Investigating the turbulent structure of ionospheric plasma velocities on open and closed magnetic field lines

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary A. Abel ◽  
Mervyn. P. Freeman ◽  
Gareth Chisham ◽  
Nicholas W. Watkins
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabela de Oliveira ◽  
Markus Fränz ◽  
Adriane Franco ◽  
Ezequiel Echer

<p>The plasma environment of Mars is highly influenced by regions of remnant magnetism in the planetary crust, above which mini-magnetospheres are created. In this work, we study whether the ionospheric plasma flow can move crustal magnetic field lines, by the process of advection. According to this hypothesis, the magnetic field lines are dragged away in anti-solar direction, westward at dawn and eastward at dusk-side, due to the day-to-night flow of the ionospheric plasma. The altitude of interest is between 200 km and 1000 km, because the plasma flow velocity is significant in this region.</p><p>MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) data is used for a direct comparison between magnetic field data and a crustal magnetic field model. The difference between the observed and the model field at each point of the grid is a measure of the sum of the induced day magnetic field and the possible displacement of the crustal field lines by advection. The results of the analysis show that, except for the lowest altitude range, minimum value of this difference is always observed for westward shift at dawn-side and eastward shift at dusk-side, in agreement with the expected motion of the crustal magnetic field lines.</p><p>For a general idea of the relative forces between the moving plasma and the crustal fields, we use MAVEN data to analyze the pressures involved in the advection process. These are the dynamic pressure of the ionospheric plasma flow, the magnetic pressure of the field lines and the thermal pressure of the plasma related to the mini-magnetospheres. The balance between these quantities should dictate the occurrence of advection. This analysis suggests that advection could take place at low altitude (up to ~450 km) dawn-side regions above low intensity magnetic fields.</p><p>Although the global analysis results showed agreement with our hypothesis, we could not observe evidence of advection from the local observations in order to unambiguously prove the occurrence of this process. Future works include the investigation of single orbit data in regions of low intensity magnetic field, especially at dawn-side, and also magnetohydrodynamic modeling of the process using the plasma conditions prevalent in the Martian ionosphere.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (2) ◽  
pp. L33
Author(s):  
Chi Zhang ◽  
Zhaojin Rong ◽  
Hans Nilsson ◽  
Lucy Klinger ◽  
Shaosui Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract Ion escape to space through the interaction of solar wind and Mars is an important factor influencing the evolution of the Martian atmosphere. The plasma clouds (explosive bulk plasma escape), considered an important ion escaping channel, have been recently identified by spacecraft observations. However, our knowledge about Martian plasma clouds is lacking. Based on the observations of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, we study a sequence of periodic plasma clouds that occurred at low altitudes (∼600 km) on Mars. We find that the heavy ions in these clouds are energy-dispersed and have the same velocity, regardless of species. By tracing such energy-dispersed ions, we find the source of these clouds is located in a low-altitude ionosphere (∼120 km). The average tailward moving flux of ionospheric plasma carried by clouds is on the order of 107 cm−2 s−1, which is one order higher than the average escaping flux for the magnetotail, suggesting explosive ion escape via clouds. Based on the characteristics of clouds, we suggest, similar to the outflow of Earth’s cusp, these clouds might be the product of heating due to solar wind precipitation along the open field lines, which were generated by magnetic reconnection between the interplanetary magnetic field and crustal fields that occurred above the source.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Tabet ◽  
H. Imrane ◽  
D. Saifaoui ◽  
A. Dezairi ◽  
F. Miskane

1990 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiromitsu Hamabata

Exact wave solutions of the nonlinear jnagnetohydrodynamic equations for a highly conducting incompressible fluid are obtained for the cases where the physical quantities are independent of one Cartesian co-ordina.te and for where they vary three-dimensionally but both the streamlines and magnetic field lines lie in parallel planes. It is shown that there is a class of exact wave solutions with large amplitude propagating in a straight but non-uniform magnetic field with constant or non-uniform velocity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Elder ◽  
Allen H. Boozer

The prominence of nulls in reconnection theory is due to the expected singular current density and the indeterminacy of field lines at a magnetic null. Electron inertia changes the implications of both features. Magnetic field lines are distinguishable only when their distance of closest approach exceeds a distance $\varDelta _d$ . Electron inertia ensures $\varDelta _d\gtrsim c/\omega _{pe}$ . The lines that lie within a magnetic flux tube of radius $\varDelta _d$ at the place where the field strength $B$ is strongest are fundamentally indistinguishable. If the tube, somewhere along its length, encloses a point where $B=0$ vanishes, then distinguishable lines come no closer to the null than $\approx (a^2c/\omega _{pe})^{1/3}$ , where $a$ is a characteristic spatial scale of the magnetic field. The behaviour of the magnetic field lines in the presence of nulls is studied for a dipole embedded in a spatially constant magnetic field. In addition to the implications of distinguishability, a constraint on the current density at a null is obtained, and the time required for thin current sheets to arise is derived.


1971 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 329-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Vrabec

Zeeman spectroheliograms of photospheric magnetic fields (longitudinal component) in the CaI 6102.7 Å line are being obtained with the new 61-cm vacuum solar telescope and spectroheliograph, using the Leighton technique. The structure of the magnetic field network appears identical to the bright photospheric network visible in the cores of many Fraunhofer lines and in CN spectroheliograms, with the exception that polarities are distinguished. This supports the evolving concept that solar magnetic fields outside of sunspots exist in small concentrations of essentially vertically oriented field, roughly clumped to form a network imbedded in the otherwise field-free photosphere. A timelapse spectroheliogram movie sequence spanning 6 hr revealed changes in the magnetic fields, including a systematic outward streaming of small magnetic knots of both polarities within annular areas surrounding several sunspots. The photospheric magnetic fields and a series of filtergrams taken at various wavelengths in the Hα profile starting in the far wing are intercompared in an effort to demonstrate that the dark strands of arch filament systems (AFS) and fibrils map magnetic field lines in the chromosphere. An example of an active region in which the magnetic fields assume a distinct spiral structure is presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 502 (1) ◽  
pp. 1263-1278
Author(s):  
Richard Kooij ◽  
Asger Grønnow ◽  
Filippo Fraternali

ABSTRACT The large temperature difference between cold gas clouds around galaxies and the hot haloes that they are moving through suggests that thermal conduction could play an important role in the circumgalactic medium. However, thermal conduction in the presence of a magnetic field is highly anisotropic, being strongly suppressed in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field lines. This is commonly modelled by using a simple prescription that assumes that thermal conduction is isotropic at a certain efficiency f < 1, but its precise value is largely unconstrained. We investigate the efficiency of thermal conduction by comparing the evolution of 3D hydrodynamical (HD) simulations of cold clouds moving through a hot medium, using artificially suppressed isotropic thermal conduction (with f), against 3D magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations with (true) anisotropic thermal conduction. Our main diagnostic is the time evolution of the amount of cold gas in conditions representative of the lower (close to the disc) circumgalactic medium of a Milky-Way-like galaxy. We find that in almost every HD and MHD run, the amount of cold gas increases with time, indicating that hot gas condensation is an important phenomenon that can contribute to gas accretion on to galaxies. For the most realistic orientations of the magnetic field with respect to the cloud motion we find that f is in the range 0.03–0.15. Thermal conduction is thus always highly suppressed, but its effect on the cloud evolution is generally not negligible.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (4) ◽  
pp. 5713-5727
Author(s):  
Kuldeep Singh ◽  
Indranil Chattopadhyay

ABSTRACT We study relativistic magnetized outflows using relativistic equation of state having variable adiabatic index (Γ) and composition parameter (ξ). We study the outflow in special relativistic magnetohydrodynamic regime, from sub-Alfvénic to super-fast domain. We showed that, after the solution crosses the fast point, magnetic field collimates the flow and may form a collimation-shock due to magnetic field pinching/squeezing. Such fast, collimated outflows may be considered as astrophysical jets. Depending on parameters, the terminal Lorentz factors of an electron–proton outflow can comfortably exceed few tens. We showed that due to the transfer of angular momentum from the field to the matter, the azimuthal velocity of the outflow may flip sign. We also study the effect of composition (ξ) on such magnetized outflows. We showed that relativistic outflows are affected by the location of the Alfvén point, the polar angle at the Alfvén point and also the angle subtended by the field lines with the equatorial plane, but also on the composition of the flow. The pair dominated flow experiences impressive acceleration and is hotter than electron–proton flow.


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