Plasma wave survey from Parker Solar Probe observations during Venus gravity assists

¹ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
² Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
³ Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
⁵ Department of Earth Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Received: 4 April 2024
Accepted: 22 July 2024

Abstract

Context. Parker Solar Probe (PSP) performs Venus gravity assists (VGAs) in order to lower its perihelion. PSP takes high-cadence electric and magnetic field observations during these VGAs, providing the opportunity to study plasma waves in Venus’s induced magnetosphere.

Aims. We summarize the plasma environment during these VGAs, including the regions of near-Venus space that PSP traversed and the key boundary crossings. We comprehensively identify Langmuir, ion acoustic, whistler-mode, and ion cyclotron waves during these VGAs and map the location of these waves throughout near-Venus space.

Methods. This study analyzes different data products from the PSP FIELDS instrument suite from throughout the first five VGAs.

Results. We compare the FIELDS instrumentation capabilities to the capabilities of the plasma wave instruments on board the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) and the Venus Express (VEX). We find that the PVO electric field instrument was well suited to observe Langmuir waves, especially near the bow shock and in the foreshock. However, evaluation of the other plasma waves detected by PSP FIELDS reveals that PVO and VEX would have often been unable to observe key features of these waves modes, including maximum power, bandwidth, and propagation direction. These wave characteristics provide critical information on the wave generation mechanisms and wave-particle interactions, so provide fundamental information on the nature of Venus’s induced magnetosphere.

Conclusions. These results highlight the advances in plasma wave instrumentation capabilities that have been made in the decades since the PVO and VEX eras, and illustrate the value of a plasma wave instrument on a new Venus mission.