We use audification of 0.092 s cadence magnetometer data from the Wind spacecraft to identify waves with amplitudes nT near the ion gyrofrequency (∼0.1 Hz) with duration longer than 1 hr during 2008. We present one of the most common types of event for a case study and find it to be a proton-cyclotron wave storm, coinciding with highly radial magnetic field and a suprathermal proton beam close in density to the core distribution itself. Using linear Vlasov analysis, we conclude that the long-duration, large-amplitude waves are generated by the instability of the proton distribution function. The origin of the beam is unknown, but the radial field period is found in the trailing edge of a fast solar wind stream and resembles other events thought to be caused by magnetic field footpoint motion or interchange reconnection between coronal holes and closed field lines in the corona.

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.

Using a time series of geomagnetic storm events between 1957 and 2019, obtained by selecting storms where −50 nT, we have analyzed the probability of occurrence of moderate, intense, and severe events. Considering that geomagnetic storms can be modeled as stochastic processes with a log‐normal probability distribution over their minimum index, the dataset was separated according to solar cycle (SC) and SC phases, and the distributions of events were fitted through maximum likelihood method in order to characterize the occurrence of storms in each cycle and phase, and then compare those occurrences to the SC24. Our results show that there is a strong dependence between the occurrence of intense storms, with −100 nT, and the strength of the SC measured by the sunspot numbers. In particular, SC24 is very similar to SC20. However, when comparing the occurrence of storms by SC phases, events tend to show similar activity toward the minimum phase and have significant differences in the maximum phases. By looking at the value—the fit log‐normal distribution “width” parameter—characteristic of the occurrence rate of storms, we have found that the (the sigma value in the descending phase of one cycle) shows the highest correlation () with (the sigma value in the maximum phase of the next cycle) which allows us to estimate the occurrence rate of storms for SC25 to be similar to those of SC21 and SC22, suggesting a more intense cycle than the one that just ended.

Using Van Allen Probes Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma‐Relativistic Electron‐Proton Telescope (ECT‐REPT) observations, we performed a statistical study on the effect of geomagnetic storms on relativistic electrons fluxes in the outer radiation belt for 78 storms between September 2012 and June 2016. We found that the probability of enhancement, depletion, and no change in flux values depends strongly on L and energy. Enhancement events are more common for ∼2 MeV electrons at L ∼ 5, and the number of enhancement events decreases with increasing energy at any given L shell. However, considering the percentage of occurrence of each kind of event, enhancements are more probable at higher energies, and the probability of enhancement tends to increases with increasing L shell. Depletion are more probable for 4–5 MeV electrons at the heart of the outer radiation belt, and no‐change events are more frequent at L < 3.5 for E ∼ 3 MeV particles. Moreover, for L > 4.5 the probability of enhancement, depletion, or no‐change response presents little variation for all energies. Because these probabilities remain relatively constant as a function of radial distance in the outer radiation belt, measurements obtained at geosynchronous orbit may be used as a proxy to monitor E≥1.8 MeV electrons in the outer belt.

Heat transport in the solar wind is dominated by suprathermal electron populations, i.e., a tenuous halo and a field-aligned beam/strahl, with high energies and antisunward drifts along the magnetic field. Their evolution may offer plausible explanations for the rapid decrease of the heat flux with the solar wind expansion, and self-generated instabilities, or so-called “heat flux instabilities” (HFIs), are typically invoked to explain this evolution. This Letter provides a unified description of the full spectrum of HFIs, as prescribed by the linear kinetic theory for high beta conditions (β _e ≫ 0.1) and different relative drifts (U) of the suprathermals. HFIs of different natures are examined, i.e., electromagnetic, electrostatic or hybrid, propagating parallel or obliquely to the magnetic field, etc., as well as their regimes of interplay (co-existence) or dominance. These alternative regimes of HFIs complement each other and may be characteristic of different relative drifts of suprathermal electrons and various conditions in the solar wind, e.g., in the slow or fast winds, streaming interaction regions, and interplanetary shocks. Moreover, these results strongly suggest that heat flux regulation may not involve just one but several HFIs, concomitantly or successively in time. Conditions for a single, well-defined instability with major effects on the suprathermal electrons and, implicitly, the heat flux, seem to be very limited. Whistler HFIs are more likely to occur but only for minor drifts (as also reported by recent observations), which may explain a modest implication in their regulation, shown already in quasilinear studies and numerical simulations.

The construction of a relativistic thermodynamics theory is still controversial after more than 110 years. To the date there is no agreement on which set of relativistic transformations of thermodynamic quantities is the correct one, or if the problem even has a solution. Starting from Planck and Einstein, several authors have proposed their own reasoning, concluding that a moving body could appear cooler, hotter or at the same temperature as measured by a local observer. In this article we present a review of the main theories of relativistic thermodynamics, with an special emphasis on the physical assumptions adopted by each one. We also present a set of relativistic transformations that we have derived by assuming the laws of Thermodynamics to be covariant. We found that under such assumptions a moving body appears to be hotter. Since relativistic thermodynamics is a topic that can be treated as part of an undergraduate course of classical thermodynamics or modern physics, the review and our own derivations presented here aim to encourage undergraduate physics students to open a discussion on the fundamental assumptions in thermodynamics and to engage in research activities early in their scientific career.