Low frequency electrostatic instabilities excited by injection of an electron beam in space

One-dimensional particle simulations have been carried out to study the low frequency broadband electrostatic noise that propagates almost perpendicularly from the magnetic field line when a nonrelativistic electron beam is injected into space from a spacecraft. For T/sub e/ = T/sub i/ the electrostatic ion cyclotron waves appear as well as the waves near the lower hybrid frequency. When the magnetic field is reduced so that Ω/sub e/ << ω/sub pe/ in a non-isothermal plasma, T/sub e/ > T/sub i/, oblique ion acoustic instabilities appear to propagate almost perpendicular to the magnetic field. In addition, a very low frequency mode at ω << Ω/sub i/ is found to be generated by the electrons flowing into the conductor. Both the ion injected beam electrons as well as the ambient electrons flowing into the spacecraft are responsible for generating those instabilities, which accelerate ions perpendicular to the magnetic field. 11 refs., 9 figs