SUPRATHERMAL ELECTRON STRAHL WIDTHS IN THE PRESENCE OF NARROW-BAND WHISTLER WAVES IN THE SOLAR WIND

We perform the first statistical study of the effects of the interaction of suprathermal electrons with narrow-band whistler mode waves in the solar wind (SW). We show that this interaction does occur and that it is associated with enhanced widths of the so-called strahl component. The latter is directed along the interplanetary magnetic field away from the Sun. We do the study by comparing the strahl pitch angle widths in the SW at 1 AU in the absence of large scale discontinuities and transient structures, such as interplanetary shocks, interplanetary coronal mass ejections, stream interaction regions, etc. during times when the whistler mode waves were present and when they were absent. This is done by using the data from two Cluster instruments: Spatio Temporal Analysis of Field Fluctuations experiment (STAFF) data in the frequency range between ∼0.1 and ∼200 Hz were used for determining the wave properties and Plasma Electron And Current Experiment (PEACE) data sets at 12 central energies between ∼57 eV (equivalent to ∼10 typical electron thermal energies in the SW, E_T) and ∼676 eV (∼113 E_T) for pitch angle measurements. Statistical analysis shows that, during the intervals with the whistler waves, the strahl component on average exhibits pitch angle widths between 2° and 12° larger than during the intervals when these waves are not present. The largest difference is obtained for the electron central energy of ∼344 eV (∼57 ET).