Investigating Stimulated Wave-Particle Interaction of Radiation Belt Particles with Space-Borne Whistler Mode Transmitters

摘要

We study the feasibility of transmitting whistler mode waves in space for stimulating wave-particle interaction in the radiation belts. We investigated both theoretically and experimentally the antenna-plasma interaction, the whistler waves radiated from a space-borne transmitter, and the VLF waves radiated from ground-based transmitters. We have developed a one- dimensional model of the high-voltage-antenna-sheath-plasma both analytically and numerically, and compared the results with the space transmission experiments made by the Radio Plasma Imager on the IMAGE satellite. We have developed a general theory for whistler wave radiation in space. Our results have shown that previous antenna sheath theories need significant modifications and the previous whistler wave radiation theory contains substantial mathematical errors and flaws. The model developed a few decades ago to describe the whistler waves penetrating through the ionosphere and propagating in the magnetosphere also needs significant improvements. This project has laid solid foundation for further investigations and modeling of space-borne whistler transmissions.