Space Physics Seminar spring-2013

Electron phase-space holes (EHs) are good indicators of nonlinear activities in space plasmas and have attracted many interests in both observational and theoretical work. In a traditional theoretical picture, EHs are understood as purely electrostatic structures. However, THEMIS observed electromagnetic EHs, which cannot be fully described with traditional theory, in the plasma sheet boundary layer. This work seeks to understand the magnetic signals of the observed electromagnetic EHs. In addition to the interpretations of the observed magnetic signals, a statistical study of the properties of the observed electromagnetic EHs reveals that those electromagnetic EHs feature fast speeds, large sizes, and strong potentials, which intrigues interests in their generation mechanism and influences on the space plasma environment.