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ANATOLY V. STRELTSOV
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Department of Physical Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States
Elsevier
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands
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50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
From smart watches and cell phones to purpose driving research in this field is,
GPS satellites, humanity increasingly relies therefore, to identify possible effects of space
on the ability of modern gadgets to exchange storms, to understand and to predict storm
information via electromagnetic waves. The development from the Sun to the ground,
quality of such communication links, how- and then to develop methods to mitigate
ever, depends on the propagation character- those effects. The Sun is the ultimate energy
istics of the near-Earth plasma environment, source of space weather. Ground-based and
which is frequently not at equilibrium. In onboard sensors monitor the Sun to detect
particular, plasma irregularities occurring in the onset of coronal mass ejections (CMEs),
the ionosphere during space storms cause when billions of tons of the hot solar plasma
severe distortion of wave trajectories, leading are ejected into interplanetary space and
to the interruption of communication and create a shock wave moving from the Sun at
navigation. Enhanced fluxes of MeV, so- a speed greatly exceeding that of an undis-
called “killer” electrons forming the Earth’s turbed solar wind.
radiation belts, strike spacecraft, thereby CMEs are manifested by sharply intensi-
shortening their lifetime. These phenomena fied optical (solar flare), radio, and X-ray
represent just a fraction of the Sun-driven radiation. The radiation covers the distance
space weather affecting technological sys- between the Sun and the Earth (1 AU z 150
tems in near-Earth space. The self-explana- million kilometers) in about 500 seconds,
tory term “space weather” remains in use whereas the shocks approach the Earth in
since the space era began. about 1e2 days. The shock arrival at the
Humankind will probably never have magnetosphere’s boundary, the magneto-
control of space weather. The main practical pause, leads to an abrupt compression of the
FIGURE 0.1 Artist’s not-to-scale illustration of a Space Weather event: Coronal Mass Ejection manifested by a
solar flare (white light) creates a shock wave moving toward the Earth’s magnetosphere. Source: NASA www.
sunearthplan.net/3/inter.
vii
viii PREFACE
1
Introduction: near-Earth space
environment
The near-Earth space can be defined as the region where the solar wind magnetic field and
plasma interact with the magnetic field and plasma supplied by the Earth. It starts at the dis-
tance w10e12 RE toward the Sun and extends to >100 RE in the direction from the Sun. It
consists of several large, distinctive regions, which, in turn, contain smaller regions with
different parameters of the plasma and the magnetic field, and as a result, with different
dominant wave and particle processes. In that sense, the near-Earth space is similar to a
Russian “Matryoshka” doll or Chinese Boxes, where smaller objects are nested inside the
larger ones.
Fig. 1.1 depicts five main regions in the near-Earth space: (1) Bow Shock, (2) Magneto-
sheath, (3) Cusps, (4) Magnetosphere, and (5) Ionosphere. Each of these regions has its own
subregions, with different parameters of the plasma and the magnetic field. For example,
the integral parts of the Magnetosphere are the Magnetotail, Plasmasheet, and Plasmasphere.
In the Magnetotail, we distinguish the Mantle, Lobes, and Current sheet. In the plasmasphere,
which contains mainly a dense cold plasma, corotating with the Earth, two energetic particle
populations deserve special attention. One of these populations is radiation belt particles, and
the other is ring current particles.
Let us discuss these regions in some detail.
Nonlinear Wave and Plasma Structures in the Auroral and Subauroral Geospace
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820760-4.00001-6 1 © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
2 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
FIGURE 1.1 Near-Earth space environment and magnetospheric currents. From the internet.
the location where the supersonic flow interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere. This is the
bow shock.
1.2 Magnetosheath
This is a region between the bow shock and the Earth’s magnetosphere. Here, the transi-
tion from the interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar wind to the magnetic field
generated inside the Earth occurs. The plasma in the magnetosheath is the postshock solar
wind plasma of the density n z 5 cm3 and Te z Te z 10 eV.
These are two narrow, funnel-like regions in the Northern and Southern hemispheres
where the solar wind plasma can penetrate to low altitudes up to the ionosphere due to
the dipole geometry of the Earth’s magnetic field (Smith and Lockwood, 1996).
1.4 Magnetosphere 3
1.4 Magnetosphere
This is a part of the near-Earth space with primarily the magnetic dipole field although
disguised by the interaction with the solar wind (e.g., Bagenal, 1985). The magnetosphere
is normally divided into the dayside magnetosphere and the magnetotail. The boundary
separating the magnetosphere from the magnetosheath is called a magnetopause. Technically
speaking, this is the boundary around the dayside magnetosphere and the magnetotail, but
more often, it is used to specify the boundary between the magnetosheath and the dayside
magnetosphere (Paschmann, 1979; Russel, 1981).
One of the main parameters describing the dayside magnetopause is the so-called standoff
distance, which defines the distance from the center of the Earth to the subsolar point where
the magnetopause is supposed to be. This distance is calculated from a pressure balance be-
tween the dynamic pressure in the solar wind, rSW u2SW , and the magnetic field pressure inside
the magnetosphere, B2 2m0 . Basically, it is assumed that the magnetic field in the solar wind is
weak (usually, BSW z 4e8 nT near the Earth), and the pressure in the solar wind is due to the
dynamic pressure only. Inside the magnetosphere, the plasma is relatively cold, stationary,
and diluted, and the pressure there is due to the magnetic field only. If we assume that the
magnetic field inside the dayside magnetosphere is dipole, then the magnitude of this field
in the equatorial plane is B ¼ BE ðRE =rÞ3 , where r is the geocentric distance, RE ¼ 6371.2 km
is the radius of the Earth, and BE ¼ 3.2 105 T. In this case, the equation defining the dis-
tance to the magnetopause in the subsolar point from the center of the Earth, rMP , is
1=6
B2E
rMP ¼ RE (1.1)
2m0 rSW u2SW
For “typical” parameters of the solar wind, usw ¼ 400 km/s, mi ¼ mp ¼ 1.67 1027 kg,
and n ¼ 6 cm3, this distance is rMP z8RE , which is less than the average distance to the
magnetopause observed by satellites in the subsolar region. This value can be corrected by
considering effects from the ChapmaneFerraro currents flowing around the dayside magne-
tosphere. These currents will be described shortly in this chapter. Here, we just note that they
originate from the magnetic curvature and gradient drift motion of the particles in the solar
wind facing the strong magnetic field on the magnetosphere. The resulting current flows in
the ecliptic plane from dawn to dusk producing a magnetic field, which increases the mag-
netic field inside the magnetosphere and decreases it outside the magnetopause.
If the magnitude of the magnetic field produced by the ChapmaneFerraro current is equal
to the magnitude of the field outside the magnetopause, then it will cancel the magnetic field
outside and double it inside. In this case, to calculate the distance to the magnetopause, one
should use B0E ¼ 2BE in Eq. (1.1) instead of BE , and the resulting expression for rMP is
1=6
B2E
rMP ¼ 21=3 RE (1.2)
2m0 rSW u2SW
Now, rMP z10RE for the same typical parameters of the solar wind, and this value corre-
sponds to the observations.
4 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
1.4.1 Magnetotail
Plasma Mantle. This is the region of the magnetosphere adjacent to the magnetopause.
Here, the plasma density is z 0.1e1.0 cm3 and Te z 100 eV.
Tail Lobes. Northern and southern lobes of the magnetotail extend downstream from
the Earth to >200 RE. Magnetic field lines in the lobes are nearly parallel to each other
and the strength of the magnetic field is z 20 nT. The plasma density here is very low,
z 0.01 cm3, Te z 100 eV, and Ti z 1 keV. This region of the magnetotail maps along the
magnetic field to the polar cap and provides a spatially homogeneous “polar rain” of elec-
trons with energies of a few hundred eV into the ionosphere.
Plasmasheet. This is a central part of the magnetosphere. In the nightside magnetosphere, it
separates two tail lobes. The magnetic field in the nightside of the plasmasheet is weaker than
in the lobes. The field is supposed to be near zero in the most central part of the nightside
plasmasheet where the reconnection occurs. In the part of the plasmasheet closer to the Earth,
the magnetic field lines are “closed,” and this region maps by the magnetic field to the auroral
oval in the high-latitude ionosphere. The average plasma density in the plasmasheet
is z 0.3e1.0 cm3, Te z 0.5e1.0 keV, and Ti z 3.0e6.0 keV. The magnetic field here is
weaker than in the lobes and the plasma is denser than the plasma in the lobes.
Boundary Layers. Two additional subregions in the magnetotail deserving special attention
are the plasmasheet boundary layer and the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL). They are
shown in Fig. 1.1. These layers represent narrow transition regions, where parameters of
the plasma change significantly over a relatively short distance leading to strong transverse
gradients in plasma density, temperature, and velocity. These gradients cause the develop-
ment of the hydrodynamics instabilities (e.g., KelvineHelmholtz instability in LLBL), which
affect the electromagnetic dynamics of the magnetosphere.
1.4.2 Plasmasphere
The plasmasphere consists of a torus of relatively cold and dense plasma of ionospheric
origin corotating with the Earth. Here, n > 100 cm3 and Te z Ti z 1 eV. The period of the
plasmasphere rotation around the Earth is z 26 h or w10% longer than the period of the
Earth’s rotation. The plasmasphere is bounded in the radial direction by a sharp, well-
defined boundary called the plasmapause. During quiet geomagnetic conditions, the plasma-
pause locates on the magnetic field lines that map down to z60 degrees magnetic latitude.
The characteristic scale size of the plasmapause in the radial direction can be in the range
0.01e0.1 RE, and the plasma density changes over this distance from <10 cm3 outside the
plasmasphere to >100 cm3 inside (Carpenter and Anderson, 1992; Lui and Hamilton, 1992).
The plasmasphere also contains several populations of energetic particles which normally
are considered separately. These populations include particles forming radiation belts and
carrying ring current.
1.5 Ionosphere
The ionosphere is a partially ionized gas occupying the range of altitudes from 80 to
2000 km above the Earth. Some books suggest considering this gas as a plasma and some
do not. The reason for that discrepancy is that the density of the neutral atmospheric particles
in the main regions of the ionosphere (<400 km) is 100e1000 times higher than the density of
the charged particles, which makes collisions with neutrals and electrochemical reactions be-
tween different species very important participants of the ionospheric processes. Excellent re-
view of physics and chemistry of the ionosphere is given by Schunk (1983), Schunk and Nagy
(2004), and Kelley (2009).
The midlatitude ionosphere is mostly produced by the photoionization of the neutral at-
mosphere by EUV and X-ray radiation from the Sun. Two other important production mech-
anisms are (1) the impact ionization of neutrals by superthermal electrons and (2) charge
exchange. The dissociative and radiative recombination balances the ionization and creates
a dynamically stable configuration of charged particles with some averaged values of the
main parameters.
Tables 1.1e1.3 list some of the major reactions used in photochemical models, with the re-
action rate coefficients from Grubbs et al. (2018), unless noted. As common, we denote the
excited state of nitrogen, N(2D), as N# and si,n ¼ Ti,n (K)/300.
6 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
2 Oþ þ
2 þ NO/NO þ O2 4:1 1010 7 N2þ þ O/Oþ þ N2 1011 si0:23 at si < 5
3 Oþ þ
2 þ N2 /NO þ NO 5 1016 8 Oþ þ NO/NOþ þ O 1013 6:4 1:3si þ 0:8s2i :::
at si < 13
4 N2þ þ O2 /Oþ
2 þ N2 5 1011 si0:8 9 þ
O þ N2 /NO þ N þ
1012 1:7 0:7si þ 0:13s2i :::
at si < 12
5 N2þ þ NO/NO þ N2 þ
7:5 109 Tn0:52 10 O þ þ
O2 /Oþ
2 þO 1011 2:8 0:7si þ 0:08s2i :::
at si < 16
FIGURE 1.2 (A) The average structure of the ionosphere. (B) The electron density in the nighttime ionosphere at
various geographic latitudes. Adapted from (A) Jursa, A.S., 1985, Handbook of Geophysics and Space Environment, AFRL,
National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. (B) Titheridge, J., 2003. Ionization below the night F2 layerda
global model. J. Atm. Solar-Terr. Phys. 65, 1035e1052. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6826(03)00136-6.
8 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
Because the main energy source for the ionospheric production is the radiation from the
Sun, the ionosphere demonstrates a strong temporal variability depending on the position
and intensity of the Sun. Thus, the density of the ionosphere at noon is more than 10 times
larger than the density in the same location during local midnight. The daytime density of
the ionosphere during the solar maxima can be 10 times more than the daytime density dur-
ing the solar minima. Moreover, the nighttime F2-region density during the solar maxima can
be more than the daytime density during the solar minima.
The amount of solar radiation used to ionize the neutrals also depends on the latitude, and
therefore, the ionosphere at low and middle latitudes is “denser” than the ionosphere at high
latitudes. At the same time, at high latitudes (particularly, in the auroral zone), the precipi-
tation of energetic electrons from the plasmasheet is an important source of the ionization.
This source strongly depends on the geomagnetic activity in the magnetotail (e.g., sub-
storms). As a result, the ionospheric density can be very high in the auroral zone and change
significantly over relatively short time intervals and spatial scales.
dvs
ms ¼ qs ðE þ vs BÞ ms ns ðvs vN Þ (1.3)
dt
Here, index s indicates the species of the charged particles (e for electrons and i for ions), nS
is the collision frequency between species s and neutrals, and yN is the velocity of the neutrals.
Let us consider electrons moving without acceleration ðd =dt h0Þ parallel to the magnetic
field ðve jjBÞ or without any magnetic field ðB ¼ 0Þ. Also let us assume that neutrals are sta-
tionary ðvN ¼ 0Þ. In this case, Eq. (1.3) gives
m e ne me ne me ne 1
E¼ ve ¼ 2 neve ¼ je ¼ j: (1.4)
e ne ne 2 sjje e
Here, sjje ¼ ne2 me ne is the parallel electron conductivity. The total parallel conductivity,
sjj , includes a contribution from electrons and ions. In the plasma consisting of electrons and
one species of ions only, it is
1 1
sjj ¼ sjje þ sjji ¼ ne2 þ (1.5)
m e n e m i vi
1.5 Ionosphere 9
If the plasma consists of multiple ion species with different masses and charges, then the
parallel conductivity is
ne2 Xni q2
sjj ¼ þ i
(1.6)
me ne i
mi n i
P
Here, index i marks different ion species and n ¼ i ni .
If one will consider electrons moving without acceleration ðd =dt h0Þ under some angle to
the background magnetic field, and assume that neutrals are stationary ðvN ¼ 0Þ, then Eq.
(1.3) gives
m e ne m e ne 1
E¼ ve ve B ¼ j þ j B (1.7)
e ne2 e ne e
me n e m e ve B m e ne B
Ez ¼ jez ; Ex ¼ jex þ jey ; Ey ¼ jey jex (1.8)
ne2 ne 2 ne ne 2 ne
or
Here,
n2e ne uce
sPe ¼ sjje and sHe ¼ sjje (1.10)
n2e þ u2ce n2e þ u2ce
The relations between the electric field and the total current carried by the electrons and
multiple ion species can be obtained in a similar way:
jz ¼ sjj Ez ; jx ¼ sP Ex sH Ey ; jy ¼ sP Ey þ sH Ex (1.11)
Here, sjj is given by Eq. (1.6), sP is called Pedersen conductivity, and sH is called Hall
conductivity
The relation between the current and the electric field in the ionosphere in the matrix form is
0 1
sp sH 0
!
! B C
j ¼ s ,E; where s ¼ B @ sH sp 0C A (1.13)
0 0 sjj
10 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
The Pedersen conductivity is responsible for the Pedersen currents flowing in the iono-
sphere in the direction of the electric field. This current is carried mostly by ions. It causes
dissipation of the electric field energy in the ionosphere and the ionospheric heating. The
Hall conductivity is responsible for the Hall current flowing in the ionosphere in the direction
perpendicular to the electric field and mostly carried by electrons.
Both conductivities result from the fact that collisions with neutrals demagnetize ions in
the ionosphere, and they start to move in the direction of the electric field instead of partici-
pating in the E B drift. Electrons remain magnetized, and they continue to move perpendic-
ular to E with the velocity of the electric drift. Thus, collisions effectively separate electrons
from ions, the ions carry Pedersen current in the direction of the electric field, and the elec-
trons carry Hall currents in the direction perpendicular to E.
The Hall and Pedersen currents arise from the peculiarities of the electric drift motion
in the collisional media. They both depend on the orientation of the background magnetic
and electric field relative to each other. These fields are oriented differently at high and
low latitudes. At high latitudes, the magnetic field has a large angle with the ionosphere
and with the electric field produced in the ionosphere. At low latitudes, the magnetic field
in the southenorth direction is parallel to the ionosphere and, if there is an electric field in
the eastewest direction in the ionosphere, then the E B drift pushes electrons in the ver-
tical direction and creates a vertical component of the electric field. By considering the
contribution from this field, one can get the relation between the eastewest electric field
and current in the ionosphere, jEW ¼ sC EEW , where sC ¼ sP þ s2H sP is called Cowling
conductivity.
Fig. 1.3 shows “typical” profiles of sP , sH , and sC with an altitude reproduced from Jursa
(1985). It should be noticed here that all three conductivities are proportional to the plasma
density in the ionosphere, particularly in the D and E regions, as well as on the temperature of
electrons and ions. This fact has been used in many active ionospheric experiments based on
changing ionospheric conductivity by heating electrons in the D and E regions with HF
waves produced by powerful ground transmitters, like the High-frequency Active Auroral
Research Program (HAARP) facility in Gakona, Alaska.
Interactions between the plasma and magnetic field carried by the solar wind with plasma
and the magnetic field of the Earth’s origin distort the dipole geometry of the Earth’s mag-
netic field, and these distortions of the magnetic field generate a system of electric currents
threading different near-Earth space regions. The interactive visualization of the currents in
the near-Earth space is shown on the website http://meted.ucar.edu/hao/aurora/txt/x_
m_3_1.php. These currents include dayside magnetosphere or ChapmaneFerraro currents,
nightside magnetosphere or tail currents, cross-tail or neutral sheet current, ring current,
field-aligned or Birkeland currents, and the ionospheric currents, as depicted in Figs. 1.1
and 1.4. Let us consider those in some detail.
• Dayside Magnetosphere or ChapmaneFerraro Currents. These currents occur on the
dayside magnetopause. They are carried by the solar wind particles experiencing the
magnetic field curvature and gradient drifts. Both these drifts cause the motion of
the electrons and ions in opposite directions and produce electric current flowing in the
1.6 Electric currents 11
FIGURE 1.3 Example of distribution of Pedersen (sP), Hall (sH), and Cowling (sC) conductivities with altitude.
In general, these conductivities depend on the plasma density and temperature. Adapted from Jursa, A.S., 1985,
Handbook of Geophysics and Space Environment, AFRL, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.
eastward direction in the ecliptic plane on the magnetopause. This current increases
the Earth’s magnetic field inside the magnetopause and decreases it outside. This effect
is consistent with a simple physical picture of solar wind compressing the magneto-
sphere on the dayside and increasing the magnetic field inside.
• Nightside Magnetosphere or Tail Current. This is a system of two “solenoid-like” currents
flowing around the magnetotail. The currents are the result of the geometry of the mag-
netic field in the tail, which is described by almost uniform and almost parallel magnetic
field lines. Because the magnetic field in the southern magnetosphere is pointing from the
Earth, and in the northern magnetosphere, it is pointing toward the Earth; the currents
around the southern and northern parts of the tail should flow in opposite directions.
• Cross Tail or Neutral Sheet Current. This current flows across the tail through the
neutral sheet providing the closure of the northern and southern tail currents.
Field-Aligned or Birkeland Currents. Field-aligned currents, named after their discoverer
Birkeland currents, are different from other currents in the magnetosphere in several
ways. First, they are carried mostly by the electrons traveling along the ambient magnetic
field and originated from polarization charges at plasma boundaries and often driven by a
parallel voltage between the ionosphere and equatorial magnetosphere (e.g., Arnoldy,
1974). There exist several possible mechanisms producing potential drops with different
spatial characteristics and temporal behavior (Baumjohann, 1982; Lyons, 1992). It is com-
mon to distinguish large-scale, quasi-stationary Region 1 and 2 currents (Iijima and
Potemra, 1978) and small-scale currents carried by Alfvén waves.
12 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
FIGURE 1.4 (A) A schematic illustration of the global magnetospheric current system in the Northern Hemi-
sphere: Region 1 and 2 currents, the magnetopause (ChapmaneFerraro, black), partial ring current (black dashed),
and the Pedersen currents (green). Red/blue lines indicate upward/downward current regions in the polar region
and Region 1 and 2 currents. (B) A global view of Region 1 and Region 2 currents. (C) Ionospheric closure of the field-
aligned currents. Adapted from (A) Carter, J., Milan, S., Coxon, J., Walach, M.-T., Anderson, B., 2016. Average field-aligned
current configuration parameterized by solar wind conditions. J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 121, 1294e1307. https://doi.org/10.
1002/2015JA021567. (B, C) Pictures from the website http://meted.ucar.edu/hao/aurora/txt/x_m_3_1.php.
o Large-Scale, Region 1 and Region 2 Currents. The current system connecting the magne-
topause (and the solar wind) with the polar ionosphere is called the Region 1 current
system. The poleward boundary of R1 currents coincides with the polar cap boundary.
This region is z 100e200 km wide and the current density of this current is z 1 mA/m2.
The current system connecting the inner boundary of the plasmasheet with the equator-
ward part of the auroral ionosphere and the ring current with the subauroral ionosphere
is called the Region 2 current system.
o Small-Scale Alfvénic Currents. Ultra-low-frequency shear Alfvén waves, generated in
the magnetosphere by coupling between shear and fast MHD waves or waveeparticle
interactions, or by the different sources in the ionosphere, carry field-aligned currents
playing an important role in the exchange of the mass, energy, and momentum between
1.8 Magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling 13
the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. These current systems have transverse sizes in
the ionosphere z10e100 km and oscillate with frequencies 0.5e100 mHz. Satellite and
ground-based observations suggest that these currents are closely related to the bright,
discrete auroral arcs, and other nonluminous wave and plasma phenomena in the
auroral and subauroral ionosphere.
Ionospheric Currents. The Pedersen and Hall currents are two main currents in the lower
ionosphere. They are localized in the ionospheric D and E regions, where the corresponding
Hall and Pedersen conductivities maximize. Fig. 1.4C show a schematic plot of these currents
in the ionosphere.
o Pedersen Current. The Pedersen current flows in the direction of the electric field in the
ionosphere. It is carried mainly by the bulk ions due to ion-neutral collisions that
demagnetize ions. That is, collisions disrupt ion gyrorotation around the magnetic field
thus making ions move in the direction of the electric field instead of E B drift.
o Hall Current. The Hall current flows in the direction of the E B drift. It is carried
mainly by the bulk electrons in the altitude range where ions are demagnetized but
electrons remain magnetized.
FIGURE 1.5 (Top) Examples of auroral displays: (A) Corona and (B) rayed arcs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Aurora). (Bottom) Ultraviolet (UV) image from the Polar satellite over the Northern Hemisphere. (Top) From Mishin,
E., 2019. Artificial Aurora experiments and application to natural aurora. Front. Astron. Space Sci. 6, 14. https://doi.org/10.
3389/fspas.2019.00014. (Bottom) From http://eiger.physics.uiowa.edu/wvis/examples.
can produce very similar observational effects, and the same physical mechanism can pro-
duce very different observational effects under different conditions. Fig. 1.6 (courtesy of
Joe Grebowsky, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) illustrates geophysical processes man-
ifesting coupling between different regions in the terrestrial magnetosphere, ionosphere, and
atmosphere.
Ultra-low-frequency (ULF) shear Alfvén waves and field-aligned currents carried by those
are the main participants in the electromagnetic coupling between the ionosphere and
magnetosphere in the auroral and subauroral zones. One of the main mechanisms demon-
strating the importance of magnetosphereeionosphere coupling for understanding the origin
and dynamics of intense ULF waves, currents, and density structures is the active feedback
from the density disturbances in the ionosphere on the structure and amplitude of the magne-
tospheric, field-aligned currents causing these disturbances.
The basic idea of this mechanism is that the ULF field-aligned current interacting with the
ionosphere changes the ionospheric conductivity by precipitating or removing electrons in the
E region, and these variations in the conductivity “feedback” on the structure and amplitude of
1.8 Magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling 15
FIGURE 1.6 Schematic plot illustrating coupling between different regions in the terrestrial magnetosphere,
ionosphere, and atmosphere. Courtesy of Joe Grebowsky, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
the incident current. First, variations in the density change the reflection of the ULF waves from
the conducting bottom of the ionosphere. Second, if the large-scale electric field exists in the
ionosphere, the density variations change the Joule dissipation of this field and generate
some additional field-aligned current contributing to the current reflecting from this location.
If the ULF Alfvén wave, carrying the field-aligned current, is trapped in some resonator
cavity in the magnetosphere, then the ionospheric feedback can work in a constructive
way and increase the amplitude of the wave and the density disturbances in the E region,
which will lead to the development of the ionospheric feedback instability (IFI) suggested
first by Atkinson (1970).
IFI has been extensively studied in the global magnetospheric resonator, formed by the
entire magnetic flux tube with both boundaries in the ionospheric E-region and the iono-
spheric Alfvén resonator formed by the E region and a strong gradient in the Alfvén ve-
locity at the altitude 0.5e1.0 RE. It will be considered in this book in more detail in
Chapter 3.4.
16 1. Introduction: near-Earth space environment
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Iijima, T., Potemra, T., 1978. Large-scale characteristics of field-aligned currents associated with substorms.
J. Geophys. Res. 83, 599.
Jursa, A.S., 1985. Handbook of Geophysics and Space Environment. AFRL, National Technical Information Service,
Springfield, VA, p. 22161.
Kelley, M.C., 2009. The Earth’s Ionosphere: Plasma Physics and Electrodynamics. Academic Press, Elsevier, ISBN 978-
0-12-088425-4.
Lui, A., Hamilton, D., 1992. Radial profiles of quiet time magnetospheric parameters. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 19325.
Lyons, L., 1992. Formation of auroral arcs via magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Rev. Geophys. 30, 93.
Mishin, E., 2019. Artificial Aurora experiments and application to natural aurora. Front. Astron. Space Sci. 6, 14.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2019.00014.
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spheric Boundary Layers. ESA SP-148, Paris, France.
Russel, C.T., 1981. The magnetopause of the Earth and planets. Adv. Space Res. 1, 67.
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ciples and Theoretical Foundations. D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Netherlands.
Schunk, R., Nagy, A., 2004. Ionospheres: Physics, Plasma Physics, and Chemistry. Cambridge, Cambridge, ISBN
9780521607704.
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10.1029/HG002p0011.
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https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6826(03)00136-6.
C H A P T E R
2
Plasma waves and instabilities
C H A P T E R
2.1
Plasma waves
This chapter gives a brief synopsis of the linear theory of plasma waves, consecutively
moving from simple to complex. We start with general definitions of plasma electrody-
namics, dielectric permittivity, plane waves, waveeparticle resonances, and end up consid-
ering wave propagation in nonuniform plasmas and collisionless wave damping. As a
rule, we do not dwell on theoretical details giving only the basic derivations and concepts,
just enough for understanding theoretical and experimental results in subsequent chapters.
Nonetheless, the requirement for this text is a reasonable familiarity with the contents of a
typical undergraduate physics or engineering curriculum, including classical mechanics, vec-
tor algebra, and Maxwell’s and differential equations. Interested readers can find further de-
tails and rigorous derivations in comprehensive reviews and textbooks in Recommended
Reading.
2.1.1 Background
Nonlinear Wave and Plasma Structures in the Auroral and Subauroral Geospace
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820760-4.00002-8 17 © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
18 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
remote response to local perturbations. Because of collective behavior of large particle ensem-
bles, plasmas are similar to solids, while interaction in fluids occurs only between neighbors
and in gases via accidental collisions. Thence, a macroscopic description of plasmas, the mag-
netohydrodynamic model, is similar to that of liquid metals. A symbiotic relationship be-
tween plasma particles and electromagnetic fields supports a great variety of collective
motionsdplasma waves. What distinguishes plasma from the other states of matter is that
the waves direct the plasma state.
The collective interaction implies that the interaction volume contains a large number of
charged particles. The distance beyond which electric charges are shielded is the Debye
length or radius, rD . It is the maximum distance of charge separation over which electrons
of the density, ne , can spontaneously move apart from ions. At larger distances, polarization
electric fields maintain the plasma quasineutrality, ne zni , with no net charge in unit volume
(the subscript “e” and “i” denotes electrons and ions, respectively). The Debye radius is found
as follows. Assume that electrons in the x y plane layer move away from ions over the dis-
tance, dz. Poisson’s equation, VE ¼ ne e=e0 , determines the emerging electric field:
Ez ¼ ne edz=e0 . The resulting electron potential energy is edf ¼ ne e2 ðdzÞ2 e0 . As the potential
energy of electrons due to accidental charge separation cannot exceed their thermal energy,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Te ¼ me v2Te 2, the sought-for separation distance is rD ¼ e0 Te =ne e2 . The characteristic life-
time of charge separation, u1 pe wrD =vTe , determines the Langmuir or plasma frequency, upe ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ne e =e0 me .
2
So, the number of particles in the Debye sphere, rwrD , should be large:
ND ¼ ð4p =3Þne r3D [1. Another condition, which is important for weakly ionized plasmas,
is a secondary role of electron collisions. That is, the mean free path of thermal electrons, lT ¼
vTe =ne , should be greater than wrD . In fully ionized plasmas with the electroneion collision
frequency, ne ¼ nei wupe ND1 lnðND Þ, this condition is satisfied automatically at ND [1.
However, in a weakly ionized plasma, the electroneneutral collision frequency, nen , can be
dominant. In this case, the condition upe [ne or rD lT defines the critical density of neutral
particles, Nn*, which separates plasmas from ionized gases.
Further, unless noted, we use the density, mass, electric (magnetic) fields, and frequency,
f ¼ u=2p, in cm3, kilograms, V/m (Tesla), and Hz, respectively. Temperatures are in elec-
tron volts (1 eV ¼ 11,605 K) to avoid repeated writing of Boltzmann’s constant. Useful ex-
pffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffi
pressions in these units are fpe ¼ upe =2pz9 ne kHz, vTe ¼ 2Te =me z5:9,105 Te m/s,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
and rD z7:4 Te =ne m. For simplicity, we assume that plasma consists of electrons and one
singly charged ion species. The electron-to-ion mass ratio, m ¼ me =mi , is about 13 104
and 16 104 in the F- and E-region ionosphere, respectively.
4
P Henceforth, tensors are denoted by the accent, “ a ” and vectors by the bold face, a ¼
j ej aj , where ej is the unit vector along the j axis. For brevity, sometimes the dot or scalar
product of two vectors, a,b, will be shown simply as ab or ðabÞ. The sign, “*,” means matrix
4 P
multiplication: e E ¼ k ejk Ek or, omitting the summation sign, ejk Ek . Here the indices,
j
P systemPof coordinates, x1 ; x2 ; x3 .
j; k, denote the mutually orthogonal axes of an arbitrary
We use a standard notation: the nabla, V ¼ j ej Vj ¼ j ej v=vxj , and Laplacian,
2.1.1 Background 19
P 2
DhV2 ¼ j Vj . Usually, the overline, XðtÞ, means averaging XðtÞ over the wave or gyration
period, while an angle bracket hJðvÞi denotes averaging JðvÞ over the ensemble of particles.
Here m0 and c ¼ ðe0 m0 Þ1=2 is the in free space permeability and speed of light. Substituting
Poisson’s equation (2.1.1b) into the dot product of V with Ampere’s law (2.1.1a) yields the
continuity equation
4
where the dielectric response function, c ðtÞ, in an anisotropic medium is a tensor.
For a monochromatic wave, Eðr; tÞ ¼ Eu ðrÞeiut , the relation (2.1.3) reduces to P ¼
4
c ðuÞ E, with the electric susceptibility tensor
ZN
4 4
c ðuÞ ¼ c ðsÞeius ds (2.1.4)
0
20 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
As a result, we have the relation between j and the electric field (Ohm’s law) via the con-
4
ductivity tensor, s :
4 4
j ¼ vP=vt ¼ iu c ðuÞ E ¼ s ðuÞ E (2.1.5)
4
Here we denote the dielectric permittivity tensor
as e0 e . The dot product of V with Eq.
4
(2.1.6) gives the well-known equality, V$D ¼ V$ e0 e E ¼ 0.
The relations (2.1.5) and (2.1.6) determine the dispersion law for monochromatic waves
4 4 4 4 4
e ðuÞ ¼ I þ c ðuÞ=e0 ¼ I þ i s =e0 u (2.1.7)
or ejk ðuÞ ¼ djk þ cjk ðuÞ=e0 ¼ djk þ isjk ðuÞ=e0 u
4
Here I is the identity tensor or, in index notation, Ijk ¼ djk , where djk is the Kronecker
delta: djk ¼ 1 if j ¼ k or 0 if jsk.
Applying the cross product of V to both sides of Faraday’s law (2.1.1c) with the aid of Am-
pere’s law (2.1.1a) and equality (2.1.6) we arrive at the wave equation in the spaceetime
domain
4
V ðV EÞ þ c2 e v2 E=vt2 ¼ 0 (2.1.8)
with angular frequencies, u, and wave vectors, k. Here Eku ¼ jEku jeij ¼ const is the com-
plex amplitude with the phase, j. The exponential notation means that the real part should
be taken as the measurable quantity, Eku ¼ Eku or
which may exceed the speed of light. In any event, there is no violation of the theory of rel-
ativity, since plane waves do not carry information, unless being modulated. Modulations
travel at the group velocity
vg ¼ vu=vk (2.1.11)
As follows from the Fourier representation (2.1.9), an electrostatic wave, E ¼ Vf, where
ðlÞ
f is the electric potential, has the longitudinal (“l”) polarization, Eku k k. However, electro-
ðtÞ
magnetic, V Es0, waves with mainly the transverse polarization (“t”), Ek tk, may also
have the longitudinal component.
Although it is valid for both, “t” and “l,” waves, it is more convenient for potential waves
to substitute E ¼ Vf into the dot product of V with Eq. (2.1.8) to arrive at
4
V e ðuÞ Vf ¼ 0 (2.1.13)
For plane waves, Eqs. (2.1.12) and (2.1.13) become a system of algebraic equations
ðaÞ eab N 2 dab ka kb =k2 Eb ¼ 0
(2.1.14)
ðbÞka eab ðuÞkb f ¼ 0
Here N ¼ jNj ¼ jkc =uj is the refraction index. For potential waves, N[1.
In order to have nontrivial solutions of Eq. (2.1.14), the determinant of the matrix, eab
N dab ka kb =k2 ), and the total of ka kb eab must vanish. The resulting dispersion relation
2
Here e (indicated by the wavy accent) is the scalar dielectric permittivity. For potential
waves, the contribution of each species to e can be easily obtained from Poisson’s equation
as follows. The perturbed charge density is rðe;iÞ ¼ Hedne;i . Then, from the continuity equa-
tion (2.1.2) and dispersion law (2.1.7) we have
dispersion
continuity zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl
! ffl{
zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{
X
ðe;iÞ
rk;u
ðe;iÞ
¼ kjk;u =u ¼ ði=uÞka kb sab fk;u /k2 1
ðe;iÞ
eðe;iÞ ðk; uÞ e0 fk;u (2.1.15c)
e;i
We need the particles’ response to the applied field in order to determine the dielectric
tensor. For that, it is necessary to determine motion of particles under the action of the elec-
tromagnetic force. In general, the kinetic theory is most accurate for this task, whereas in
some specific cases thermal motion is unimportant and plasmas can be treated as fluids using
hydrodynamic equations.
The total derivative, dv=dt, is taken at the position of the particle, rðtÞ. Averaging over the
ensemble of particles replaces dv=dt, by du=dt, taken in the reference frame of the fluid
element (parcel) moving at the average speed, u.
In the laboratory frame, the variation, dF, of any function, Fðr; tÞ, during the time interval, dt,
comprises two parts. The first one is the time variation at the given point, ðvF =vtÞjr . The second
part is the spatial variation, ðdr ,VÞF, between two points at the distance, dr ¼ udt, traveled by
the fluid parcel during the interval, dt. Their total divided by dt gives the total or convective
derivative (the Euler equation), that is, the partial time derivative þ advective derivative
!
convective partial advective
zfflffl}|fflffl{ zffl}|ffl{ zfflffl}|fflffl{
¼ F (2.1.17)
dF=dt v=vt þ ðu$VÞ
2.1.1 Background 23
Accounting for the kinetic pressure, Pj , gravity, mj g, and the frictional force, mj nj v, leads
to the two-fluid hydrodynamic equations of motion for electrons (j ¼ e) and ions (j ¼ i)
v
mj þ uj $ V uj ¼ qj E þ uj B n1
j VPj mj nj uj þ mj g (2.1.18)
vt
Here nj is the mean transport collision frequency obtained by averaging the collisional in-
tegral on the r.h.s. of the kinetic equation (2.1.21) over the j species. It determines the mean
free path:
l j ¼ v = nj ð e Þ
Maxwellian
w lTj ¼ vTj = nj Tj .
Finally, in the absence of the source (e.g., ionization) and loss (e.g., recombination) of
charged particles, the continuity equation for the electron or ion fluid reads
vnj = vt þ V $ nj uj ¼ 0 or dnj = dt ¼ nj V $ uj (2.1.19)
The set of equations (2.1.18) and (2.1.19) describes the response of the electron and ion
fluids. Together with Maxwell’s equations and equations of state, they constitute the basis
of the two-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory. It can be easily generalized to the
multifluid MHD model by adding continuity and momentum equations for multiple ion spe-
cies. If the difference between the ion and electron fluids has an insignificant effect, a plasma
can be treated as a magnetized conducting fluid in terms of the one-fluid MHD model (see
Section 2.1.6). The MHD approach satisfactorily describes large-scale, slow plasma processes,
such as ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves ubiquitous in space plasmas.
R RN RN RN
Hereafter, dv stands for dvx dvy dvz and dv for N dvx N dvy N dvz . In general, the DF
is a function of the particle integrals of motion, i.e., variables that remain constant along the
particle trajectory. In thermal equilibrium with the temperature, T, the distribution of each
species is a Maxwellian distribution function (MDF)
1
FM ðr; 3; tÞ ¼ nðr; tÞ expð3 = TÞ (2.1.20)
p3=2 v3T
24 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
Averaging over the ensemble of particles is achieved by multiplying by the DF and inte-
grating over velocities:
Z
hAðvÞi ¼ n1 AðvÞFðr; v; tÞdv
d
ðv = vt þ ðv $ VÞ þ ðq = mÞðE þ v BÞ $ v = vvÞF ¼ F (2.1.21)
dt
Here dtd F is the collisional integral. The physical meaning of the left-hand side (hereafter,
l.h.s.) of Eq. (2.1.21) becomes clear in the frame of particles moving in phase-space
d v dr dv v
F¼ þ $V þ $ F
dt vt dt dt vv
It is simply the continuity (Liouville) equation for the phase density of particles along the
six-dimensional phase-space trajectory.
A remark is in order concerning the procedure of taking moments of the kinetic equation.
That means multiplying the Vlasov equation by various powers of v and then integrating
over velocity. This procedure creates a system of differential equations for the mean
quantitiesdthe density, mean velocity, temperature, etc. However, the resulting system of
differential equations is not complete because the advective derivative, ðv ,VÞ, always yields
a higher moment, which requires its own equation. For example, the continuity equation
(zero order moment) includes the first-order momentdthe mean velocity. The momentum
equation (first order) includes the second-order moment via the pressure gradient, etc. In or-
der to truncate this sequence, sometimes it is sufficient to assume either the adiabatic (no heat
exchange) or the isothermal (fast heat exchange) equation of state and ignore the heat
2.1.2 Drift in static magnetic fields 25
transport equation. Otherwise, the closure should be considered depending on the process
under consideration (see, e.g., Braginskii, 1965).
Next, we describe some typical cases of motion of individual (test) particles necessary for
derivation of the dielectric properties of plasmas (see more details in, e.g., Sivukhin (1965)
and Bellan (2008)).
d q
v ¼ v B ¼ u c vt (2.1.22)
dt m
2.1.2.2 E 3 B drift
If a perpendicular electric field, Et ¼ const, is imposed, the momentum equation reads
mdv = dt ¼ qðEt þ v BÞ
Applying the cross product of b ¼ ez to both sides of this equation and using the vector
identity, A ðB CÞ ¼ ðA ,CÞB ðA ,BÞC, gives the E B-drift velocity:
vt ðtÞ ¼ VE ¼ B1
0 Et b
The drift originates from the electric force acting on a gyrating particle. Assume that par-
ticles are accelerated by qEt during the first-half of the gyration period and then decelerated
during the second-half, or vice versa. Therefore, the average radius will increase during the
first-half of the gyration and then decrease during the second-half, or vice versa. As a result,
during each rotation the trajectory does not complete a closed circle but gradually moves
along Et B (see Fig. 2.1.1A). The electric force and spin direction, uc , are determined by
the particle’s charge, q. Thus, the resulting drift direction does not depend on the charge
and hence the E B drift produces zero electric current as electrons and ions drift alongside.
FIGURE 2.1.1 A schematic of the drift motion and guiding center: (A) E B drift due to an external electric field;
(B) Rg (r) is the radius vector of the guiding center of the ion, indicated by a gray circle; (C) magnetic gradient drift;
and (D) magnetic curvature drift. The coordinate system and the direction of the magnetic and electric fields and
magnetic gradients are shown.
2.1.2 Drift in static magnetic fields 27
jdlnjEt j =dtjwU uc , and also include the frictional force in Eq. (2.1.16). The resulting
equation
d
m v ¼ qðEt þ v BÞ mnv
dt
yields the Et B drift in the zero order in U=uc 1 and n=uc 1. Then, substituting
VE þ vð1Þ for v in this equation yields in the first order in U=uc and n=uc the “external” force,
Ft ¼ mðd =dt þnÞVE on the r.h.s. This force results in the polarization, Vpol, and collisional,
Vn, drift speed
! !
polarizationt Pedersen
VD ðEt Þ ¼ VE þ Vpol þ Vn ¼ B1
0 Et b þ u1
c signðqÞ d=dt þ n Et (2.1.24)
n0 mi d 1 d
jpol ¼ Et ¼ Et
2
B0 dt m0 c2A dt
Here cA ¼ B0 ðm0 n0 mi Þ1=2 is the Alfvén speed. Therefore, for low-frequency, U Uci ,
wave electric fields we have from the dielectric relations (2.1.5)e(2.1.7) the perpendicular
dielectric constant, et ¼ 1 þ n0 mi e0 B20 . The collisional drift current, neVn , is known as the
Pedersen current with the conductivity, sP ¼ ðne =B0 Þðn =uc Þ.
The convective derivative in Vpol indicates that the polarization drift is also created by a
weakly inhomogeneous, rc jVln Et j1 1, electric field:
dEt =dt ¼ ðv = vt þ v $ VÞ Et
signðqÞ
Rg ðtÞ ¼ rðtÞ þ vt b ¼ rðtÞ rq e2 (2.1.25)
uc
Indeed, the rotation of a charged particle creates a circular loop with the azimuthal electric
current, q=Tc , and the area, pr2c . The current loop-generated magnetic field is opposite to
external magnetic field, as follows from Lenz’s law. A quantitative measure of the plasma
diamagnetism is the diamagnetic correction, dBdia ¼ h m0 ne mt i ¼ m0 P=B. The ratio,
b ¼ 2jdBdia j = B ¼ 2m0 P = B2 ;
1 2 1
EðrÞ z 1 þ rq ðe2 VÞ E0 ¼ 1 þ r2c V2t E0 (2.1.28)
2 4
The second-order term is the finite Larmor radius correction to the electric drift. That may
be important for short-scale waves, such as kinetic Alfvén waves discussed in Section 2.1.6.3.
Next we include the perpendicular gradient, VBtb. As the plasma is isotropic in the x y
plane, we can take VB ¼ ey Vy BðyÞ without loss of generality. As the Larmor radius varies as
1/jBðrÞj, the net difference over the gyration period, Tc , from Eq. (2.1.27) is wr2c LB . By anal-
ogy with VD (2.1.24), particles will drift along q1 Vy B b (Fig. 2.1.1C).
Substituting BðyÞz B0 þyVy B0 b into Eq. (2.1.22) gives an “external force”
FVB ¼ qðvt bÞyVy B0 . With vt ¼ ex dxc dt þ ey dyc dt (2.1.23), averaging FVB over the gyra-
tion period yields
q
FVB ¼ vt rq0 VB0 ¼ mt VB0 (2.1.29)
2
1
VVB ¼ m ðVB0 bÞ (2.1.30)
qB0 t
2.1.3 Cold plasma 29
The magnetic moment, mt (2.1.26), is the (first) adiabatic invariant conserved in a weakly
varying magnetic field. Indeed, the total particle’s energy, 3, is constant, so d3k ¼ d3t .
Substituting d3t ¼ mt dB þ Bdmt and using d3k dt ¼ mt vk Vk B ¼ mt dB dt at the par-
ticle’s location, we get dmt =dt ¼ 0.
Let us calculate the drift speed using the guiding center. Taking time derivative of Rg
(2.1.25) with the aid of Eq. (2.1.22) yields
d 1 dv dB 1 VB
Rg ¼ v þ b vb ¼ vk b þ E b þ vt r q e1 $ e2 (2.1.31)
dt uc dt dt B0 B0
We accounted that the total derivative, dB=dt, is the convective derivative, ðv ,VÞB ¼
vt ðe1 ,VÞB, for a stationary field.
Averaging Eq. (2.1.31) over fast gyration gives Vg ¼ vk b þ VE þ VVB , which coincides
with the particle’s drift accurate to within ðrc =LB Þ2 . Here we used the relation
ðe1 ,At Þe2 ¼ 12 b At valid for any vector, At , slowly varying in time and space relative
to fast gyration. It is obtained from the obvious equality ðe1 ,At Þe1 ¼ ðe2 ,At Þe2 as follows.
First, substituting the identity, At ¼ ðe1 ,At Þe1 þ ðe2 ,At Þe2 , into this equality we obtain
e1;2 ,At e1;2 ¼ 12At . Next, replacing At by b At and using the identity, e1 ¼ e2 b
and e2 ¼ b e1 , we get the sought for relation ðe1 ,At Þe2 ¼ ðe2 ,At Þe1 ¼ 12 ½b At .
Next, we consider curved magnetic field lines with the radius of curvature, Rc [ rc
(Fig. 2.1.1D)..Particles moving along B experience the (slowly varying) centrifugal force,
Fcf ¼ mv2k Rc R2c , which causes the curvature drift, Vc ¼ VE Fcf q . Summing it up with
VVB (2.1.30) gives the gradient-curvature drift
“vacuum” field
zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{
1 VB0 Rc 1 Rc
Vgc ¼ 3t þ 23k 2 b/ 3t þ 23k 2 b (2.1.32)
qB0 B20 Rc qB0 Rc
In order to obtain the last term on r.h.s. of Eq. (2.1.32), we used the so-called “vacuum”
field approximation, V B ¼ 0, for a cold plasma. In this case, the magnetic gradient and
curvature are related as Vt B0 ¼ B0 Rc R2c .
To conclude, we underscore that the drift approximation is valid in weakly inhomoge-
neous plasmas with the gradient scale lengths much greater than the gyroradius and with
external forces varying in time much slower than gyration.
Next, we derive the dielectric permittivity and describe typical waves in cold plasmas.
Thermal motion is absent in cold plasmas so the fluid approximation is well justified.
30 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
Neglecting the ion contribution in the dispersion relation (2.1.37), one obtains from (2.1.34)
the eigenfrequencies of high frequency (electron) modes
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðaÞut ¼ u2pe þ k2 c2 and ðbÞul ¼ upe (2.1.38)
The electromagnetic
wave frequency, ut , tends to the dispersion of light in free space, u ¼
kc, at kc upe [1. As plasma particles cannot respond to rapidly varying fields, the plasma
dispersion e0 ec ðuÞ tends to that of free space, e0 . The speed of light exceeds the group veloc-
ity, vg ¼ c,ec , and is smaller than the phase velocity, vph ¼ c=ec . At u/upe , the wave
1=2 1=2
v2 edEx n0 e2
dx ¼ ¼ dx ¼ u2pe dx
vt2 me e0 me
As usual for a harmonic oscillator, the mean kinetic energy is equal to the mean potential
energy. For electrons oscillating about ions, we have, respectively, 3kin ¼ 12n0 me ðvdx=vtÞ2 and
WE ¼ 12e0 jdEx j2 . That is, the total energy density of Langmuir oscillations, WL, is twice the
electrostatic energy. We give a more general expression for the wave energy after introducing
wave damping and complex permittivity.
It is useful for derivation of nonlinear wave equations (Chapter 2.3) to derive the differen-
tial wave equation directly in the spaceetime domain. Applying the time derivative, v= vt, to
the continuity equation (2.1.19) and using Eq. (2.1.18) after linearization, ne ¼ n0 ð1 þdne Þ,
gives
Note that dne is a dimensionless quantity. Henceforth, we will employ such substitution for
the density variation, unless noted. Using Poisson’s equation, Df ¼ en0 dne =e0 , we arrive at a
simple oscillator equation
ðcÞ
b
L l f h v2 = vt2 þ u2pe dne ¼ 0 (2.1.40)
Evidently, Fourier transform reduces Eq. (2.1.40) to the dispersion (2.1.38(b)). Vice versa,
replacing u by iv=vt and k by iV in Eq. (2.1.38b) gives Eq. (2.1.40).
Substituting Ejjex into Eq. (2.1.41), we obtain i ux ¼ ðe =muÞEx þ ðuce =uÞuy and uy ¼
iðuce =uÞux . Calculating ja ¼ n0 eua ¼ sab Eb (a and b ¼ x, y), we get
uu2pe uce
sxx ¼ ie0 h st and syx ¼ i sxx h s^ (2.1.42)
u2 u2ce u
32 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
Similarly, taking Ejjey yields syy ¼ sxx ¼ st and sxy ¼ syx ¼ s^ . In the general case,
Et ¼ Ex þ Ey , the electron current is
jt ¼ st Et þ s^ ez Et (2.1.43)
Since sab ¼ iuðeab dab Þ=e0 , we get exx ¼ eyy ¼ et and exy ¼ eyx ¼ ie^ , where
Here we denote V ¼ u2pe =u2 and Y ¼ uce =u. Therefore, the dielectric permittivity tensor
in collisionless cold magnetoactive plasma reads
2 3 2 3
exx exy 0 et ie^ 0
4 ðmÞ 6 7 6 7
e ¼6 e e
4 yx yy 0 7 ¼ 6
5 4 e^ et
i 07
5 (2.1.45)
0 0 ezz 0 0 ek
At high frequencies, u[uce , many oscillations occur during one gyration. Thus, the off-
4 ðmÞ
diagonal terms in e are small, while et zek ¼ ec (2.1.37). The same also occurs for small
propagation angles: sin2 q 1. That is, the cyclotron effects vanish and the isotropic
case,
eab zdab ec , recovers. The absence of the ion contribution implies that u[max Upi ; Uci . In
general, the ion terms can be obtained by replacing the electron indices by those of the
ðmÞ ðm;eÞ ðm;iÞ
ions, so the permittivity tensor becomes ejk ¼ ejk þ ejk .
of the upper hybrid (UH) eigenmode called the upper hybrid resonance
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
uk h uuhr ¼ u2pe þ u2ce (2.1.46)
It is greater than for Langmuir oscillations because of two restoring forces (electrosta-
tic þ magnetic) acting in the perpendicular direction.
For oblique propagation, we can take k in the y z plane, k ¼ k ey sin q þez cos q ,
where cos q ¼ kz /k. Since the parallel and perpendicular motions are independent, the scalar
dielectric permittivity becomes
u2pe u2pe
eðmÞ h ezz ðu; qÞ ¼ ek cos2 q þ et sin2 q ¼ 1 cos2 q sin2 q (2.1.47)
u 2 u2 u2ce
2.1.3 Cold plasma 33
The dispersion equation, ezz ðuÞ ¼ 0, can be written as follows:
u2ce u2
V ¼ VN ¼ 1 = 1 ce2 cos2 q (2.1.48)
u 2 u
1 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1=2
u2hf ;lf ¼ uuhr u4uhr 4u2pe u2ce cos2 q (2.1.49)
2
At q/0, the HF and LF modes are Langmuir, upe , and cyclotron, uce , oscillations,
respectively. At q ¼ p=2, the HF mode becomes the upper hybrid resonance, uuhr (2.1.46),
while the LF branch vanishes: Ulf ðq /p =2Þ/0. In this case, the ion motion becomes essential.
Taking Uci U uce and adding to ezz (2.1.47) the contribution of unmagnetized ions, U2pi =
U2 ¼ m V, we arrive at the dispersion equation for the lower hybrid (LH) mode
. . 1=2
Here Ulhr ¼ uce m1=2 1 þ u2ce u2pe is the LH resonance. At upe [uce , the LH resonance
is the geometric mean of the ion and electron gyro frequencies, Ulhr zm1=2 uce , while the HF
mode is nearly Langmuir oscillations,
uhf z upe þ u2ce = 2u2pe sin2 q
Oblique low-frequency oscillations at Uk ¼ uce cos q are termed the lower hybrid oblique
resonance (LOR) modes.
The differential wave equation for the LH-mode results from linearized continuity and mo-
tion equations (2.1.18) and (2.1.19) for unmagnetized ions and magnetized electrons. Alike
Langmuir oscillations, applying the time derivative, v=vt, to the continuity equation
(2.1.19) for ions with Ni ¼ n0 ð1 þdNi Þ and using Eq. (2.1.18) gives
v2 v e
dNi ¼ V$Ui ¼ DF (2.1.51)
vt2 vt mi
34 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
Here F is the electric potential of LH oscillations. Recall that capital letters denote low-
frequency variables. In turn, the drift approximation for electrons, Ute ¼ VE þ Vpol
(2.1.24), results in
v2 v e 2 v
2
dn ¼ V U ¼ u V2 þ V2k F (2.1.52)
vt2 t
e $ e
vt2 vt me ce
The second-order time derivative of Poisson’s equation (2.1.1b), with Eqs. (2.1.51) and
(2.1.52), gives
b ðcÞ v2 2
L lh F h V þ U2lhr V2 þ u2ce V2k F ¼ 0 (2.1.53)
vt2 t
That results directly from U2lh (2.1.50) with (U, k) replaced by i(v=vt; V).
Electromagnetic modes
ðmÞ
In the general case of oblique propagation, k ¼ k ey sin q þez cos q , substituting eab
(2.1.45) into Eq. (2.1.14a) gives the matrix equation
2 3 2 32 3
Ex e N2 ie^ 0 Ex
4ðbÞ 6 7 6 t 76 7
e ab 6 7 6
4 E y 5 ¼ 4 i e^ et N 2 cos2 q 2 7 6
N sin q cos q 54 Ey 75¼0 (2.1.54)
Ez 0 N sin q cos q
2
ek N sin q Ez
2 2
4ðbÞ
Taking determinant of the matrix, e ab , zero, after straightforward calculations one arrives
at a biquadratic in N algebraic equation (e.g., Budden, 1985):
AN 4 þ BN 2 þ C ¼ 0 with
A ¼ ezz ðu; qÞ ¼ ek cos2 q þ et sin2 q
(2.1.55)
B ¼ e2^ e2t sin2 q et ek 1 þ cos2 q
C ¼ ek e2t e2^
Two independent solutions indicate that magnetized plasmas support two electromag-
netic modes with different polarizations: “ordinary” (O) and “extraordinary” (X) waves.
The subscript “1” (“þ”) and 2 (“”) denotes the X and O mode, respectively. At a ¼ p=2,
the O-wave dispersion and cutoff are the same as in unmagnetized plasma. Thus, these
waves are called “ordinary” waves. The term “extraordinary” underscores more complicated
2.1.3 Cold plasma 35
characteristics of the X wave (see shortly). The O-mode electric field is in the k B0 plane,
while that of the X-mode is perpendicular to B0.
Some general wave properties follow directly from Eqs. (2.1.55) and (2.1.56). Straightfor-
ward calculations give B2 4AC ¼ X Y2 V 2 1 Y2 with
Since B2 4AC in the solution (2.1.56) must be positive, N 2 is either positive (propagating
waves) or negative (evanescent waves). From Eq. (2.1.56) it follows that cutoffs, N1;2 ¼ 0,
occur at C ¼ 0 for either ek ¼ 0 (O mode) or et ¼ e^ (X mode). Further, A ¼ ezz ðaÞ
(2.1.47) vanishes at V ¼ VN (2.1.48). At that point N2 tends to infinity, thus indicating that
the waves reach the resonance with the high-frequency potential branch (2.1.49).
Between the upper hybrid and plasma resonances, 1 Y2 < V < 1, we can express a as a
function of V and Y from VN ðq; YÞ (2.1.48)
tan2 qres ¼ ð1 VÞ 1 Y2 = ðV Vuh Þ (2.1.58)
Extraordinary waves propagating near the resonance cone, q/qres , become quasi-
electrostatic because A ¼ 3zz ðqÞ/0. These slow extraordinary waves in the ionosphere are
called the Z-mode waves.
As follows from Eq. (2.1.54), the parallel and perpendicular electric components of the
waves are connected
Ez = Ey ¼ N 2 cos q sin q = ek N 2 sin2 q (2.1.59)
The obvious exceptions occur for the parallel and perpendicular propagation. For a ¼ p=
2 or k ¼ key , we still have two choices for polarization: either Ez jjB0 or Ex,ytB0. The trans-
verse polarization corresponds to the O mode with NO2 ¼ ek . The X wave has both trans-
verse, Ex , and longitudinal, Ey , components. As follows from Eq. (2.1.54), they connect to
each other via the polarization coefficient, K ¼ Ey Ex
K1 ¼ Ey =Ex ¼ ie^ =et ¼ et N12 =ie^ with
(2.1.60)
¼ et e2^ =et ¼ ð1 VÞ Y2 = 1 V Y2
2
N12 ¼ Nt
2
This dispersion relation yields two cutoff frequencies, N12 ¼ 0, at VR;L ¼ 1HY, with the
right-hand (R, “”) and left-hand (L, “þ”) polarization
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 1 upe [uce 1
uR;L ¼ uce þ u2pe þ u2ce z upe uce (2.1.61)
2 4 2
Our choice of Fourier representation (2.1.9) determines that at ImK > 0 (ImK < 0) the vec-
tor, Efeiut , rotates counterclockwise (clockwise) in time or in the right-hand (left-hand)
sense as viewed along k. In general, the X mode is elliptically polarized, jK1 js1. Near the
36 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
V u2pe
2
NR;L ¼ et e^ ¼ 1 ¼ 1 (2.1.63)
1HY uðuHuce Þ
with the same cutoff frequencies (2.1.61). As follows from Eq. (2.1.62), both waves are circu-
larly polarized, KR;L ¼ i, near the cutoff. For k k B0 , the vector ER ðEL Þ rotates exactly as
gyrating electrons (ions). Left-hand polarized O waves can propagate (NL2 > 0) only at u >
uL . Right-hand X waves have two propagation bands: u > uR (NR2 < 1) and u < uce (NR2 > 1).
We note that a typical representative of the low-frequency band is the whistler (“w”) mode
at
Uw ¼ uce k2 c2 = k2 c2 þ u2pe < uce
Whistlers effectively interact with energetic electrons in space plasmas including radiation
belts and deserve a special description to be presented in Chapter 5.4. The name is coined
from a “whistle”ethe signal descending tone, as exemplified in https://www.youtube.-
com/watch?v=ZVlZ5ikvet8.
At arbitrary q, taking N 2 ¼ 1 þ h and rewriting Eq. (2.1.56) for h1 results in the
AppletoneHartree dispersion relation
2ðA þ B þ CÞ 2Vð1 VÞ
2
N1;2 1 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffi (2.1.64)
2A þ B B 4AC
2 2ð1 VÞ Y2 sin2 aHY X
sin4 q
zp ¼ Y2 2
1 (2.1.65)
4ð1 VÞ cos2 q
V u2pe
2
N1;2 ¼ 1 ¼ 1 (2.1.66)
1HY cos q uðuHuce cos qÞ
That is, Y is replaced by Y cos q. In particular, the frequency of oblique whistler waves
becomes
Uw zuce cos q = 1 þ u2pe = k2 c2 (2.1.67)
2.1.3 Cold plasma 37
QL-propagating X/O waves are right/left-hand elliptically polarized in the xey plane and
have the parallel component, Ez (2.1.59). At small angles, the polarization is close to circular
and changes after crossing the plasma resonance, V ¼ 1. That is, at q/0, the polarization
coefficient K1 at V < 1 becomes K2 at V > 1 and vice versa.
The QL approximation (2.1.65) breaks near the plasma resonance, V ¼ 1. The opposite
case, zp [1, is called the quasi-transverse (QT) approximation. For X waves, N12 reduces to
Nt2
(2.1.60), with Y replaced by Y sin q. For O waves, expanding X1=2 in z1p , yields
1V V/1 1 V
N22 ¼ ! (2.1.68)
1 V cos2 q sin2 q
mode refraction coefficient, N1 , changes rapidly near VN , i.e., jdN1 =dVj[1. The wave above
the plasma resonance is a slow, left-hand polarized extraordinary wave known as the Z mode
in the geophysical literature.
Substituting N22 (2.1.68) into Ez Ey (2.1.59) gives
That is, an oblique ordinary wave near the plasma resonance is nearly aligned with B0 , while
the group velocity becomes as that in an isotropic plasma, vgk ¼ ce0 /0.
1=2
.
FIGURE 2.1.2 Variation of the O- and X-mode refraction indices with V ¼ u2pe u20 for Y ¼ uce =u0 ¼ 1=3 and
the incidence angle q ¼ 0 and 30 degrees. Above the plasma resonance, electromagnetic waves propagate as slow,
left-hand polarized extraordinary Z-mode waves.
38 2. Plasma waves and instabilities
In other words, the thermal correction “replaces” f by fTe ¼ f 3Te dne =e. Substituting
dne ¼ e0 Df=n0 e from Poisson’s equation (2.1.1b), we get
fTe ¼ 1 3r2D D f ¼ 1 þ 3k2 r2D f (2.1.70)
As a result, the “cold” permittivity, ec ðuÞ (2.1.37), transforms into el ðu; kÞ and electron os-
cillations (2.1.38b) become Langmuir waves (the BohmeGross dispersion relation)
u2pe Te
el ðu; kÞ ¼ 1 1 þ 3k2
u2 m e u2
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (2.1.71)
3
and ul ðkÞ ¼ upe 1 þ 3k2 r2D zupe 1 þ k2 r2D
2
pffiffiffi
with the group velocity vg zð3 = 2 ÞkrD vTe and wave equation (cf. Eq. (2.1.40))
b
L l f h v2 = vt2 þ u2pe 3v2Te D f ¼ 0 (2.1.72)
At short wavelengths, krD w1, we have vph wvTe and ul wkvTe , which means charge fluctu-
ations related to thermal fluctuations. It is intuitively clear that this process is not sustainable
because chaotic thermal motion washes out the wave orderly motion. Such perturbations do
not persist and thus are not normal modes. At the same time, motion in the long-scale waves,
krD 1, that move much faster than thermal electrons, ul =k[vTe , is driven entirely by the
self-consistent electric field. This is an obvious example of the applicability of the fluid
approach when the wave moves much faster than the bulk of particles.
Next, we consider low frequency waves, U upe , when motion of the ion fluid is
important.
2.1.4 Warm plasma waves 39
Ion sound waves
Now we have two moving fluids, with different temperatures, Te sTi . The condition vTi
U=k vTe ensures that thermal particles are not the main drivers of charge fluctuations.
Now, we include the pressure term, n1 0 ge=i Te=i Vne=i on the r.h.s. of the electron and ion fluid
equations of motion (2.1.18). Since thermal electrons have enough time to make their motion
isothermal, the ratio of specific heats is ge ¼ 1. However, one-dimensional, U k E k k, mo-
tion of slow ions is adiabatic, gi ¼ 3, as for electrons in Langmuir waves.
The electron inertia term, wme UUe , in (2.1.18) is negligible so that fluctuations in the elec-
tron density (pressure) are balanced by the self-consistent electric field: en0 VF ¼ Te Vne . This
results in Boltzmann’s relation
eF=Te 1
ne ¼ n0 ð1 þ dNe Þ ¼ n0 expðeF = Te Þ ! dNe zeF = Te (2.1.73)
can be expressed via the wave potential, F, and the ion density fluctuation, dNi ¼ k,Ui =U,
from the ion continuity equation. Then, Poisson’s equation,
V2 F ¼ eðdNi dNe Þ = e0 ;
gives the scalar dielectric permittivity, eis , and eigenfrequency of ion sound (S) or ion acoustic
(IA) waves
u2pe U2pi
es ¼ 1 þ ¼ 0
k2 Te =me
U2 3k2 Ti =mi
8 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
! kcs ¼ k ðTe þ 3Ti Þ=mi ; k2 r2D 1 (2.1.74)
<
2 Te Ti 1
U ¼ k
2
3 þ /Uk ¼ Us ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
mi Te 1 þ k2 r2D :
Upi 1 þ 3k2 r2Di ; k2 r2Di 1 k2 r2D
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Here cs ¼ ðTe þ 3Ti Þ=mi is the ion sound speed and rDi ¼ ðTi =mi Þ1=2 =Upi is the ion
Debye radius. At krD 1, one has Us ¼ kcs and dNe zdNi , as electrons shield out slowly
changing ion charges. The long-wavelength dispersion resembles acoustic waves in neutral
gas, Ua ¼ kðgn Tn =mn Þ1=2 . The short-wavelength waves involve mainly ions, dNe dNi . Their
dispersion is similar to that of Langmuir waves (2.1.71), so they are called ion Langmuir
waves. At Te /0, charge fluctuations are carried by thermal ions (ion quasimodes) whose
chaotic motion quickly destroys the orderly motion in the wave. To the contrary, for Ti /
0, we have Us =k ¼ cs [vTi . That is, ion sound waves persist only in nonisothermal, Te [
Ti , plasma. Fig. 2.1.3 illustrates the dispersion of the unmagnetized plasma eigenmodes: elec-
tromagnetic (“t”), Langmuir (“l”), and ion sound (“s”) waves.
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24. Ditto, ibid. pp. 201, 202.
25. Carlyle to his brother John, quoted in Mr. Froude’s Article.
26. Reminiscences, ii. 16, 11.
27. Quoted at p. 57 of Mr. William Howie Wylie’s excellent volume entitled
Carlyle: The Man and His Books.
28. Mr. Ireland’s copies of Letters, in Conway, p. 171.
29. Ibid. p. 180.
30. Quoted in Mr. Froude’s Article.
31. Quoted ibid.
32. The best account I ever had of Carlyle’s father was from an intelligent
elderly gentleman who, having retired from business, amused himself one session,
somewhere about or after 1857, by attending my class of English Literature in
University College, London. He was from Dumfriesshire originally, and had known
all the Carlyle family. He spoke more of Carlyle’s father than of Carlyle himself;
and his first words to me about him were these:—“He was a most extraordinary
man, Carlyle’s father: he said a thing, and it ran through the country.”——Carlyle
often talked to me of his father, and always in the tone of the memoir in his
Reminiscences, though I did not then know that he had any such memoir in
writing. “He was a far cleverer man, my father, than I am or ever shall be,” was one
of his phrases. He dwelt on what he thought a peculiar use by his father of the
Scottish word gar, meaning “to compel,” as when he was reluctant to do a thing
that must be done, and ended by saying he must “just gar himsel’ do it.” The
expression was not new to me, for it is to be heard farther north than Annandale;
but it seemed characteristic.—Of the strong and picturesque rhetoric of Carlyle’s
father I remember two examples, told me, I think, by Mrs. Carlyle. Once, when he
was going somewhere in a cart with his daughters on a rainy day, he was annoyed
by the drip-dripping into his neck from the whalebone point of one of the
umbrellas. “I would rather sit a’ nicht in my sark,” he said, “under a waterspout on
the tap of ——” [some mountain in the neighbourhood, the name of which I forget].
Once, when his son, of whom he had become proud, was at home in a vacation,
and a pious old neighbour-woman who had come in was exciting herself in a
theological controversy with the Divinity student on some point or other, he broke
out, “Thou auld crack-brained enthusiastic, dost thou think to argue wi’ our Tom?”
33. The substance of the paper must have been retained in Carlyle’s memory,
for he described to me once with extraordinary vividness his first sight of the Vale
of Yarrow as he struck it in one of his walks to Annandale. It was a beautiful day,
and he had come upon a height looking down upon the stony stream and its classic
valley. As he stood and gazed, with something in his mind of Wordsworth’s
salutation, “And this is Yarrow!”, up from the valley there came a peculiar,
repeated, rhythmical sound, as of clink—clink—clink, for which he could not
account. All was solitary and quiet otherwise, but still the clink—clink—clink rose
to his ear. At last, some way off, he saw a man with a cart standing in the bed of the
stream, and lifting stone after stone from it, which he threw into the cart. He could
then watch the gesture of each cast of a stone in among the rest, and note the
interval before the clink reached him.—The Yarrow songs were familiar to Carlyle;
and among the many scraps of old verse which he was fond of quoting or humming
to himself in his later years I observed this in particular:—
34. See the article Some Fifty Years Ago in Fraser’s Magazine for June 1879,
by Mr. Allingham, then Editor of the Magazine.
35. Dr. Hill Burton’s Reminiscences of Professor Wilson, published in Wilson’s
Life by Mrs. Gordon, ii. 25.
36. Peter Nimmo: A Rhapsody is duly registered among Carlyle’s anonymous
contributions to Fraser’s Magazine in Mr. Richard Herne Shepherd’s Bibliography
of Carlyle (1881). Should any one entertain doubts, even after such excellent
authority, a glance at the prose preface to the thing, signed O. Y. (“Oliver Yorke”),
in Fraser for February 1831, will remove them. After specifying Edinburgh
University as Peter’s local habitat, and estimating the enormously diffused
celebrity he has attained by his long persistence there, the preface proceeds: “The
world itself is interested in these matters: singular men are at all times worthy of
being described and sung; nay, strictly considered, there is nothing else worthy....
The Napoleon, the Nimmo, are mystic windows through which we glance deeper
into the hidden ways of Nature, and discern under a clearer figure the working of
that inscrutable Spirit of the Time, and Spirit of Time itself, who is by some
thought to be the Devil.” There may remain some little question as to the date of
the Rhapsody. That it was written by Carlyle in Annandale seems proved by the
phrase “in heaths and splashy weather” in the prologue. The date may have been
any time before 1831; but before 1821 seems the most likely.
37. Quoted by Mr. Froude in his Nineteenth Century article.
38. Mr. Ireland’s copies of early Carlyle Letters, in Mr. Conway’s Memoir, p.
185.
39. Ibid.
40. Mr. Ireland’s copies of Carlyle’s Letters, in Conway, pp. 192, 193.
41. Reminiscences, i. 208, 209.
42. Carlyle’s habit of smoking had begun in his boyhood, probably at
Ecclefechan before he came to Edinburgh University. His father, he told me, was a
moderate smoker, confining himself to about an ounce of tobacco a week, and so
thoughtfully as always to have a pipe ready for a friend out of that allowance.
Carlyle’s allowance, in his mature life, though he was very regular in his times and
seasons, must have been at least six times as much. Once, when the canister of
“free-smoking York River” on his mantelpiece was nearly empty, he told me not to
mind that, as he had “about half-a-stone more of the same upstairs.”—“Another
tobacco anecdote of Carlyle, which I had from the late G. H. Lewes, may be worth a
place here. One afternoon, when his own stock of “free-smoking York River” had
come to an end, and when he had set out to walk with a friend (Lewes himself, if I
recollect rightly), he stopped at a small tobacco-shop in Chelsea, facing the
Thames, and went in to procure some temporary supply. The friend went in with
him, and heard his dialogue with the shopkeeper. York River, having been asked
for, was duly produced; but, as it was not of the right sort, Carlyle, while making a
small purchase, informed the shopkeeper most particularly what the right sort was,
what was its name, and at what wholesale place in the city it might be ordered. “O,
we find that this suits our customers very well,” said the man. “That may be, Sir,”
said Carlyle; “but you will find it best in the long run always to deal in the
veracities.” The man’s impression must have been that the veracities were some
peculiar curly species of tobacco, hitherto unknown to him.
43. There does not seem to have been much direct intercourse between Wilson
and Carlyle after the meeting mentioned, though there were cordial exchanges of
regards between them, and some incidental compliments to Carlyle in Blackwood.
44. As the dates in this sentence will suggest, the last few paragraphs,
narrating the story of Goethe’s frustrated attempt to bring Scott and Carlyle
together, did not appear in the paper as originally published in Macmillan, but are
an insertion into the present reprint made possible by the information furnished
by the two recent publications named. I did, indeed, give an outline sketch of some
such affair as it had hung in my memory from talk either with Carlyle himself or
with his brother Dr. John Carlyle. But the sketch was hazy, and I now find that it
was inaccurate in some points.—Scott and Carlyle, I may here add, were once
together in the same room in Edinburgh in a semi-private way. The fact has been
communicated to me by Mr. David Douglas, the editor of Scott’s Journal, who had
it from Dr. David Aitken, already mentioned in this paper as an intimate friend of
Carlyle’s in the Comely Bank days. The scene of the meeting was the shop of Mr.
Tait, the publisher, then in an upper floor in Hanover Street. Carlyle and Mr.
Aitken, who had been walking in Princes Street, turned aside for a call at Mr.
Tait’s. While they were there and talking with Mr. Tait, Scott came in,—well known
to both by sight. “Mr. Tait, have you got a copy of Horace at hand? I want to make a
quotation,” were Scott’s words on entering. The book having been brought,—a
handsome quarto, Dr. Aitken remembered,—Scott sat down with it in his lap, and
began to turn over the leaves, Carlyle and Mr. Aitken standing a little way off
meanwhile, and Carlyle continuing his talk with Mr. Tait. Soon, as if attracted by
the voice or by something said, Scott began to look up, the volume still resting in
his lap. Several times he raised his eyes in the same fashion from the book to the
two strangers, or to the one who was talking. The expression, as Dr. Aitken
interpreted it in recollection, was as if he were saying to himself: “He is a
kenspeckle-looking chiel that; I wonder who he is.”—The date of this encounter I
do not know. If it was after the affair of the Goethe medals and the unanswered
letters (and that is not impossible if we suppose some occasion for a brief visit from
Craigenputtock to Edinburgh in 1829 or 1830), one can imagine with what
studious aloofness from his great senior Carlyle would comport himself in the
accidental interview.
45. From the Correspondence between Goethe and Carlyle, edited by Mr.
Charles Eliot Norton, we learn that Carlyle had, on the same day on which he wrote
this letter to Procter, written to Goethe soliciting a testimonial from him for the
same occasion. The testimonial was sent from Weimar, but not till the 14th of
March; and it came too late to be of use. A copy of the original German, with an
English translation, is printed in Mr. Norton’s volume. It is a document of five
pages, and perhaps the most unbusiness-like thing ever sent in the shape of a
testimonial on behalf of a candidate for a Scottish Professorship. It begins thus:
—“True conviction springs from the heart; the Soul, the real seat of the Conscience,
judges concerning what may be permitted and what may not be permitted far more
surely than the Understanding, which will see into and determine many things
without hitting the right mark. A well-disposed and self-observant man, wishing to
respect himself and to live at peace with hims}elf, and yet conscious of many an
imperfection perplexing his inner life, and grieved by many a fault compromising
him in the eyes of others, whereby he finds himself disturbed and opposed from
within and from without, will seek by all methods to free himself from such
impediments.” Then follow two paragraphs of continued remarks on the
intellectual or literary life in general; after which the testimonial becomes more
specific, thus:—“It may now without arrogance be asserted that German Literature
has effected much for humanity in this respect,—that a moral-psychological
tendency pervades it, introducing not ascetic timidity, but free culture in
accordance with nature, and a cheerful obedience to law; and therefore I have
observed with pleasure Mr. Carlyle’s admirably profound study of this Literature,
and I have noticed with sympathy how he has not only been able to discover the
beautiful and human, the good and great, in us, but has also contributed what was
his own, and has endowed us with the treasures of his genius. It must be granted
that he has a clear judgment as to our Æsthetic and Ethic writers, and, at the same
time, his own way of looking at them, which proves that he rests on an original
foundation and has the power to develop in himself the essentials of what is good
and beautiful. In this sense, I may well regard him as a man who would fill a Chair
of Moral Philosophy with single-heartedness, with purity, effect, and influence,
enlightening the youth entrusted to him as to their real duties, in accordance with
his disciplined thought, his natural gifts, and his acquired knowledge, aiming at
leading and urging their minds to moral activity, and thereby steadily guiding them
towards a religious completeness.”—When one imagines the probable effects on
the minds of the St. Andrews Principal and Professors of 1828 of such a testimonial
from the German sage, known to them so dimly, and perhaps in ways that made
them suspicious of him, one’s impression is that, if they had been thinking of
appointing Carlyle, the presentation of this testimonial would have been likely to
stop them. Never having been presented, it can have done no harm.
46. Review, in The Scots Observer (now The National Observer), 15th
December 1888, of “Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq. Edited
by Alexander Allardyce. With a Memoir by the Rev. W. K. R. Bedford. In two
volumes. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons.”
47. Lockhart, in his quotation from the Diary as here given, omitted a line or
two. The complete text may be now read in Mr. Douglas’s edition of the entire
Diary in 1890.
48. This is the “General Sharpe” from whom Carlyle’s father had a lease of his
farm of Mainhill from 1815 onwards, and from whom Carlyle himself rented the
house and grounds of Hoddam Hill for his one year’s experiment of farming-life in
1825–26. See the Reminiscences for the story of Carlyle’s quarrel, and then his
father’s also, with their landlord, caused mainly by his “arbitrary high-handed
temper, used to a rather prostrate style of obedience, and not finding it here.” Both
father and son gave up their leases in 1826, the father protesting “We can live
without Sharpe and the whole Sharpe creation,” and saying he would “rather go to
Jerusalem seeking farms, and die without finding one,” than remain under such a
landlord.
49. From The Scotsman of 18th November 1882; where it appeared as a
review of “The Book-Hunter, etc. By John Hill Burton, D.C.L., LL.D., Author of A
History of Scotland, The Scot Abroad, The Reign of Queen Anne, etc. A New
Edition: with a Memoir of the Author. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and
London.”
50. From Macmillan’s Magazine for February 1883. The main portion of the
paper was delivered as a lecture in the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday,
October 24, 1882; and there are reasons for retaining the familiarity of the lecture
form in the reprint.
51. From The Scotsman of 8th and 9th November 1889. This paper is
purposely placed last in the volume, as containing necessarily a recapitulation of
portions of the matter of some of the preceding.
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