Effect of the normal component of the magnetic field on the kink instability of the Earth’s magnetospheric current sheet

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 771-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Artemyev ◽  
L. M. Zelenyi ◽  
Kh. V. Malova ◽  
V. Yu. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Normal Component ◽  
Kink Instability ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Tearing instability inside a 2D current sheet with a normal magnetic field

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Shi ◽  
Anton Artemyev ◽  
Marco Velli ◽  
Anna Tenerani
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Normal Component ◽  
Field Energy ◽  
Tearing Mode ◽  
Magnetic Field Energy ◽  
Tearing Instability ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Normal Magnetic Field

<p>Magnetic reconnection converts the magnetic field energy into thermal and kinetic energies of the plasma. This process usually happens at extremely fast speed and is therefore believed to be a fundamental mechanism to explain various explosive phenomena such as coronal mass ejections and planetary magnetospheric storms. How magnetic reconnection is triggered from the large magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) scales remains an open question, with some theoretical and numerical studies showing the tearing instability to be involved. Observations in the Earth’s magnetotail and near the magnetopause show that a finite normal magnetic field is usually present inside the reconnecting current sheet. Besides, such a normal field may also exist in the solar corona. However, how this normal magnetic field modifies the tearing instability is not thoroughly studied. Here we discuss the linear tearing instability inside a two-dimensional current sheet with a normal component of magnetic field where the magnetic tension force is balanced by ion flows parallel and anti-parallel to the magnetic field. We solve the dispersion relation of the tearing mode with wave vector parallel to the reconnecting magnetic field. Our results confirm that the finite normal magnetic field stabilizes the tearing mode and makes the mode oscillatory instead of purely growing.</p>

scholarly journals Solar wind and substorm excitation of the wavy current sheet

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2457-2474 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Forsyth ◽  
M. Lester ◽  
R. C. Fear ◽  
E. Lucek ◽  
I. Dandouras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Pressure Pulse ◽  
Wind Pressure ◽  
Expansion Velocity ◽  
Solar Wind Pressure ◽  
Wave Models ◽  
Best Fit ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. Following a solar wind pressure pulse on 3 August 2001, GOES 8, GOES 10, Cluster and Polar observed dipolarizations of the magnetic field, accompanied by an eastward expansion of the aurora observed by IMAGE, indicating the occurrence of two substorms. Prior to the first substorm, the motion of the plasma sheet with respect to Cluster was in the ZGSM direction. Observations following the substorms show the occurrence of current sheet waves moving predominantly in the −YGSM direction. Following the second substorm, the current sheet waves caused multiple current sheet crossings of the Cluster spacecraft, previously studied by Zhang et al. (2002). We further this study to show that the velocity of the current sheet waves was similar to the expansion velocity of the substorm aurora and the expansion of the dipolarization regions in the magnetotail. Furthermore, we compare these results with the current sheet wave models of Golovchanskaya and Maltsev (2005) and Erkaev et al. (2008). We find that the Erkaev et al. (2008) model gives the best fit to the observations.

scholarly journals Ion motion in the current sheet with sheared magnetic field – Part 1: Quasi-adiabatic theory

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Artemyev ◽  
A. I. Neishtadt ◽  
L. M. Zelenyi
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Analytical Description ◽  
Particle Energy ◽  
Tangential Component ◽  
Adiabatic Invariant ◽  
Ion Motion ◽  
Adiabatic Theory ◽  
Fast Oscillations ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. We present a theory of trapped ion motion in the magnetotail current sheet with a constant dawn–dusk component of the magnetic field. Particle trajectories are described analytically using the quasi-adiabatic invariant corresponding to averaging of fast oscillations around the tangential component of the magnetic field. We consider particle dynamics in the quasi-adiabatic approximation and demonstrate that the principal role is played by large (so called geometrical) jumps of the quasi-adiabatic invariant. These jumps appear due to the current sheet asymmetry related to the presence of the dawn–dusk magnetic field. The analytical description is compared with results of numerical integration. We show that there are four possible regimes of particle motion. Each regime is characterized by certain ranges of values of the dawn–dusk magnetic field and particle energy. We find the critical value of the dawn–dusk magnetic field, where jumps of the quasi-adiabatic invariant vanish.

scholarly journals Ion motion in the current sheet with sheared magnetic field – Part 2: Non-adiabatic effects

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 899-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Artemyev ◽  
A. I. Neishtadt ◽  
L. M. Zelenyi
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Particle Motion ◽  
Phase Plane ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Ion Motion ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Adiabatic Theory ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. We investigate dynamics of charged particles in current sheets with the sheared magnetic field. In our previouspaper (Artemyev et al., 2013) we studied the particle motion in such magnetic field configurations on the basis of the quasi-adiabatic theory and conservation of the quasi-adiabatic invariant. In this paper we concentrate on violation of the adiabaticity due to jumps of this invariant and the corresponding effects of stochastization of a particle motion. We compare effects of geometrical and dynamical jumps, which occur due to the presence of the separatrix in the phase plane of charged particle motion. We show that due to the presence of the magnetic field shear, the average value of dynamical jumps is not equal to zero. This effect results in the decrease of the time interval necessary for stochastization of trapped particle motion. We investigate also the effect of the magnetic field shear on transient trajectories, which cross the current sheet boundaries. Presence of the magnetic field shear leads to the asymmetry of reflection and transition of particles in the current sheet. We discuss the possible influence of single-particle effects revealed in this paper on the current sheet structure and dynamics.

scholarly journals Nonlinear equilibrium structure of thin currents sheets: influence of electron pressure anisotropy

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 579-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Zelenyi ◽  
H. V. Malova ◽  
V. Yu. Popov ◽  
D. Delcourt ◽  
A. S. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Magnetic Energy ◽  
Plasma Pressure ◽  
Quasi Equilibrium ◽  
Electrostatic Effects ◽  
Current Sheets ◽  
Thin Current Sheet ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. Thin current sheets represent important and puzzling sites of magnetic energy storage and subsequent fast release. Such structures are observed in planetary magnetospheres, solar atmosphere and are expected to be widespread in nature. The thin current sheet structure resembles a collapsing MHD solution with a plane singularity. Being potential sites of effective energy accumulation, these structures have received a good deal of attention during the last decade, especially after the launch of the multiprobe CLUSTER mission which is capable of resolving their 3D features. Many theoretical models of thin current sheet dynamics, including the well-known current sheet bifurcation, have been developed recently. A self-consistent 1D analytical model of thin current sheets in which the tension of the magnetic field lines is balanced by the ion inertia rather than by the plasma pressure gradients was developed earlier. The influence of the anisotropic electron population and of the corresponding electrostatic field that acts to restore quasi-neutrality of the plasma is taken into account. It is assumed that the electron motion is fluid-like in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field and fast enough to support quasi-equilibrium Boltzmann distribution along the field lines. Electrostatic effects lead to an interesting feature of the current density profile inside the current sheet, i.e. a narrow sharp peak of electron current in the very center of the sheet due to fast curvature drift of the particles in this region. The corresponding magnetic field profile becomes much steeper near the neutral plane although the total cross-tail current is in all cases dominated by the ion contribution. The dependence of electrostatic effects on the ion to electron temperature ratio, the curvature of the magnetic field lines, and the average electron magnetic moment is also analyzed. The implications of these effects on the fine structure of thin current sheets and their potential impact on substorm dynamics are presented.

scholarly journals Global properties of magnetotail current sheet flapping: THEMIS perspectives

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Runov ◽  
V. Angelopoulos ◽  
V. A. Sergeev ◽  
K.-H. Glassmeier ◽  
U. Auster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Growth Phase ◽  
Timing Analysis ◽  
Wave Length ◽  
Global Properties ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Magnetic Field Variations ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetotail Current Sheet

Abstract. A sequence of magnetic field oscillations with an amplitude of up to 30 nT and a time scale of 30 min was detected by four of the five THEMIS spacecraft in the magnetotail plasma sheet. The probes P1 and P2 were at X=−15.2 and −12.7 RE and P3 and P4 were at X=−7.9 RE. All four probes were at −6.5>Y>−7.5 RE (major conjunction). Multi-point timing analysis of the magnetic field variations shows that fronts of the oscillations propagated flankward (dawnward and Earthward) nearly perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic maximum variation (B1) at velocities of 20–30 km/s. These are typical characteristics of current sheet flapping motion. The observed anti-correlation between ∂B1/∂t and the Z-component of the bulk velocity make it possible to estimate a flapping amplitude of 1 to 3 RE. The cross-tail scale wave-length was found to be about 5 RE. Thus the flapping waves are steep tail-aligned structures with a lengthwise scale of >10 RE. The intermittent plasma motion with the cross-tail velocity component changing its sign, observed during flapping, indicates that the flapping waves were propagating through the ambient plasma. Simultaneous observations of the magnetic field variations by THEMIS ground-based magnetometers show that the flapping oscillations were observed during the growth phase of a substorm.

Stability of static current sheets connecting plane magnetic null points

1999 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-631
Author(s):  
MANUEL NÚÑEZ
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Lorentz Force ◽  
Critical Points ◽  
Null Point ◽  
The Other ◽  
Magnetic Null ◽  
Local Topology ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
A Current

The configuration created in the plane by the separation of a magnetic hyperbolic null point into two critical points connected by a current sheet is considered. The main parameters are the orders of the zeros of these new null points, which determine the local topology of the magnetic field. It is shown that when the magnetic field is static, the fluid tends to flow orthogonally to the field in the vicinity of the sheet endpoints. Moreover, the Lorentz force pushes one of them towards the other, so the configuration tends to collapse again into a single null point except when the order of both is precisely ½.

Development of a database of Jovian magnetodisc crossings by Galileo and Juno spacecraft from magnetometer data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Alekseev ◽  
Elena Belenkaya ◽  
Alexander Lavrukhin ◽  
David Parunakian ◽  
Ivan Pensionerov
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Polar Axis ◽  
Dipole Axis ◽  
Radial Magnetic Field ◽  
Jovian Magnetosphere ◽  
Central Surface ◽  
Magnetometer Data ◽  
Plasma Measurements ◽  
The Magnetic Field

<p>Jovian magnetosphere has   a huge equatorial plasma disk, which is also known as the current sheet or magnetodisk. This current sheet enlarges the subsolar magnetosphere size more than twice compare to purely planetary dipole magnetosphere. Near to the planet   the magnetodisk is aligned with the magnetic equatorial plane. As consequence of the dipole axis tilted to the polar axis about 10, each of Juno orbits crossed the central surface of the disk current two times during one jovian day (9, 92 hours). Finally, we have  about 1725 current sheet crossings to study the plasma sheet and current sheets structure.</p> <p>In our work we have developed a database of Jovian current sheet crossings, performed by Galileo and Juno spacecraft, which includes magnetic field and plasma measurements. Current sheet crossings were determined using magnetometer data in distant magnetosphere as a region with the magnetic field strength less than the dipole value at the same point and central current sheet position have been marked by boundary between the region with opposite signum of the radial magnetic field component.</p>

scholarly journals Force balance in current sheets in collisionless plasma

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Oleg Mingalev ◽  
Pavel Setsko ◽  
Mikhail Melnik ◽  
Igor Mingalev ◽  
Helmi Malova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Current Sheet ◽  
Balance Equation ◽  
Normal Component ◽  
Collisionless Plasma ◽  
Force Balance ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Current Sheets ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Force Balance Equation

In this paper, we derive a divergent form of the force balance equation for collisionless plasma in the quasineutrality approximation, in which the electric field and current density are excluded. For a stationary spatially one-dimensional current sheet with a constant normal component of the magnetic field and magnetized electrons, the general form of the force balance equation has been obtained for the first time in the form of a conservation law. An equation in this form is necessary for the correct formulation of boundary conditions when modeling asymmetric current sheets, as well as for the control of the stationarity of the numerical solution obtained in the model. Furthermore, the fulfillment of this equation is considered for two types of stationary configurations of a thin current sheet, which are obtained using a numerical model. The derived equation makes it possible to develop models of asymmetric current sheets, in particular current sheets on the magnetopause flanks in the magnetotail.

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