Estimating the Possible Ion Heating Caused by Alfvén Waves at Venus

Abstract

In the Earth's magnetosphere wave‐particle interaction is a major ion energization process, playing an important role for the atmospheric escape. A common type of ion heating is associated with low‐frequency broadband electric wave fields. For such waves the energy is not concentrated to a certain narrow frequency range and exhibits no peaks or dips in a power spectrum. If there are enough fluctuations close to the ion gyrofrequency the electric field may still come in resonance with gyrating ions and heat them perpendicular to the background magnetic field. We perform a proof‐of‐concept study to investigate if this heating mechanism may contibute significantly to the energization of planetary ions also in the induced magnetosphere of Venus. We assume Alfvénic fluctuations and estimate the electric field spectral density based on magnetic field observations. We find typical estimated electric spectral densities of a few /Hz close to Venus. This corresponds to a heating rate of a few eV/s. We consider an available interaction time of 300 s and conclude that this mechanism could increase the energy of an oxygen ion by about a keV. Observed thermal energies are in the range 100–1,000 eV and thus, resonant wave heating may also be important at Venus.