A Proposal to Investigate Electron Solitary Holes with CLUSTER Data

研究人员将研究极光磁力线上的电子孤立空穴(ESH)。ESH是以电子热速度的一小部分移动的正势垒，具有平行的标度尺寸、德拜长度的数量级和可变的垂直标度尺寸。集群卫星有测量等离子体波和电子分布函数的仪器。这些数据可以用来研究ESH的起源、演化、寿命和影响。组成第二组任务的四颗卫星于2000年夏天成功发射，所有仪器都在名义上工作。研究人员多年来一直在开发等离子体波接收器和干涉仪，并利用极地航天器的数据研究了ESH。最近在极光加速带、等离子体片、尖端/裂隙、高纬度边界层、激波过渡区，以及可能在太阳风中的木卫二尾迹中观察到了Esh。对这一现象的研究对于我们理解空间天气和磁层中的等离子体过程是至关重要的。

The investigators will study electron solitary holes (ESH) on auroral magnetic field lines. ESH are positive potential wells moving at a fraction of the electron thermal speed with parallel scale sizes the order of the Debye length and variable perpendicular scale sizes. The CLUSTER satellites have instrumentation for measuring plasma waves and electron distribution functions. These data can be used to study the origin, evolution, lifetimes and effects of ESH. The four satellites making up the CLUSTER II mission were successfully launched in the summer of 2000 and all instruments are working nominally. The investigators have developed plasma wave receivers and interferometers for many years and have studied ESH using data from the POLAR spacecraft. ESH have recently been observed in the auroral acceleration zone, plasma sheet, cusp/cleft, high latitude boundary layer, shock transition region, and possibly the wake of Europa in the solar wind. Study of this phenomenon is essential to our understanding of space weather and plasma processes in the magnetosphere.