MMS observations of particle velocity distribution functions and field-particle correlator

Etienne Behar
etienne.behar@lpp.polytechnique.fr
LPP, CNRS - Ecole Polytechnique – Sorbonne Université - Univ. Paris-Sud - Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, 91128, France

Etienne Behar, Fouad Sahraoui

Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, CNRS - École polytechnique - Sorbonne Université - Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91128 Palaiseau, France

We present our current work on the analysis of MMS data carried out in particular with particle velocity distribution functions (VDF). We propose methods that tackle the high time resolution of these four-dimensional data sets, in various reference frames and coordinate systems. In particular, we explore the feasibility of obtaining spatial and time derivatives of the VDF, with the inherent price in terms of time resolution/integration. Together with field measurements, these derivatives enable the quantification of the various terms of the Poisson-Vlasov equations, with the ultimate goal of a direct measurement of the energy exchange taking place between fields and particles, as a function of velocity, following the effort initiated by Howes et al. 2017 and Chen et al. 2019.