Projects per year
Abstract
This paper is a review of results by the group over the past decade on auroral kilometric radiation and similar cyclotron emissions from stars and planets. These emissions are often attributed to a horseshoe or crescent shaped momentum distribution of energetic electrons moving into the convergent magnetic field which exists around polar regions of dipole-type stars and planets. We have established a laboratory-based facility that has verified many of the details of our original theoretical description and agrees well with numerical simulations. The experiment has demonstrated that the horseshoe distribution does indeed produce cyclotron emission at a frequency just below the local cyclotron frequency, with polarization close to X-mode and propagating nearly perpendicularly to the beam motion. We discuss recent developments in the theory and simulation of the instability including addressing a radiation escape problem and the effect of competing instabilities, relating these to the laboratory, space, and astrophysical observations.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 056501 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Physics of Plasmas |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 12 Apr 2011 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2011 |
Keywords
- Electron beams
- Auroral phenomena
- Magnetic fields
- Cyclotron resonances
- Plasma instabilities
- Plasma waves
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Dive into the research topics of 'Cyclotron maser emission: Stars, planets, and laboratory'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Instabilities in non-thermal plasmas: Instabilities in Non-Thermal Plasmas
Cairns, R. A. (PI)
1/04/09 → 31/05/13
Project: Standard
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Beam Driven Instabilities in Magnetized: Beam diven instabilities in magnetized plasmas
Cairns, R. A. (PI)
1/01/06 → 31/12/08
Project: Standard