SPRG Seminars
March 18, 2014:
"Solar wind electrons: potential modulation and heating in reconnection exhausts"
Marc Pulupa, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
We present solar wind electron observations from the Wind spacecraft. We describe a multi-component fitting procedure for electron core, halo, and strahl parameters, and show evidence for spacecraft potential spin modulation and its effects on electron moments. As an application, we demonstrate the presence of core electron heating in solar wind reconnection exhausts and compare to recent results from the magnetopause. If time permits, we will discuss the capability of the Radio Frequency Spectrometer (RFS) on Solar Probe Plus to measure in situ electron parameters via quasi-thermal noise spectroscopy.