The effects of density inhomogeneities on the radio wave emission in electron beam plasmas

Abstract

Type III radio bursts are radio emissions associated with solar flares. They are considered to be caused by electron beams traveling from the solar corona to the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection is a possible accelerator of electron beams in the course of solar flares since it causes unstable distribution functions, and density inhomogeneities (cavities). The properties of radio emission by electron beams in an inhomogeneous environment are still poorly understood. We capture the non-linear kinetic plasma processes of generation of beam-related radio emissions in inhomogeneous plasmas by utilizing fully-kinetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code numerical simulations. Our model takes into account initial electron velocity distribution functions (EVDFs) as they are supposed to be created by magnetic reconnection. We focus our analysis on low-density regions with strong magnetic fields. The assumed EVDFs allow two distinct mechanisms of radio wave emissions: plasma emissions due to wave-wave interactions and so-called electron cyclotron maser emissions (ECME) due to direct wave-particle interactions. We investigate the effects of density inhomogeneities on the conversion of free energy from the electron beams into the energy of electrostatic and electromagnetic waves via plasma emission and ECME, as well as the frequency shift of electron resonances caused by perpendicular gradients in the beam EVDFs. Our most important finding is that the number of harmonics of Langmuir waves increases due to the presence of density inhomogeneities. The additional harmonics of Langmuir waves are generated by a coalescence of beam-generated Langmuir waves and their harmonics.

Accepted by Journal of Plasma Physics

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Wave emission of non-thermal electron beams generated by magnetic reconnection
• Nonthermal electron velocity distribution functions due to 3D kinetic magnetic reconnection for solar coronal plasma conditions
• Numerical simulations of a continuously injected relativistic electron beam relaxation into a plasma with large-scale density gradients