Physics Commons^™

Low Frequency Waves Due To He+ As Observed By The Ulysses Spacecraft, Anastasia V. Marchuk

Honors Theses and Capstones

We surveyed magnetic field data from the Ulysses spacecraft and found examples of magnetic waves with characteristics that point to excitation by newborn pickup He+. With interstellar neutrals as the likely source for the pickup ions, we have modeled the ion production rates and used them to produce wave excitation rates that we compare to the background turbulence rates. The source ions are thought to be always present, but the waves are seen when growth rates are comparable to or exceed the turbulence rates. With the exception of the fast latitude scans, and unlike the waves excited by newborn interstellar …