Wave-particle interactions allow collision-free energy transfer in space plasma
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 08:32
in Physics & Chemistry
The Earth's magnetosphere contains plasma, an ionized gas composed of positive ions and negative electrons. The motion of these charged plasma particles is controlled by electromagnetic fields. The energy transfer processes that occur in this collisionless space plasma are believed to be based on wave-particle interactions such as particle acceleration by plasma waves and spontaneous wave generation,which enable energy and momentum transfer.