TY - JOUR
T1 - Solar Wind Electron Parameters Determination on Wind Spacecraft Using Quasi-Thermal Noise Spectroscopy
AU - Martinović, Mihailo M.
AU - Klein, Kristopher G.
AU - Gramze, Savannah R.
AU - Jain, Himanshu
AU - Maksimović, Milan
AU - Zaslavsky, Arnaud
AU - Salem, Chadi
AU - Zouganelis, Ioannis
AU - Simić, Zoran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2020/8/1
Y1 - 2020/8/1
N2 - Quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectroscopy has been extensively used as an accurate tool to measure electron density and temperature in space plasmas. If the antenna length to radius ratio is sufficiently large, a typical measured spectrum clearly shows a resonance at the electron plasma frequency and a lower frequency plateau that quantify the electron distributions. The Wind spacecraft, with its long, thin antennas, is considered the mission par excellence for the implementation of the QTN method. However, a major issue in applying QTN spectroscopy is contamination from signals other than the ubiquitous plasma noise in the vicinity of plasma frequency, affecting the measured spectra and confusing their physical interpretation. In this work, we present a new method for selecting the observations of uncontaminated QTN, distinguishing it from other plasma and spacecraft effects. The selected measurements are used to obtain accurate values for both thermal and suprathermal electron parameters. Testing of the method on 1.5M observations under various conditions in the solar wind, including slow and fast wind and solar transients, confirms the reliability and accuracy of the method with no systematic flaws.
AB - Quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectroscopy has been extensively used as an accurate tool to measure electron density and temperature in space plasmas. If the antenna length to radius ratio is sufficiently large, a typical measured spectrum clearly shows a resonance at the electron plasma frequency and a lower frequency plateau that quantify the electron distributions. The Wind spacecraft, with its long, thin antennas, is considered the mission par excellence for the implementation of the QTN method. However, a major issue in applying QTN spectroscopy is contamination from signals other than the ubiquitous plasma noise in the vicinity of plasma frequency, affecting the measured spectra and confusing their physical interpretation. In this work, we present a new method for selecting the observations of uncontaminated QTN, distinguishing it from other plasma and spacecraft effects. The selected measurements are used to obtain accurate values for both thermal and suprathermal electron parameters. Testing of the method on 1.5M observations under various conditions in the solar wind, including slow and fast wind and solar transients, confirms the reliability and accuracy of the method with no systematic flaws.
KW - Wind spacecraft
KW - quasi-thermal noise
KW - solar wind
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U2 - 10.1029/2020JA028113
DO - 10.1029/2020JA028113
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089886987
SN - 2169-9380
VL - 125
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
IS - 8
M1 - e2020JA028113
ER -