High-harmonic Plasma Emission Induced by Electron Beams in Weakly Magnetized Plasmas

Abstract

Abstract Electromagnetic radiation at higher harmonics of the plasma frequency (ω ∼ n ω pe, n > 2) has been occasionally observed in type II and type III solar radio bursts, yet the underlying mechanism remains undetermined. Here we present two-dimensional fully kinetic electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations with high spectral resolution to investigate the beam-driven plasma emission process in weakly magnetized plasmas of typical coronal conditions. We focused on the generation mechanisms of high-harmonic emission. We found that a larger beam velocity (u d ) favors the generation of the higher-harmonic emission. The emissions grow later for higher harmonics and decrease in intensity by ∼2 orders of magnitude for each jump of the harmonic number. The second and third harmonic (H2 and H3) emissions get closer in intensity with larger u d . We also show that (1) the H3 emission is mainly generated via the coalescence of the H2 emission with the Langmuir waves, i.e., H2 + L → H3, wherein the coalescence with the forward-propagating beam-Langmuir wave leads to the forward-propagating H3, and coalescence with the backward-propagating Langmuir wave leads to the backward-propagating H3; and (2) the H4 emission mainly arises from the coalescence of the H3 emission with the forward- (backward-)propagating Langmuir wave, in terms of H3 + L → H4.