Particle‐in‐cell simulation of Maxwellian ring velocity distribution

Abstract

Electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic (ECH) and electromagnetic whistler wave emissions are sometimes observed simultaneously in the near‐Earth nightside equatorial magnetotail region. The excitation mechanism for these two wave emissions, however, is quite different with ECH waves excited by a positive slope in the velocity distribution function perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field (such as due to a loss cone or ring velocity distribution), while whistler waves are excited by a temperature anisotropy whereby the perpendicular temperature is larger than the parallel temperature. Here we examine, using a two‐dimensional electromagnetic particle‐in‐cell computer simulation, the excitation of both waves as a consequence of a warm electron ring distribution in the presence of cold background electrons. Initially, ECH waves are excited by the ring distribution in the linear stage, which results in heating of the cold electrons and smearing of the ring distribution. During a nonlinear consequence of the ECH excitation and ensuing electron wave‐particle interactions, whistler waves are also excited by the different instability. Thus both waves are excited during the same simulation run, which may account for the magnetospheric observations of both ECH and whistler waves at the same location where electron loss cone distributions form in the equatorial magnetotail at about 6–9 RE from the Earth.