Heating of heavy ions on auroral field lines

Abstract

Heating of heavy ions is studied in the presence of a large amplitude hydrogen cyclotron wave. A three wave decay process, in which a large amplitude pump hydrogen cyclotron wave decays into a daughter hydrogen cyclotron wave and a low frequency oxygen cyclotron wave, is studied theoretically and by numerical simulations. The numerical simulations show a decay instability resulting in strong heating of both the oxygen ions and the hydrogen ions. In particular, the high energy tail of the oxygen ions is observed in the perpendicular distribution.