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Observation and analysis of whistler-mode wave and electrostatic solitary waves within density depletion near magnetic reconnection X-line

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Abstract

The PWI/WFC data onboard Geotail during one burst time interval when Geotail is skimming a magnetic reconnection diffusion region in the near-Earth magnetotail is carefully analyzed. Both the whistler-mode wave and the electrostatic solitary wave are found within the region with density depletion on the boundary layer near the magnetic reconnection X-line. The whistler-mode wave is electromagnetic whistler wave propagating quasi-parallel to the ambient field with a small angle between the wave vector and the ambient magnetic field. The whistler-mode wave associated with ESWs suggests that enhanced electromagnetic whistler-mode fluctuations can also be generated after the decay of the ESWs, which is different from the 2-D PIC simulation results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    ShiYou Li, ShiFeng Zhang, Hong Cai & HuaBo Yang

  2. Institute of Space Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    XiaoHua Deng

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  1. ShiYou Li
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  2. ShiFeng Zhang
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  3. Hong Cai
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  4. XiaoHua Deng
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Correspondence to ShiYou Li.

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Li, S., Zhang, S., Cai, H. et al. Observation and analysis of whistler-mode wave and electrostatic solitary waves within density depletion near magnetic reconnection X-line. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 57, 652–658 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-013-5237-8

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