Electrostatic drift waves in a 2D magnetic current sheet - a new kinetic theory

Abstract:

In the general context of understanding the possible destabilization of the magnetotail before a substorm, a kinetic model for electromagnetic instabilities in resonant interaction with trapped bouncing electrons has been proposed for several years. Fruit et al. 2013 already used it to investigate the possibilities for electrostatic instabilities. Tur et al. 2014 generalizes the model for full electromagnetic perturbations.
It turns out that some corrections should be added to the electrostatic version of Fruit et al. 2013. We propose to revist the theory in this present paper.
Starting with a modified 2D Harris sheet as equilibrium state, the linearized gyrokinetic Vlasov equation is solved for electrostatic fluctuations with period of the order of the electron bounce period (a few seconds). The particle motion is restricted to its first Fourier component along the magnetic field and this allows the complete time integration of the non local perturbed distribution functions. The dispersion relation for electrostatic modes is finally obtained through the quasineutrality condition.
The new feature of the present model is the inclusion of diamagnetic drift effects due to the density gradient in the tail. It is well known in MHD theory that drift waves are driven unstable through collisions or other dissipative effects. Here electrostatic drift waves are revisited in this more complete kinetic model including bouncing electrons and finite Larmor radius effects. A new mode has been found with original propagation proprieties. It is moreover mildly unstable due to electron or ion damping (dissipative instability).