Measurements of plasma quasi-thermal noise on STEREO spacecraft and plasma temperature deduction using antenna electron shot noise model

Abstract:

Quasi-thermal noise spectroscopy is very accurate technique for in situ measurements of electron density and temperature in space plasmas. This technique uses the voltage fluctuation spectrum, which is ubiquitous in interplanetary space, obtained by an electric antenna. It is independent of antenna orientation if velocity distribution function of plasma particles is considered to be isotropic. On STEREO/WAVES antennas electron shot noise spectrum dominates because of large antenna surface area, especially at lower frequencies. This feature of antennas disables simultaneous measurements of electron density and temperature. However, technique may work accurately in high-density filamentary structures, where Debye length is small. In this paper, it has been illustrated on magnetic clouds. Obtained results have been used to recalibrate the data of PLASTIC instrument. Further on, in unperturbed solar wind, electron shot noise has been used to infer electron temperature. Electron density data, necessary in data processing, has been estimated from recalibrated PLASTIC data. For this purpose, data of both STEREO A and STEREO B spacecraft have been processed by selecting only spectra from free solar wind.