Abstract
1.5D Vlasov – Maxwell simulations are employed to model electromagnetic emission generation in a fully self-consistent plasma kinetic model for the first time in the context of solar physics. The simulations mimic the plasma emission mechanism and Larmor-drift instability in a plasma thread that connects the Sun to Earth with the spatial scales compressed appropriately. The effects of spatial density gradients on the generation of electromagnetic radiation are investigated. It is shown that a 1.5D inhomogeneous plasma with a uniform background magnetic field directed transverse to the density gradient is aperiodically unstable to the Larmor-drift instability. The latter results in a novel effect of generation of electromagnetic emission at plasma frequency. The generated perturbations consist of two parts: i) non-escaping (trapped) Langmuir type oscillations, which are localised in the regions of density inhomogeneity, and are highly filamentary, with the period of appearance of the filaments close to electron plasma frequency in the dense regions; and ii) escaping electromagnetic radiation with phase speeds close to the speed of light. When the density gradient is removed (i.e. when plasma becomes stable to the Larmor-drift instability) and a low density super-thermal, hot beam is injected along the domain, in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field, the plasma emission mechanism generates non-escaping Langmuir type oscillations, which in turn generate escaping electromagnetic radiation. It is found that in the spatial location where the beam is injected, standing waves, oscillating at the plasma frequency, are excited. These can be used to interpret the horizontal strips (the narrow-band line emission) observed in some dynamical spectra. Predictions of quasilinear theory are: i) the electron free streaming and ii) the long relaxation time of the beam, in accord with the analytic expressions. These are corroborated via direct, fully-kinetic simulation. Finally, the interplay of the Larmor-drift instability and plasma emission mechanism is studied by considering a dense electron beam in the Larmor-drift unstable (inhomogeneous) plasma. The latter case enables one to study the deviations from the quasilinear theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexandrov, A., Bogdankevich, L., Rukhadze, A.: 1988, Foundations of Plasma Electrodynamics, Visshaia Shkola, Moscow (in Russian).
Arons, J., Barnard, J.J.: 1986, Wave propagation in pulsar magnetospheres – Dispersion relations and normal modes of plasmas in superstrong magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. 302, 120 – 137. doi: 10.1086/163978 .
Aurass, H., Rausche, G., Berkebile-Stoiser, S., Veronig, A.: 2010, A microflare with hard X-ray-correlated gyroresonance line emission at 314 MHz. Astron. Astrophys. 515, A1-1-9. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/200913132 .
Cairns, R.: 1985, Plasma Physics, Blackie, Glasgow, 124 – 128.
Ginzburg, V.L., Zhelezniakov, V.V.: 1958, On the possible mechanisms of sporadic solar radio emission (radiation in an isotropic plasma). Sov. Astron. 2, 653.
Hillaris, A., Alissandrakis, C.E., Vlahos, L.: 1988, Dynamics of sub-relativistic electron beams in magnetic traps – A model for solar N-bursts. Astron. Astrophys. 195, 301 – 309.
Hillaris, A., Alissandrakis, C.E., Caroubalos, C., Bougeret, J.: 1990, Computation of electron beam parameters for solar type III and J bursts. Astron. Astrophys. 229, 216 – 223.
Hillaris, A., Alissandrakis, C.E., Bougeret, J., Caroubalos, C.: 1999, Dynamics of subrelativistic electron beams in the solar corona. Type III group analysis. Astron. Astrophys. 342, 271 – 278.
Hsu, J.: 2010, Relativistic theory of mode conversion at plasma frequency. Phys. Plasmas 17(3), 032104. doi: 10.1063/1.3322854 .
Kaplan, S.A., Tsytovich, V.N.: 1968, Radio emission from beams of fast particles under cosmic conditions. Sov. Astron. 11, 956 – 964.
Karlický, M., Kosugi, T.: 2004, Acceleration and heating processes in a collapsing magnetic trap. Astron. Astrophys. 419, 1159 – 1168. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20034323 .
Kasaba, Y., Matsumoto, H., Omura, Y.: 2001, One- and two-dimensional simulations of electron beam instability: Generation of electrostatic and electromagnetic 2f p waves. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 18693 – 18712. doi: 10.1029/2000JA000329 .
Kontar, E.P., Pécseli, H.L.: 2002, Nonlinear development of electron-beam-driven weak turbulence in an inhomogeneous plasma. Phys. Rev. E 65(6), 066408. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.65.066408 .
Li, B., Cairns, I.H., Robinson, P.A.: 2008, Simulations of coronal type III solar radio bursts: 1. Simulation model. J. Geophys. Res. 113, 6104. doi: 10.1029/2007JA012957 .
Mel’Nik, V.N., Lapshin, V., Kontar, E.: 1999, Propagation of a monoenergetic electron beam in the solar corona. Solar Phys. 184, 353 – 362.
Melrose, D.B.: 1987, Plasma emission – A review. Solar Phys. 111, 89 – 101. doi: 10.1007/BF00145443 .
Nindos, A., Aurass, H., Klein, K., Trottet, G.: 2008, Radio emission of flares and coronal mass ejections. Invited review. Solar Phys. 253, 3 – 41. doi: 10.1007/s11207-008-9258-9 .
Pavlenko, V.P., Petviashvili, V.I.: 1977, Stability and kinetic effects of a standing Langmuir wave. JETP Lett. 26, 200 – 202.
Pick, M., Vilmer, N.: 2008, Sixty-five years of solar radioastronomy: flares, coronal mass ejections and Sun – Earth connection. Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 16, 1 – 153. doi: 10.1007/s00159-008-0013-x .
Rhee, T., Ryu, C., Woo, M., Kaang, H.H., Yi, S., Yoon, P.H.: 2009, Multiple harmonic plasma emission. Astrophys. J. 694, 618 – 625. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/694/1/618 .
Robinson, P.A.: 1992, Clumpy Langmuir waves in type III radio sources. Solar Phys. 139, 147 – 163. doi: 10.1007/BF00147886 .
Robinson, P.A., Cairns, I.H., Gurnett, D.A.: 1992, Connection between ambient density fluctuations and clumpy Langmuir waves in type III radio sources. Astrophys. J. 387, L101 – L104. doi: 10.1086/186315 .
Rukhadze, A.A., Silin, V.P.: 1964, Reviews of topical problems: method of geometrical optics in the electrodynamics of AN inhomogeneous plasma. Sov. Phys. Usp. 7, 209 – 229. doi: 10.1070/PU1964v007n02ABEH003662 .
Sakai, J.I., Kitamoto, T., Saito, S.: 2005, Simulation of solar type III radio bursts from a magnetic reconnection region. Astrophys. J. 622, L157 – L160. doi: 10.1086/429665 .
Sircombe, N.J., Arber, T.D.: 2009, VALIS: A split-conservative scheme for the relativistic 2D Vlasov – Maxwell system. J. Comput. Phys. 228, 4773 – 4788. doi: 10.1016/j.jcp.2009.03.029 .
Smith, D.F.: 1970, Type III solar radio bursts. Adv. Astron. Astrophys. 7, 147 – 226.
Tsiklauri, D., Sakai, J., Saito, S.: 2005, Particle-in-cell simulations of circularly polarised Alfvén wave phase mixing: A new mechanism for electron acceleration in collisionless plasmas. Astron. Astrophys. 435, 1105 – 1113. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20042436 .
Umeda, T.: 2010, Electromagnetic plasma emission during beam – plasma interaction: Parametric decay versus induced scattering. J. Geophys. Res. 115, 1204. doi: 10.1029/2009JA014643 .
Yin, L., Ashour-Abdalla, M., El-Alaoui, M., Bosqued, J.M., Bougeret, J.L.: 1998, Generation of electromagnetic f pe and 2f pe waves in the Earth’s electron foreshock via linear mode conversion. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 2609 – 2612. doi: 10.1029/98GL01989 .
Zaitsev, V.V., Mityakov, N.A., Rapoport, V.O.: 1972, A dynamic theory of type III solar radio bursts. Solar Phys. 24, 444 – 456. doi: 10.1007/BF00153387 .
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below are the links to the electronic supplementary material.
(MPG 28.8 MB)
(MPG 27.1 MB)
(MPG 27.5 MB)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tsiklauri, D. Vlasov – Maxwell, Self-consistent Electromagnetic Wave Emission Simulations in the Solar Corona. Sol Phys 267, 393–410 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-010-9660-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-010-9660-y