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We present a statistical analysis of electrostatic solitary waves observed aboard Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft in the Earth's magnetosheath. Applying single‐spacecraft interferometry to several hundred solitary waves collected in about 2‐minute interval, we show that almost all of them have the electrostatic potential of positive polarity and propagate quasi‐parallel to the local magnetic field with plasma frame velocities of the order of 100 km/s. The solitary waves have typical parallel half‐widths from 10 to 100 m that is between 1 and 10 Debye lengths and typical amplitudes of the electrostatic potential from 10 to 200 mV that is between 0.01% and 1% of local electron temperature. The solitary waves are associated with quasi‐Maxwellian ion velocity distribution functions, and their plasma frame velocities are comparable with ion thermal speed and well below electron thermal speed. We argue that the solitary waves of positive polarity are slow electron holes and estimate the time scale of their acceleration, which occurs due to interaction with ions, to be of the order of one second. The observation of slow electron holes indicates that their lifetime was shorter than the acceleration time scale. We argue that multi‐spacecraft interferometry applied previously to these solitary waves is not applicable because of their too‐short spatial scales. The source of the slow electron holes and the role in electron‐ion energy exchange remain to be established. 

Key Points The first identification of ion‐acoustic double layers and electron temperature variation across them in the Earth's bow shock Double layers have typical spatial width around 10 Debye lengths or one tenth of electron inertial length Typical potential drop across a double layer is 2%–7% of the cross‐shock potential in the de Hoffmann‐Teller frame 

Abstract For more than 12 hr beginning on 2021 January 18, continuous narrowband electrostatic emissions were observed on the Parker Solar Probe near 20 solar radii. The observed <1000 Hz frequencies were well below the local ion-plasma frequency. Surprisingly, the emissions consisted of electrostatic wave packets with shock-like envelopes, appearing repetitively at a ∼1.5 Hz rate. This repetitiveness correlated and was in phase with low-frequency electromagnetic fluctuations. The emissions were associated with simultaneously observed ion beams and conditions favorable for ion-acoustic wave excitation, i.e., Te/Ti ∼ 5. Based on this information and on their velocity estimates of about 100 km s −1 , these electrostatic emissions are interpreted as ion-acoustic waves. Their observation demonstrates a new regime of instability and evolution of oblique ion-acoustic waves that have not been reported previously in theory or experiment. 

Abstract We present analysis of 17,043 proton kinetic-scale current sheets (CSs) collected over 124 days of Wind spacecraft measurements in the solar wind at 11 samples s −1 magnetic field resolution. The CSs have thickness, λ, from a few tens to one thousand kilometers with typical values around 100 km, or within about 0.1–10 λ p in terms of local proton inertial length, λ p . We found that the current density is larger for smaller-scale CSs, J 0 ≈ 6 nAm −2 · ( λ /100 km) −0.56 , but does not statistically exceed a critical value, J A , corresponding to the drift between ions and electrons of local Alvén speed. The observed trend holds in normalized units: J 0 / J A ≈ 0.17 · ( λ / λ p ) − 0.51 . The CSs are statistically force-free with magnetic shear angle correlated with CS spatial scale: Δ θ ≈ 19 ° · ( λ / λ p ) 0.5 . The observed correlations are consistent with local turbulence being the source of proton kinetic-scale CSs in the solar wind, while the mechanisms limiting the current density remain to be understood. 

Abstract We present a data set and properties of 18,785 proton kinetic-scale current sheets collected over 124 days in the solar wind using magnetic field measurements at 1/11 s resolution aboard the Wind spacecraft. We show that all of the current sheets are in the parameter range where reconnection is not suppressed by diamagnetic drift of the X-line. We argue this necessary condition for magnetic reconnection is automatically satisfied due to the geometry of current sheets dictated by their source, which is the local plasma turbulence. The current sheets are shown to be elongated along the background magnetic field and dependence of the current sheet geometry on local plasma beta is revealed. We conclude that reconnection in the solar wind is not likely to be suppressed or controlled by the diamagnetic suppression condition.