Lower Band Cascade of Whistler Waves Excited by Anisotropic Hot Electrons: One-Dimensional PIC Simulations

Based on Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms waveform data, Gao, Lu, et al. (2016) have reported two special multiband chorus events, where upper band waves are located at harmonics of lower band waves. And they proposed a new generation mechanism to explain this multiband chorus wave, named as lower band cascade. With a 1-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation model, we have investigated the lower band cascade of whistler waves excited by anisotropic hot electrons. During each simulation, lower band whistler mode waves are firstly excited by the anisotropy of hot electrons. Later, upper band harmonic waves are generated through the nonlinear coupling between the electromagnetic and electrostatic components of lower band waves, which supports the scenario of lower band cascade. Moreover, the peak wave number (or frequency) of lower band waves will continuously drift to smaller values due to the decline of the anisotropy of hot electrons. While the peak wave number of upper band harmonic waves will be kept nearly unchanged, but their amplitude continues to decrease after their saturation. We further find that the magnetic amplitude of upper band harmonic waves tends to increase with the increase of the wave normal angle of lower band waves or the anisotropy of hot electrons. Besides, the amplitude ratio between upper band and lower band waves is positively correlated with the wave normal angle of lower band waves but is anticorrelated with the anisotropy of hot electrons. Our study has provided a more comprehensive understanding of the lower band cascade of whistler waves.