A theory of the fundamental plasma emission of type-III solar radio bursts

¹ National Institute for Space Research – INPE, PO Box 515, 12221-970 S. J. Campos, SP, Brazil e-mail: achian@dge.inpe.br; moraes@plasma.inpe.br
² World Institute for Space Environment Research, WISER, University of Adelaide, SA5005, Australia
³ UNIVAP-IPD, Av. Shishima Hifumi 2911, 12224-000 S. J. dos Campos, SP, Brazil e-mail: abalde@univap.br
⁴ Institute of Physics, UFRGS, PO Box 15051, 91500 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil e-mail: rizzato@if.ufrgs.br

Corresponding author: M. V. Alves, virginia@plasma.inpe.br

Received: 25 March 2002
Accepted: 6 May 2002

Abstract

Results from plasma wave experiments in spacecraft give support to nonlinear interactions involving Langmuir waves, electromagnetic waves and ion-acoustic waves in association with type III solar radio bursts. In this paper we present a theory of the fundamental plasma emission of type-III solar radio bursts. Starting from the generalized Zakharov equations, considering the pump wave as a pair of oppositely propagating Langmuir waves with different amplitudes, and the excitation of electromagnetic and induced Langmuir waves, we obtain a general dispersion relation for the coupled waves. We numerically solve the general dispersion relation using the pump wave amplitude and plasma parameters as observed in the interplanetary medium. We compare our results with previous models. We find that the stability properties depend on the pump wave numbers and on the ratio of wave amplitude between the forward and backward pump wave. The inclusion of a second pump wave allows the simultaneous generation of up and down converted electromagnetic waves. The presence of a second pump with different amplitude from the first one brings a region of convective instability not present when amplitudes are the same.