Whistler modes with wave magnetic fields exceeding the ambient field.
Whistler-mode wave packets with fields exceeding the ambient dc magnetic field have been excited in a large, high electron-beta plasma. The waves are induced with a loop antenna with dipole moment either along or opposite to the dc field. In the latter case the excited wave packets have the topology of a spheromak but are propagating in the whistler mode along and opposite to the dc magnetic field. Field-reversed configurations with net zero helicity have also been produced. The electron magnetohydrodynamics fields are force free, have wave energy density exceeding the particle energy density, and propagate stably at subelectron thermal velocities through a nearly uniform stationary ion density background.
Stenzel
R L
RL
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA. stenzel@physics.ucla.edu
Urrutia
J M
JM
Strohmaier
K D
KD