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Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 051101 (2008) [4 pages]

Eigenmode Structure in Solar-Wind Langmuir Waves

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R. E. Ergun1,2, D. M. Malaspina2, Iver H. Cairns3, M. V. Goldman4, D. L. Newman4, P. A. Robinson3, S. Eriksson2, J. L. Bougeret5, C. Briand5, S. D. Bale6, C. A. Cattell7, P. J. Kellogg7, and M. L. Kaiser8
1Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
2Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
3School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
4Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
5LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Université Paris Diderot, 92190 Meudon, France
6Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
7Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
8NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Received 7 December 2007; published 29 July 2008

We show that observed spatial- and frequency-domain signatures of intense solar-wind Langmuir waves can be described as eigenmodes trapped in a parabolic density well. Measured solar-wind electric field spectra and waveforms are compared with 1D linear solutions and, in many cases, can be represented by 1–3 low-order eigenstates. To our knowledge, this report is the first observational confirmation of Langmuir eigenmodes in space. These results suggest that linear eigenmodes may be the starting point of the nonlinear evolution, critical for producing solar type II and type III radio bursts.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.051101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.051101
PACS:
96.50.Ci, 52.25.Os, 52.35.Fp, 52.35.Mw