The Plausibility of the Stationary Inertial Alfven Wave in Explaining Important Morphological and Temporal Signatures of Auroral Arcs based on Laboratory Experiments and Auroral Observations

Abstract:

The Stationary Inertial Alfven Wave (StIAW) [Knudsen J. Geophys. Res., 101, 10761 (1996)] is a non-fluctuating, non-travelling, spatially periodic pattern in electromagnetic field and fluid quantities that arises in the simultaneous presence of a magnetic-field-aligned current channel and cross-magnetic field plasma flow. Theory predicts [Finnegan et al., Nonlin. Proc. Geophys., 15, 957 (2008)] that the wave appears as an ion density perturbation that is static in the laboratory frame and that the wave electric field can accelerate electrons parallel to a background magnetic field. For experiments in the afterglow plasma in LAPD-U, results of which are reported on in this poster, the necessary conditions for the stationary wave are generated by a biased segmented electrode that creates a convective flow and a planar-mesh electrode that draws current parallel to the background magnetic field. An electrostatic probe and a retarding field energy analyzer measure fixed (in the laboratory frame) patterns in the ion density and electron energy. Spatial patterns of electron acceleration are reminiscent of the patterns present during the formation of discrete auroral arcs. Observation of long-lived discrete arcs indicates that some arcs require a generation mechanism that supports electron acceleration parallel to auroral field lines for tens of minutes. We present arc lifetime statistics to emphasize the paucity of physical models that explain these observations.

*Support from NSF grant PHY-130-1896 and grants from the Canadian Space Agency is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank the THEMIS ASI Teams at U Calgary and UC Berkeley.