Low frequency Whistler waves excited in fast magnetic reconnection processes

Abstract

Whistler waves generated in fast magnetic reconnection processes of collisionless high beta plasmas are reviewed in experiments and satellite observations, as well as in theory and simulation, and further studied in the two-fluid theory. It is found that low frequency whistler waves can be excited in the ion inertial range of the reconnection region. The wave is found right-handed polarized with a quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic perturbation, in accord with satellite observations in the geomagnetosphere.

Keywords

Whistler waves / mode conversion / Hall MHD / magnetic reconnection

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg