Ionospheric ion-acoustic enhancements by turbulent counterstreaming electron beam-plasma interaction

摘要

Ion-acoustic enhancements are investigated within the context of turbulentbeam-plasma interaction processes. The analysis assumes a pair of counterstreamingelectron beams interacting with the background plasma. Two-dimensional velocity spaceand two-dimensional wave number space are assumed for the analysis, with physicalparameters that characterize typical ionospheric conditions. The solutions of theelectrostatic weak turbulence theory show that the ion-acoustic wave levels aresignificantly enhanced when the computation is initialized with a pair of counterstreamingbeams in contrast to a single beam. We suggest that this finding is highly relevant for theobserved ion-acoustic enhancements in the Earth's ionosphere that are known to becorrelated with auroral activity.