Intense plasma waves at and near the solar wind termination shock.

Abstract

Plasma waves are a characteristic feature of shocks in plasmas, and are produced by non-thermal particle distributions that develop in the shock transition layer. The electric fields of these waves have a key role in dissipating energy in the shock and driving the particle distributions back towards thermal equilibrium. Here we report the detection of intense plasma-wave electric fields at the solar wind termination shock. The observations were obtained from the plasma-wave instrument on the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The first evidence of the approach to the shock was the detection of upstream electron plasma oscillations on 1 August 2007 at a heliocentric radial distance of 83.4 au (1 au is the Earth-Sun distance). These narrowband oscillations continued intermittently for about a month until, starting on 31 August 2007 and ending on 1 September 2007, a series of intense bursts of broadband electrostatic waves signalled a series of crossings of the termination shock at a heliocentric radial distance of 83.7 au. The spectrum of these waves is quantitatively similar to those observed at bow shocks upstream of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.