Nature Communications (Mar 2017)

Wave-particle energy exchange directly observed in a kinetic Alfvén-branch wave

  • Daniel J. Gershman,
  • Adolfo F-Viñas,
  • John C. Dorelli,
  • Scott A. Boardsen,
  • Levon A. Avanov,
  • Paul M. Bellan,
  • Steven J. Schwartz,
  • Benoit Lavraud,
  • Victoria N. Coffey,
  • Michael O. Chandler,
  • Yoshifumi Saito,
  • William R. Paterson,
  • Stephen A. Fuselier,
  • Robert E. Ergun,
  • Robert J. Strangeway,
  • Christopher T. Russell,
  • Barbara L. Giles,
  • Craig J. Pollock,
  • Roy B. Torbert,
  • James L. Burch

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14719
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

Read online

Alfvén waves are fundamental plasma modes that provide a mechanism for the transfer of energy between particles and fields. Here the authors confirm experimentally the conservative energy exchange between Alfvén wave fields and plasma particles via high-resolution MMS observations of Earth’s magnetosphere.