Polarization and Spatial Distribution Features of Pc4 and Pc5 Waves in the Magnetosphere

Abstract

AbstractUltra‐low frequency waves interact with different particle populations all over the magnetosphere. Some interaction mechanisms are associated with certain wave modes, but is it really so and what about waves interaction between each other? We present a statistical analysis of Pc4 and Pc5 waves in the magnetosphere of the Earth that were observed by Arase satellite from March 2017 to December 2020. These waves were classified by polarization into toroidal, poloidal, and compressional waves. Toroidal and poloidal waves are thought to be Alfvén waves that are eigenoscillations of Earth's magnetic field lines. The former are believed to be generated by external sources, while the latter one—by internal sources. We compared spatial distribution features with well‐known case studies to reveal their nature for all three polarizations. A high inclination of Arase orbit supported a wave field‐aligned structure research. We found that toroidal waves are mostly odd harmonics and poloidal waves are both even and odd harmonics of Alfvén waves, while compressional waves were observed in a narrow equatorial region only. Different wave generation mechanisms that cause a clear difference in spatial distributions of toroidal, poloidal, and compressional waves could excite a specific wave polarization. Surprisingly, the statistics of wave polarization has a normal distribution without separate clusters. We suggest that polarization change and mode coupling processes make mixed polarization the most common type of polarization in the magnetosphere. This result raises the question of how the polarization change process affects wave‐particle interactions responsible for energy transport throughout the magnetosphere.