Observed electron velocity distributions in the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind exhibit a variety of nonthermal features which deviate from thermal equilibrium, for example, in the form of temperature anisotropies, suprathermal tail extensions, and field-aligned beams. The state close to thermal equilibrium and its departure from it provides a source for spontaneous emissions of electromagnetic fluctuations, such as the whistler. Here we present a comparative analysis of the electron whistler-cyclotron and firehose fluctuations based upon anisotropic plasma modeled with Maxwellian and Tsallis-kappa-like particle distributions, to explain the correspondence relationship of the magnetic fluctuations as a function of the electron temperature and thermal anisotropy in the solar wind and magnetosphere plasmas. The analysis presented here considers correlation theory of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the dispersion relation of transverse fluctuations, with wave vectors parallel to the uniform background magnetic field, in a finite temperature anisotropic thermal bi-Maxwellian and nonthermal Tsallis-kappa-like magnetized electron-proton plasma. Dispersion analysis and stability thresholds are derived for these thermal and nonthermal distributions using plasma and field parameters relevant to the solar wind and magnetosphere environments. Our results indicate that there is an enhancement of the fluctuations level in the case of nonthermal distributions due to the effective higher temperature and the excess of suprathermal particles. These results suggest that a comparison of the electromagnetic fluctuations due to thermal and nonthermal distributions provides a diagnostic signature by which inferences about the nature of the particle velocity distribution function can be ascertained without in situ particle measurements.

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A kinetic description of Alfvén-cyclotron magnetic fluctuations for anisotropic electron-proton quasistable plasmas is studied. An analytical treatment, based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, consistently shows that spontaneous fluctuations in plasmas with stable distributions significantly contribute to the observed magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind, as seen, for example, in [S. D. Bale et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 211101 (2009)], even far below from the instability thresholds. Furthermore, these results, which do not require any adjustable parameters or wave excitations, are consistent with the results provided by hybrid simulations. It is expected that this analysis contributes to our understanding of the nature of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind.

Remote and in situ observations in the solar wind show that ion and electron velocity distributions persistently present deviations from thermal equilibrium. Ion anisotropies seem to be constrained by instability thresholds which are in agreement with linear kinetic theory. For plasma states below these instability thresholds, the quasi-stable solar wind plasma sustains a small but detectable level of magnetic fluctuation power. These fluctuations may be related to spontaneous electromagnetic fluctuations arising from the discreteness and thermal motion of charged particles. Here we study magnetic Alfvén-cyclotron fluctuations propagating along a background magnetic field in a plasma composed of thermal and suprathermal protons and electrons via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The total fluctuating magnetic power is estimated in a proton temperature anisotropy-beta diagram for three different families of proton distribution functions, which can be compared to a number of recent measurements in the solar wind.