On waves below the local proton gyrofrequency in auroral acceleration regions

Abstract

The Viking wave electric field and density fluctuation measurements together with simultaneous particle observations are used to study waves at frequencies below the local proton gyrofrequency. Such waves were observed during about 20% of nightside auroral field line crossings by Viking at altitudes between 2000 and 10,000 km. The observations are different from earlier spacecraft observations of similar waves in such a way that the center frequency in about one out of four of the observed events was below the gyrofrequency of singly charged helium, which has not been reported previously. The waves were well correlated with precipitating electrons of energies of a few keV and with VLF auroral hiss. Detailed investigations of simultaneously observed wave emissions, particles, and total densities strongly suggest that secondary peaks at keV energies in the distributions of downgoing electrons can cause the emissions.