-based self-similar solutions for an expanding plasma slab with finite ion temperature.The effects of electron and ion thermodynamics on plasma expansion and ion acceleration are investigated.We show that the unusual negative-correlation thermodynamic model for electrons in the hydrodynamic description of plasma expansion is an outcome of the interactions between the electrons following a nonequilibrium kappa distribution and the inherent plasma-induced electric field from a kinetic point of view.The comparisons between the self-similar solutions and the recent experiment data reveal that the electron is better characterized by the nonequilibrium kappa-based thermodynamic model with suprathermal population than the common equilibrium Boltzmann one.For thermal-ion expansion,it is found that the polytropic index for ion thermodynamics(γ_(i))is about 2,in contrast to γ_(i)=3 for the adiabatic assumption made in earlier studies.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China through grants 42241114,42274218 and 42304166the B-type Strategic Priority Program No.XDB41000000 funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences+1 种基金the pre-research project on Civil Aerospace Technologies No.D020105 funded by China’s National Space Administration,the Guangdong Basic and Applied Research Foundation Project 2021A1515110271the Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment,Chinese Academy of Sciences,University of Science&Technology of China.
文摘Suprathermal electrons are an important population of the Martian ionosphere, either produced by photoionization of atmospheric neutrals or supplied from the Solar Wind (SW). This study is dedicated to an in-depth investigation of the pitch angle distribution of suprathermal electrons at two representative energies, 19−55 eV and 124−356 eV, using the extensive measurements made by the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer on board the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution. Throughout the study, we focus on the overall degree of anisotropy, defined as the standard deviation of suprathermal electron intensity among different directions which is normalized by the mean omni-directional intensity. The available data reveal the following characteristics: (1) In general, low energy electrons are more isotropic than high energy electrons, and dayside electrons are more isotropic than nightside electrons;(2) On the dayside, the anisotropy increases with increasing altitude at low energies but remains roughly constant at high energies, whereas on the nightside, the anisotropy decreases with increasing altitude at all energies;(3) Electrons tend to be more isotropic in strongly magnetized regions than in weakly magnetized regions, especially on the nightside. These observations indicate that the anisotropy is a useful diagnostic of suprathermal electron transport, for which the conversion between the parallel and perpendicular momenta as required by the conservation of the first adiabatic invariant, along with the atmospheric absorption at low altitudes, are two crucial factors modulating the observed variation of the anisotropy. Our analysis also highlights the different roles on the observed anisotropy exerted by suprathermal electrons of different origins.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Nos. 40474064, 40404012） the Scientific Research Foundation for R0CS, SEM+1 种基金 the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Department grant 05FJ3045 the Visiting Scholar Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘Observation has clearly shown that natural space plasmas generally possess a pronounced non-Maxwellian high-energy tail distribution that can be well modeled by a kappa distribution. In this study we investigate the proton cyclotron wave instability driven by the temperature anisotropy （T⊥/TH 〉1） of suprathermal protons modeled with a typical kappa distribution in the magnetosheath. It is found that as in the case for a regular bi-Maxwellian, the supratherreal proton temperature anisotropy is subject to the threshold condition of this proton cyclotron instability and the instability threshold condition satisfies a general form T⊥/T｜｜ - 1 = S/β｜｜^α, with a very narrow range of the fitting parameters： 0.40 ≤ α ≤ 0.45, and a relatively sensitive variation 0.27 ≤ S ≤ 0.65, over 0.01 ≤β｜｜ 〈 10. Furthermore, the difference in threshold conditions between the kappa distribution and the bi-Maxwellian distribution is found to be small for a relatively strong growth but becomes relatively obvious for a weak wave growth. The results may provide a deeper insight into the physics of this instability threshold for the proton cyclotron waves.
基金supported in part by NSFC under contracts 42225404, 42127803, 42150105by National Key R&D Program of China No. 2021YFA0718600by ISSI-BJ through the international teams Nos. 23-581 and 56。
文摘The energy spectrum of energetic particles in space often shows a non-thermal spectral shape with two spectral transitions/breaks over a wide energy range, carrying crucial information about their acceleration, release and transportation process. To self-consistently characterize the spectral features of energetic particles, here we propose a novel extended pan-spectrum(EPS) formula to fit the particle energy-flux spectrum, which has the merit that can incorporate many commonly used spectrum functions with one spectral transition, including the pan-spectrum, double-power-law, Kappa, Ellison-Ramaty(ER) functions, etc. The formula can also determine the spectral shape with two spectral transitions, including the triple-power-law function, Kappa distribution(at low energy)plus power law(at high energy), power law(at low energy) plus ER function, etc. Considering the uncertainties in both J and E, we can fit this EPS formula well to the representative energy spectra of various particle phenomena in space, including solar energetic particles(electrons, protons, ~3He and heavier ions), anomalous cosmic rays, solar wind suprathermal particles(halo and superhalo electrons;pick-up ions and the suprathermal tail), etc. Therefore, the EPS fitting can help us self-consistently determine the spectral features of different particle phenomena, and improve our understanding of the physical nature of the origin, acceleration, and transportation of energetic particles in space.
基金financial support from the LASERLAB-EUROPE Access to Research Infrastructure Activity (Application No. 23068)carried out within the framework of EUROfusion Enabling Research Projects AWP21-ENR-01-CEA02 and AWP24-ENR-IFE-02-CEA-02+3 种基金received funding from Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021–2025 under Grant No. 633053supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [Project No. LM2023068 (PALS RI)]by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA25030200 and XDA25010100)supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) through Action CA21128 PROBONO (PROton BOron Nuclear Fusion: from energy production to medical applicatiOns)
文摘Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility and theoretical modeling suggest that side stimulated Raman scattering(SSRS)instability could reduce laser–plasma coupling and generate considerable fluxes of suprathermal hot electrons under interaction conditions envisaged for direct-drive schemes for inertial confinement fusion.Nonetheless,SSRS remains to date one of the least understood parametric instabilities.Here,we report the first angularly and spectrally resolved measurements of scattered light at laser intensities relevant for the shock ignition scheme(I×10^(16)W/cm^(2)),showing significant SSRS growth in the direction perpendicular to the laser polarization.Modification of the focal spot shape and orientation,obtained by using two different random phase plates,and of the density gradient of the plasma,by utilizing exploding foil targets of different thicknesses,clearly reveals a different dependence of backward SRS(BSRS)and SSRS on experimental parameters.While convective BSRS scales with plasma density scale length,as expected by linear theory,the growth of SSRS depends on the spot extension in the direction perpendicular to laser polarization.Our analysis therefore demonstrates that under current experimental conditions,with density scale lengths L_(n)≈60–120μm and spot sizes FWHM≈40–100μm,SSRS is limited by laser beam size rather than by the density scale length of the plasma.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(Grant Nos.41174147,41274170 and 41331070)Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province(Grant No.20142BCB23006)
文摘In order to investigate the suprathermal electron flux(>30 ke V) around dipolarization fronts(DFs), we statistically studied the suprathermal electron flux variations and pitch angle distributions of hundreds of earthward propagating DFs observed by THEMIS spacecraft during its tail seasons in years 2008–2009. We focused on the electron flux variations across DFs and electron anisotropies behind DFs. We divided DF into three sectors in the equatorial plane: Dusk, central and dawn sectors. The sectors are defined according to the DF normals with respect to DF's meridian in the equatorial plane(the symmetric line of DF). We found that events with electron flux increases and decreases behind the fronts had no particular dependence on the observation locations. In addition, there was no obvious dependence of electron anisotropy behind DF on the different sectors of DF.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10425312, 40574065 and 10333030)the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 program) (Grant No. 2006CB806302)the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJCX2-YW-T04)
文摘Fifty-five suprathermal particle events were selected from WIND observations between 1995 and 1999. Based on systematic analysis on the observational characteristics of these events a two-parameter (the rising time and the flux ratio of electrons to protons in each event) classification method was proposed to classify these events. The three clas-sified classes are (1) impulsive electron events with the flux ratio of electrons to protons being bigger than 1 and rising time being shorter than 200 min, (2) impulsive proton events with the flux ratio being smaller than 1 and rising time being shorter than 200 min, and (3) gradual proton events with the flux ratio being smaller than 1 and the rising time being longer than 200 min. In the past, "impulsive solar electron events" were under in-tense research. However, because the selection standards of their velocity dispersions or pitch-angle distributions were inadequate, statistical surveys of selected events were dif-ferent from each other and even some conclusions were not consistent with the theory, for example, the relation of type-III solar radio bursts to the "impulsive solar electron events". The first class of impulsive electron events are associated with type-III radio bursts and with clear velocity dispersions; therefore they ought to originate from the Sun. The second class of the events, which have short continuance time and usually are not associated with type-III radio bursts and without velocity dispersion, are still far away from inter-planetary shocks and most of them do not one-to-one correspond to corrotating interact-ing regions (CIRs); such events are possible results of local interplanetary magnetic field reconnection or electromagnetic disturbances. Finally, about 2/3 gradual proton events of the third class occur with interplanetary shocks, the delay times of which are almost equal to the rising time. Some of these events can be understood as particle accelerations by shocks.
文摘Data from spacecrafts suggest that space plasma has an abundance of suprathermal particles which are controlled by the spectral index κ when modeled on kappa particle velocity distribution. In this paper, considering homogeneous plasma, the effect of integer values of κ on the damping rate of an obliquely propagating magnetosonic（MS） wave is studied. The frequency of the MS wave is assumed to be less than ion cyclotron frequency, i.e.,iw（28）w. Under this assumption, the dispersion relation is investigated both numerically and analytically, and it is found that the real frequency of the wave is not a sensitive function of κ, but the imaginary part of the frequency is. It is also shown that for those values of κ where a large number of resonant particles participate in wave–particle interaction, the wave is heavily damped, as expected. The possible application of the results to the solar wind is discussed.
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA0380602)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12325207).
文摘The expansion of laser-produced plasma(LPP),an important process to be understood to design the debris mitigation system of an extreme ultraviolet(EUV)light source,is governed by its associated electron and ion thermodynamics,the modeling of which is,however,a subject of debate.By applying the polytropic equation of state(EoS)for both electron and ion,we have derived the hydrodynamic-based self-similar solutions for an expanding plasma slab with finite ion temperature.The effects of electron and ion thermodynamics on plasma expansion and ion acceleration are investigated.We show that the unusual negative-correlation thermodynamic model for electrons in the hydrodynamic description of plasma expansion is an outcome of the interactions between the electrons following a nonequilibrium kappa distribution and the inherent plasma-induced electric field from a kinetic point of view.The comparisons between the self-similar solutions and the recent experiment data reveal that the electron is better characterized by the nonequilibrium kappa-based thermodynamic model with suprathermal population than the common equilibrium Boltzmann one.For thermal-ion expansion,it is found that the polytropic index for ion thermodynamics(γ_(i))is about 2,in contrast to γ_(i)=3 for the adiabatic assumption made in earlier studies.
