Laboratory experiments have been performed that show the effect on the electron temperature of inserting a spherical conducting model, larger than the Debye length, into a free-streaming high-energy (1 kv) unmagnetized hydrogen plasma. These experiments are the first electron temperature experiments conducted at energies and compositions directly relevant to solar wind and astrophysical plasma phenomena. The incident plasma parameters were held constant. A large number of axial profiles of the electron temperature ratios Tein/ Teout behind the model downstream in the model wake are presented. A rigorous statistical approach is used in the analysis of the electron temperature ratio data in both our experimental laboratory data and in our reanalysis of the published data of others. The following new results ae obtained: (1) In energetic plasma flow there is no overall temperature enhancement in the near wake since the best fit to the Tein/ Teout data is a horizontal straight line having a mean value of 1.05; (2) No statistically significant electron temperature enhancement peaks or depressions exist in the near-wake region behind a model at zero potential in a high-energy plasma even at distances less than or equal to Ma, where M is the acoustic Mach number and a is the model radius. This implies a ''filling in'' of electrons in the wake region which may be due to the higher mobility of these energetic electrons. This mechanism may permit the solar wind electrons to significantly contribute to the maintenance of the nightside ionosphere at Venus. |