A Proposal to Investigate Electron Solitary Holes with CLUSTER Data

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators will study electron solitary holes (ESH) on auroral magnetic field lines. ESH are positive potential wells moving at a fraction of the electron thermal speed with parallel scale sizes the order of the Debye length and variable perpendicular scale sizes. The CLUSTER satellites have instrumentation for measuring plasma waves and electron distribution functions. These data can be used to study the origin, evolution, lifetimes and effects of ESH. The four satellites making up the CLUSTER II mission were successfully launched in the summer of 2000 and all instruments are working nominally. The investigators have developed plasma wave receivers and interferometers for many years and have studied ESH using data from the POLAR spacecraft. ESH have recently been observed in the auroral acceleration zone, plasma sheet, cusp/cleft, high latitude boundary layer, shock transition region, and possibly the wake of Europa in the solar wind. Study of this phenomenon is essential to our understanding of space weather and plasma processes in the magnetosphere.