Nonlinear saturation of cyclotron maser instability associated with energetic ring-beam electrons.
We study the cyclotron maser instability (CMI) driven by an energetic ring-beam distribution by a particle simulation to explain possible generation mechanisms of intense radiation phenomena observed in space. The main objective is to understand the nonlinear processes that control saturation of the emission process. Our study reveals new issues that have been overlooked in past literature. It is found that electrostatic wave modes excited by the electron beam instability compete with the electromagnetic waves excited by the CMI. Nonlinear effects of these electrostatic modes tend to redistribute the energy of the energetic electrons and make the physics more complicated. The CMI can be much less effective in a realistic case than it is anticipated theoretically.
Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
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Lee
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Omura
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Lee
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Wu