Turbulence-Driven Ion Beams in the Magnetospheric Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

Luca Sorriso-Valvo, Filomena Catapano, Alessandro Retinò, Olivier Le Contel, Denise Perrone, Owen W. Roberts, Jesse T. Coburn, Vincenzo Panebianco, Francesco Valentini, Silvia Perri, Antonella Greco, Francesco Malara, Vincenzo Carbone, Pierluigi Veltri, Oreste Pezzi, Federico Fraternale, Francesca Di Mare, Raffaele Marino, Barbara Giles, Thomas E. Moore, Christopher T. Russell, Roy B. Torbert, Jim L. Burch, and Yuri V. Khotyaintsev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 035102 – Published 24 January 2019

Abstract

The description of the local turbulent energy transfer and the high-resolution ion distributions measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission together provide a formidable tool to explore the cross-scale connection between the fluid-scale energy cascade and plasma processes at subion scales. When the small-scale energy transfer is dominated by Alfvénic, correlated velocity, and magnetic field fluctuations, beams of accelerated particles are more likely observed. Here, for the first time, we report observations suggesting the nonlinear wave-particle interaction as one possible mechanism for the energy dissipation in space plasmas.

Received 20 September 2018
Revised 10 December 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.035102

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence Plasma turbulence Space & astrophysical plasma

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Luca Sorriso-Valvo

Nanotec/CNR, U.O.S. di Cosenza, Ponte P. Bucci, cubo 31C, 87036 Rende, Italy and Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, 170517 Quito, Ecuador

Filomena Catapano

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, cubo 31C, 87036 Rende, Italy and LPP-CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/Sorbonne Université, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France

Alessandro Retinò and Olivier Le Contel

LPP-CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/Sorbonne Université, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France

Denise Perrone

Department of Physics, Imperial College of London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

Owen W. Roberts

Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstrasse 6, 8042 Graz, Austria

Jesse T. Coburn, Vincenzo Panebianco, Francesco Valentini, Silvia Perri, Antonella Greco, Francesco Malara, Vincenzo Carbone, and Pierluigi Veltri

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, cubo 31C, 87036 Rende, Italy

Oreste Pezzi

Gran Sasso Science Institute, Viale F. Crispi 7, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, cubo 31C, 87036 Rende, Italy

Federico Fraternale

Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy

Francesca Di Mare

Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Sem Sælands Vei 26, Fysikkbygningen 0371 Oslo, Norway

Raffaele Marino

Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides et d’Acoustique, CNRS, École Centrale de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSA de Lyon, F-69134 Écully, France

Barbara Giles and Thomas E. Moore

NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA

Christopher T. Russell

Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA

Roy B. Torbert