Skip to main content

A reexamination of pitch angle diffusion of electrons at the boundary of the lunar wake

Abstract

Velocity distribution of the solar wind electrons injected into the lunar wake boundary is re-examined by using a simple model structure of inward electric field. The electrons that were flowing along the magnetic field lines undergo pitch angle scattering due to the electric field component perpendicular to the magnetic field. The electrons obtain perpendicular speeds twice as much as the drift speed. On the basis of the GEOTAIL observations of the whistler mode waves and strahl electrons, the intensity of the electric field and the thickness of the wake structure are estimated to be 28-40 mVm-1 and less than 20 km, respectively.

References

  • Birch, P. C. and S. C. Chapman, Correction to “Particle-in-cell simulations of the lunar wake with high phase resolution”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 2669, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birch, P. C. and S. C. Chapman, Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of the lunar wake, Phys. Plasmas, 9, 1785–1789, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, W. M., R. J. Fitzenreiter, C. J. Owen, J. B. Byrnes, R. P. Lepping, K. W. Ogilvie, and F. Neubauer, Upstream ULF waves and energetic electrons associated with the lunar wake: Detection of precursor activity, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 1271–1274, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, W. M., M. L. Kaiser, J. T. Steinberg, and S. D. Bale, A simple simulation of a plasma void: Applications to Wind observations of the lunar wake, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 23635–23653, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, W. C., J. R. Asbridge, S. J. Bame, M. D. Montgomery, and S. P. Gary, Solar wind electrons, J. Geophys. Res., 80, 4181–4196, 1975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Futaana, Y., S. Machida, T. Saito, A. Matsuoka, and H. Hayakawa, Counterstreaming electrons in the near vicinity of the moon observed by plasma instruments on board NOZOMI, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 18729–18740, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halekas, J. S., D. L. Mitchell, R. P. Lin, L. L. Hood, M. N. Acuña, and A. B. Binder, Evidence for negative charging of the lunar surface in shadow, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 77, doi:10.1029/2001GL014428, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halekas, J. S., R. P. Lin, and D. L. Mitchell, Inferring the scale height of the lunar nightside double layer, Geophys. Res. Lett.,, 30, PLA1, 2117, doi:10.1029/2003GL018421, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halekas, J. S., S. D. Bale, D. L. Mitchell, and R. P. Lin, Electrons and magnetic fields in the lunar plasma wake, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A07222, doi:10.1029/2004JA010991, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa, T. and M. Iizima, Pitch angle diffusion of electrons at the boundary of the lunar wake, Earth Planets Space, 57, 885–894, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa, T., Y. Takahashi, and M. Iizima, GEOTAIL observation of upstream ULF waves associated with lunar wake, Earth Planets Space, 55, 569–580, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogilvie, K.W., J. T. Steinberg, R. T. Fitzenreiter, Owen, A. J. Lazarus, W. M. Farrell, and R. B. Torbert, Observation of the lunar plasma wake from the WIND spacecraft on December 27, 1994, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 1255–1258, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomoko Nakagawa.

Rights and permissions

Open Access  This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nakagawa, T., Iizima, M. A reexamination of pitch angle diffusion of electrons at the boundary of the lunar wake. Earth Planet Sp 58, e17–e20 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351945

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351945

Key words