Linear theory and measurements of electron oscillations in an inertial Alfvén wave

The physics of the aurora is one of the foremost unsolved problems of space physics. The mechanisms responsible for accelerating electrons that precipitate onto the ionosphere are not fully understood. For more than three decades, particle interactions with inertial Alfvén waves have been proposed as a possible means for accelerating electrons and generating auroras. Inertial Alfvén waves have an electric field aligned with the background magnetic field that is expected to cause electron oscillations as well as electron acceleration. Due to the limitations of spacecraft conjunction studies and other multi-spacecraft approaches, it is unlikely that it will ever be possible, through spacecraft observations alone, to confirm definitively these fundamental properties of the inertial Alfvén wave by making simultaneous measurements of both the perturbed electron distribution function and the Alfvén wave responsible for the perturbations. In this laboratory experiment, the suprathermal tails of the reduced electron distribution function parallel to the mean magnetic field are measured with high precision as inertial Alfvén waves simultaneously propagate through the plasma. The results of this experiment identify, for the first time, the oscillations of suprathermal electrons associated with an inertial Alfvén wave. Despite complications due to boundary conditions and the finite size of the experiment, a linear model is produced that replicates the measured response of the electron distribution function. These results verify one of the fundamental properties of the inertial Alfvén wave, and they are also a prerequisite for future attempts to measure the acceleration of electrons by inertial Alfvén waves.