Slow Z-mode radiation from sounder-accelerated electrons

Quasi-electrostatic Z-mode waves created by the transmitting part of the OEDIPUS-C payload were measured on the receiving part at 1200m distance. Solutions of the complete electromagnetic dispersion relation for a hot magnetoplasma reveal, however, that there is no solution that provides direct ray paths along the transmitter-receiver separation direction with the observed signal group delays. An interpretive model is therefore proposed in which sounder-accelerated electrons (SAE) radiate incoherently as they spiral along the magnetic field direction in the general direction of the receiving subpayload. Test-particle theory combined with the hot-plasma dispersion solution is used to predict the total electric field for previously reported SAE flux levels. It is found that voltage levels measured on the receiving dipoles have about the same order of magnitude as the predicted ones. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.