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.

scholarly journals Bifurcation of Jovian magnetotail current sheet

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1479-1481 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Israelevich ◽  
A. I. Ershkovich
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Electric Current ◽  
Current Density ◽  
Current Density Distribution ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Electric Current Density ◽  
Current Layer ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetotail Current Sheet

Abstract. Multiple crossings of the magnetotail current sheet by a single spacecraft give the possibility to distinguish between two types of electric current density distribution: single-peaked (Harris type current layer) and double-peaked (bifurcated current sheet). Magnetic field measurements in the Jovian magnetic tail by Voyager-2 reveal bifurcation of the tail current sheet. The electric current density possesses a minimum at the point of the Bx-component reversal and two maxima at the distance where the magnetic field strength reaches 50% of its value in the tail lobe.

scholarly journals Dynamics of variable dusk–dawn flow associated with magnetotail current sheet flapping

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1037-1053
Author(s):  
James H. Lane ◽  
Adrian Grocott ◽  
Nathan A. Case ◽  
Maria-Theresia Walach
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Magnetic Field Data ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Upstream Solar Wind ◽  
Magnetotail Dynamics ◽  
Earthward Flow ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetotail Current Sheet

Abstract. We present Cluster spacecraft observations from 12 October 2006 of convective plasma flows in the Earth's magnetotail. Earthward flow bursts with a dawnward v⊥y component, observed by Cluster 1 (C1), are inconsistent with the duskward flow that might be expected at the pre-midnight location of the spacecraft. Previous observations have suggested that the dusk–dawn sense of the flow can be governed by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) By conditions, with the related “untwisting hypothesis” of magnetotail dynamics commonly invoked to explain this dependence, in terms of a large-scale magnetospheric asymmetry. In the current study, observations of the upstream solar wind conditions from OMNI, magnetic field observations by Cluster and ionospheric convection data using SuperDARN indicate a large-scale magnetospheric morphology consistent with positive IMF By penetration into the magnetotail. At the pre-midnight location of Cluster, however, the dawnward flow observed below the neutral sheet by C1 could only be explained by the untwisting hypothesis in a negative IMF By scenario. The Cluster magnetic field data also reveal a flapping of the magnetotail current sheet, a phenomenon known to influence dusk–dawn flow. Results from the curlometer analysis technique suggest that the dusk–dawn sense of the J×B force was consistent with localised kinks in the magnetic field and the flapping associated with the transient perturbations to the dusk–dawn flow observed by C1. We therefore suggest that the flapping overcame the dusk–dawn sense of the large-scale convection which we would expect to have been net duskward in this case. We conclude that invocation of the untwisting hypothesis may be inappropriate when interpreting intervals of dynamic magnetotail behaviour such as during current sheet flapping, particularly at locations where magnetotail flaring becomes dominant.

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.

A two-dimensional analysis of the compressible flow near a reconnection site at the dayside magnetopause

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
LARS G. WESTERBERG ◽  
HANS O. ÅKERSTEDT
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Transition Layer ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
The North ◽  
Dayside Magnetopause ◽  
Reconnection Site ◽  
Ideal Magnetohydrodynamic ◽  
North And South ◽  
Magnetic Field Variations ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract.A compressible model of the magnetosheath plasma flow is considered. Magnetic reconnection is assumed to occur in a region stretching from the sub-Solar point to the north. Two locations of the reconnection site are treated: two and four Earth radii from the sub-Solar point, respectively. By treating the transition layer as very thin, we solve the governing equations approximately using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The behavior of the magnetic field and the plasma velocity close to a reconnection site during the transition from the magnetosheath to the magnetosphere is investigated. We also obtain the development of the transition layer thickness north and south of the reconnection point. The magnetopause transition layer is represented by a large-amplitude Alfvén wave implying that the density is approximately the same across the magnetopause boundary. In order to match the solutions we consider a compressible ideal magnetohydrodynamic model describing density, velocity and magnetic field variations along the outer magnetopause boundary. We also compare the analytical results with solutions from a numerical simulation. The compressible effects on the structure of the magnetic field and the total velocity evolution are visible but not dramatic. It is shown that the transition layer north of the reconnection point is thinner than to the south. The effect is stronger for reconnection at higher latitudes.

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.

The Geosynchronous Substorm

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F. Kennel
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Growth Phase ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Current System ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
Geosynchronous Orbit ◽  
Sudden Increase ◽  
Tail Current ◽  
Tightly Coupled ◽  
The Cross

The reconnection model of substorms deals with the large-scale changes in the structure of the magnetosphere and tail as convection intensifies following a sudden increase in the dayside reconnection rate. The model has difficulty making statements relevant to the small scales that characterize auroral onset. However, there has been considerable progress in assembling high-resolution observations of the events in space that now appear to be tightly coupled to the dramatic auroral events that first defined the term substorm. We will call this clear and consistent ensemble the geosynchronous model of substorms, since most of it was first conceived from observations made on geostationary spacecraft. We will also include in this ensemble the recent observations made using the quasigeostationary spacecraft, AMPTE/CCE, and so, by the geosynchronous substorm, we really mean the substorm as it appears on the earth's nightside typically between 6 and, say, 10 RE downtail. The earth’s magnetic field at geosynchronous orbit is about 100 nT, some three times larger than in the tail lobes. Study of quiet field intervals singles out the dependence of the geosynchronous field on solar wind dynamic pressure, since the modulation due to changes in the direction of the interplanetary field is presumably negligible during quiet conditions. The periodic variations in the quiet field depend on local time, season, and orientation of the earth’s dipole axis relative to spacecraft location (McPherron and Barfield, 1980; Rufenach et al., 1992). Superposed on the quiet field are perturbations up to about 50 nT due to several magnetospheric current systems, including the magnetopause current, the ring current, and the cross-tail current; the most striking are due to changes in the cross-tail current system. Observations from geosynchronous orbit were the first to indicate that the nightside magnetic field becomes more “tail-like” during substorm growth phase, and more dipolar during the expansion phase. This simple observation is the foundation on which today’s elaborate geosynchronous substorm model rests. The geosynchronous field becomes progressively more “tail-like” as the cross-tail current system intensifies and/or moves earthward during the substorm growth phase (McPherron et al., 1975; Coleman and McPherron, 1976; McPherron, 1979; Kauffmann, 1987).

V.—Dissymmetrical Separations in the Zeeman Effect in Tungsten and Molybdenum

1909 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jack
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Wave Length ◽  
Zeeman Effect ◽  
Normal Type ◽  
Single Spectrum ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Middle Component ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Magnetic Field

It has been mentioned by Professor Voigt of Göttingen in his newly published book and by Professor Zeeman of Amsterdam in the Physikalische Zeitschrift, that I have found examples of strongly marked dissymmetry in studying the Zeeman Effect in tungsten and molybdenum. Professor Zeeman has also discovered and published such cases of dissymmetry in other elements. Not only have many examples of normal dissymmetry been found, but almost as many cases of abnormal dissymmetry. To explain those terms, normal and abnormal, let us consider that the single spectrum line is broken up, when the light is in the magnetic field, into the three components, 1, 2, 3, where the numbers begin from the component which has the shortest wave-length. In the normal dissymmetrical triplet the middle component is nearer the component on the red side than that on the violet one, i.e. for the normal type the interval 1–2 is greater than the interval 2–3, but in the abnormal dissymmetrical triplet 2 is nearer to 1 than to 3. These observations of Professor Zeeman and myself, which were made at the same time in the Universities of Amsterdam and Göttingen, having been communicated to Professor Voigt, he wrote and published in the above-mentioned book an extension to his and Professor H. A. Lorentz's theories of the Zeeman Effect. In his original theory Professor Voigt had shown that, considering the electrons as uncoupled, cases of normal dissymmetry might arise among the Zeeman triplets, this dissymmetry being accompanied by a greater intensity of the red component than the violet one. He pointed out also that the ‘absolute’ dissymmetry or the difference between the absolute displacements of the red and violet components should be independent of the magnetic field strength used to produce the Zeeman Effect. To explain the large numbers of complicated types of Zeeman Effect which have been found —in the study of the Zeeman Effect in tungsten I discovered lines with no fewer than 17 to 19 components, the largest numbers hitherto found—Professors Voigt and Lorentz made use in their theories of couplings between electrons of the same vibration frequencies.

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