MMS observations of the Earth bow shock during magnetosphere compression and expansion: comparison of whistler wave properties around the shock ramp

Abstract:

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, with their state-of-the-art plasma and field instruments onboard, allow us to investigate electromagnetic waves at the bow shock and their association with small-scale disturbances in the shocked plasmas. Understanding these waves could improve our knowledge on the heating of electrons and ions across the shock ramp and the energy dissipation of supercritical shocks. We have found broad-band and narrow band waves across the shock ramp and slightly downstream. The broad-band waves propagate obliquely to the magnetic field direction and have frequencies up to the electron cyclotron frequency, while the narrow-band waves have frequencies of a few hundred Hertz, durations under a second, and are right-handed circularly polarized and propagate along the magnetic field lines. Both wave types are likely to be whistler mode with different generation mechanisms. When the solar wind pressure changes, MMS occasionally observed a pair of bow shocks when the magnetosphere was compressed and then expanded. We compare the wave observations under these two situations to understand their roles in the shock ramp as well as the upstream and downstream plasmas.