Oxygen torus and its coincidence with EMIC wave in the deep inner magnetosphere: Van Allen Probe B and Arase observations

Abstract

We investigate the longitudinal structure of the oxygen torus in the inner magnetosphere for a specific event found on 12 September 2017, using simultaneous observations from the Van Allen Probe B and Arase satellites. It is found that Probe B observed a clear enhancement in the average plasma mass (M) up to 3–4 amu at L = 3.3–3.6 and magnetic local time (MLT) = 9.0 h. In the afternoon sector at MLT ~ 16.0 h, both Probe B and Arase found no clear enhancements in M. This result suggests that the oxygen torus does not extend over all MLT but is skewed toward the dawn. Since a similar result has been reported for another event of the oxygen torus in a previous study, a crescent-shaped torus or a pinched torus centered around dawn may be a general feature of the O⁺ density enhancement in the inner magnetosphere. We newly find that an electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave in the H⁺ band appeared coincidently with the oxygen torus. From the lower cutoff frequency of the EMIC wave, the ion composition of the oxygen torus is estimated to be 80.6% H⁺, 3.4% He⁺, and 16.0% O⁺. According to the linearized dispersion relation for EMIC waves, both He⁺ and O⁺ ions inhibit EMIC wave growth and the stabilizing effect is stronger for He⁺ than O⁺. Therefore, when the H⁺ fraction or M is constant, the denser O⁺ ions are naturally accompanied by the more tenuous He⁺ ions, resulting in a weaker stabilizing effect (i.e., larger growth rate). From the Probe B observations, we find that the growth rate becomes larger in the oxygen torus than in the adjacent regions in the plasma trough and the plasmasphere.