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This didactic book uses a data-driven approach to connect measurements made by plasma instruments to the real world. This approach makes full use of the instruments' capability and examines the data at the most detailed level an experiment can provide. Students using this approach will learn what instruments can measure, and working with real-world data will pave their way to models consistent with these observations.

While conceived as a teaching tool, the book contains a considerable amount of new information. It emphasizes recent results, such as particle measurements made from the Cluster ion experiment, explores the consequences of new discoveries, and evaluates new trends or techniques in the field. At the same time, the author ensures that the physical concepts used to interpret the data are general and widely applicable. The topics included help readers understand basic problems fundamental to space plasma physics. Some are appearing for the first time in a space physics textbook. Others present different perspectives and interpretations of old problems and models that were previously considered incontestable. This book is essential reading for graduate students in space plasma physics, and a useful reference for the broader astrophysics community.

Characterizing Space Plasmas: A Data Driven Approach

1 Basic Equations and Concepts 11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Fundamental Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3 Statistical Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.4 Electric and Magnetic Field in Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.5 Transformation of E and B Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.6 Macroscopic Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181.7 Plasma Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.8 Examples of Plasma Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311.9 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Charged Particle Acceleration 392.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392.2 Motion in Uniform E and B Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402.3 E B Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452.4 Motion in Inhomogeneous Magnetic Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572.5 Other Particle Acceleration Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632.6 Waves and Wave-Particle Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682.7 Cyclotron Resonance Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722.8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783 Escaping Solar Particles 813.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813.2 Observations of Solar Wind Ions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833.3 Observations of Solar Wind Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913.4 Solar Wind Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963.5 Kinetic Models of the SW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993.6 Heuristic Interpretation of the Solar Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043.7 Electrostatic Solitary Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083.8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104 Collisionless Shocks 1174.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174.2 Observations of Earth's Bow Shock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194.3 Entropy Across Earth's Bow Shock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254.4 ICME Shock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1334.5 Nonlinear Structures Upstream of Bow Shock . . . . . . . . . . . 1404.6 Growth of Nonlinear Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1584.7 Acceleration of Particles at the Bow Shock . . . . . . . . . . . . 1614.8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1655 Current Sheets and Boundaries 1835.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835.2 Magnetic Reconnection on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1845.3 SW Entry into Magnetosphere through Cusps . . . . . . . . . . . 1915.4 Particle Motions in Magnetic Neutral Regions . . . . . . . . . . . 1985.5 Kinetic Models of Current Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2045.6 Kinetic Equations for Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2085.7 Tearing Mode Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2145.8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2186 Current and Electric Field 2256.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2256.2 Observations of Electron and Ion Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2266.3 Motion Parallel to E and B Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2316.4 Electric Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2366.5 A Model of Double Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2466.6 Currents in the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere . . . . . . . . . . 2516.7 Ring Current in Magnetospheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566.8 Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2646.9 Auroral Kilometric Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2726.10 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2757 Topics for Further Studies 2817.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2817.2 Large-scale Current Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2817.3 Heating Space Plasmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2847.4 Boltzmann Collisional Term (@f/@t)c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2867.5 Runaway Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2927.6 Collective Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295