Langmuir Wave Electric Fields Induced by Electron Beams in the Heliosphere

Abstract

Solar electron beams responsible for type III radio emission generate Langmuir waves as they propagate out from the Sun. The Langmuir waves are observed via in-situ electric field measurements. These Langmuir waves are not smoothly distributed but occur in discrete clumps, commonly attributed to the turbulent nature of the solar wind electron density. Exactly how the density turbulence modulates the Langmuir wave electric fields is understood only qualitatively. Using weak turbulence simulations, we investigate how solar wind density turbulence changes the probability distribution functions, mean value and variance of the beam-driven electric field distributions. Simulations show rather complicated forms of the distribution that are dependent upon how the electric fields are sampled. Generally the higher magnitude of density fluctuations reduce the mean and increase the variance of the distribution in a consistent manor to the predictions from resonance broadening by density fluctuations. We also demonstrate how the properties of the electric field distribution should vary radially from the Sun to the Earth and provide a numerical prediction for the in-situ measurements of the upcoming Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus spacecraft.

arXiv comment14 pages, 11 figures, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Particle-in-cell and weak turbulence simulations of plasma emission
• Solar type III radio burst time characteristics at LOFAR frequencies and the implications for electron beam transport
• Fine structure of type III solar radio bursts from Langmuir wave motion in turbulent plasma
• Spatial expansion and speeds of type III electron beam sources in the solar corona
• A Fokker-Planck Framework for Studying the Diffusion of Radio Burst Waves in the Solar Corona
• Simulation of plasma emission in magnetized plasmas
• Radio Burst from a Stellar Coronal Mass Ejection
• CoSEE-Cat: A Comprehensive Solar Energetic Electron event Catalogue obtained from combined in situ and remote-sensing observations from Solar Orbiter -- Catalogue description and first statistical results
• Estimating the total energy content in escaping accelerated solar electron beams
• Observations of shock propagation through turbulent plasma in the solar corona
• Single-Mode Wave Decay