Electron Heating by Magnetic Pumping and Whistler-mode Waves

Abstract

The investigation of mechanisms responsible for the heating of cold solar wind electrons around the Earth’s bow shock is an important problem in heliospheric plasma physics because such heating is vitally required to run the shock drift acceleration at the bow shock. The prospective mechanism for electron heating is magnetic pumping, which considers electron adiabatic (compressional) heating by ultralow-frequency waves and simultaneous scattering by high-frequency fluctuations. Existing models of magnetic pumping have operated with external sources of such fluctuations. In this study, we generalize these models by introducing the self-consistent electron scattering by whistler-mode waves generated due to the anisotropic electron heating process. We consider an electron population captured within a magnetic trap created by ultralow-frequency waves. Periodical adiabatic heating and cooling of this population drives the generation of whistler-mode waves scattering electrons in the pitch-angle space. The combination of adiabatic heating and whistler-driven scattering provides electron acceleration and the formation of a suprathermal electron population that can further participate in the shock drift acceleration.

Keywords

• Space plasmas
• Plasma astrophysics
• Plasma physics
• Planetary bow shocks
• Solar wind