Generation of circularly polarized radio waves within magnetic holes of the solar wind

Abstract

The possibility of nonlinear interaction between Langmuir waves and ion–acoustic waves in the solar wind has received considerable interest in the last years. However, little attention has been paid to the possibility of nonlinear coupling between Langmuir waves and whistler waves in the interplanetary medium. Close temporal correlation between high-frequency Langmuir waves and low-frequency electromagnetic whistler waves has been observed recently within magnetic holes of the solar wind. In order to account for these observations within magnetic holes of the solar wind, we develop a nonlinear three-wave theory describing the parametric interaction of Langmuir waves, electromagnetic whistler waves with either right- or left-hand circularly polarized electromagnetic waves. We suggest that the nonlinear coupling of Langmuir waves and whistler waves may lead to the formation of modulated Langmuir wave packets as well as the generation of circularly polarized radio waves at the plasma frequency in the solar wind.