Influence of time-variable solar wind on the response of Mercury’s magnetosphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sae Aizawa ◽  
Nicolas André ◽  
Ronan Modolo ◽  
Elisabeth Werner ◽  
Jim Slavin ◽  
...  

<p><span lang="EN-GB">BepiColombo is going to conduct its first Mercury flyby in October 2021. During this flyby,  plasma measurement will be obtained and bring new insights on the Hermean magnetosphere and its interaction with the Sun despite the limited field of view of the instruments during the cruise phase. Unlike Mariner-10 ion measurements will be obtained, and unlike MESSENGER, low energy electrons and ions will be measured simultaneously. In this study, we have revisited Mariner 10 and MESSENGER observations with the help of the global hybrid model LatHyS in order to understand the influence of time-variable solar wind and to constraint the plasma environment. We are able to reproduce the magnetic field observations of Mariner 10 along its trajectory with in particular two distinct signatures consisting of a quiet and disturbed state of the magnetosphere. In addition, the plasma spectrogram is also collected in the model and this enables us to detail the properties of the charged particles observed during the flyby. We will discuss all these signatures both in term of an interaction with a time-variable solar wind and localized processes occurring in the magnetosphere. We will then present the virtual sampling of both the magnetic field and plasma spectrogram along BepiColombo’s first Mercury flyby trajectory and discuss the possible signatures to be observed at that time.</span></p>

Author(s):  
G. G. Hembree ◽  
Luo Chuan Hong ◽  
P.A. Bennett ◽  
J.A. Venables

A new field emission scanning transmission electron microscope has been constructed for the NSF HREM facility at Arizona State University. The microscope is to be used for studies of surfaces, and incorporates several surface-related features, including provision for analysis of secondary and Auger electrons; these electrons are collected through the objective lens from either side of the sample, using the parallelizing action of the magnetic field. This collimates all the low energy electrons, which spiral in the high magnetic field. Given an initial field Bi∼1T, and a final (parallelizing) field Bf∼0.01T, all electrons emerge into a cone of semi-angle θf≤6°. The main practical problem in the way of using this well collimated beam of low energy (0-2keV) electrons is that it is travelling along the path of the (100keV) probing electron beam. To collect and analyze them, they must be deflected off the beam path with minimal effect on the probe position.


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 609-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. J. Huttunen ◽  
J. Slavin ◽  
M. Collier ◽  
H. E. J. Koskinen ◽  
A. Szabo ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sudden impulses (SI) in the tail lobe magnetic field associated with solar wind pressure enhancements are investigated using measurements from Cluster. The magnetic field components during the SIs change in a manner consistent with the assumption that an antisunward moving lateral pressure enhancement compresses the magnetotail axisymmetrically. We found that the maximum variance SI unit vectors were nearly aligned with the associated interplanetary shock normals. For two of the tail lobe SI events during which Cluster was located close to the tail boundary, Cluster observed the inward moving magnetopause. During both events, the spacecraft location changed from the lobe to the magnetospheric boundary layer. During the event on 6 November 2001 the magnetopause was compressed past Cluster. We applied the 2-D Cartesian model developed by collier98 in which a vacuum uniform tail lobe magnetic field is compressed by a step-like pressure increase. The model underestimates the compression of the magnetic field, but it fits the magnetic field maximum variance component well. For events for which we could determine the shock normal orientation, the differences between the observed and calculated shock propagation times from the location of WIND/Geotail to the location of Cluster were small. The propagation speeds of the SIs between the Cluster spacecraft were comparable to the solar wind speed. Our results suggest that the observed tail lobe SIs are due to lateral increases in solar wind dynamic pressure outside the magnetotail boundary.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2457-2474 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Forsyth ◽  
M. Lester ◽  
R. C. Fear ◽  
E. Lucek ◽  
I. Dandouras ◽  
...  

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.


2010 ◽  
Vol 97-101 ◽  
pp. 4141-4145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Min Shi ◽  
Er Liang Liu ◽  
Yong Jiang Niu ◽  
Yu Quan Chen

Traditionally, the magnetic field is always vertical to the electrical field in a magnetic-electrochemical compound polishing.The magnetic field is set to parallel the electrical field in this paper. The mathematical model of the charged particles movement in a magnetic field is established through the analysis of its movement process when using Coulomb laws and Lorentz force. Through constructing the velocity formulation and loci formulation, the function of the magnetic field is proved. Because of the magnetic field, the concentration polarization of electrochemical reaction can be reduced more and the electrochemical reaction can be accelerated easily than the traditional polishing in which the magnetic field is vertical to the electrical field. Finally, to verify the model, the magnetic-electrochemical compound polishing process has been tested and the results, compared with those obtained from the model, have shown the movement model is reasonable and the analysis to function of magnetic field is correct.


2018 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 03003
Author(s):  
Polya Dobreva ◽  
Monio Kartalev ◽  
Olga Nitcheva ◽  
Natalia Borodkova ◽  
Georgy Zastenker

We investigate the behaviour of the plasma parameters in the magnetosheath in a case when Interball-1 satellite stayed in the magnetosheath, crossing the tail magnetopause. In our analysis we apply the numerical magnetosheath-magnetosphere model as a theoretical tool. The bow shock and the magnetopause are self-consistently determined in the process of the solution. The flow in the magnetosheath is governed by the Euler equations of compressible ideal gas. The magnetic field in the magnetosphere is calculated by a variant of the Tsyganenko model, modified to account for an asymmetric magnetopause. Also, the magnetopause currents in Tsyganenko model are replaced by numericaly calulated ones. Measurements from WIND spacecraft are used as a solar wind monitor. The results demonstrate a good agreement between the model-calculated and measured values of the parameters under investigation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mĕrka ◽  
J. Šafránková ◽  
Z. Nĕmeček

Abstract. The width of the cusp region is an indicator of the strength of the merging process and the degree of opening of the magnetosphere. During three years, the Magion-4 satellite, as part of the Interball project, has collected a unique data set of cusp-like plasma observations in middle and high altitudes. For a comparison of high- and low-altitude cusp determination, we map our observations of cusp-like plasma along the magnetic field lines down to the Earth’s surface. We use the Tsyganenko and Stern 1996 model of the magnetospheric magnetic field for the mapping, taking actual solar wind and IMF parameters from the Wind observations. The footprint positions show substantial latitudinal dependence on the dipole tilt angle. We fit this dependence with a linear function and subtract this function from observed cusp position. This process allows us to study both statistical width and location of the inspected region as a function of the solar wind and IMF parameters. Our processing of the Magion-4 measurements shows that high-altitude regions occupied by the cusp-like plasma (cusp and cleft) are projected onto a much broader area (in magnetic local time as well as in a latitude) than that determined in low altitudes. The trends of the shift of the cusp position with changes in the IMF direction established by low-altitude observations have been confirmed.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layer; solar wind – magnetosphere interactions)


2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 785-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kis ◽  
M. Scholer ◽  
B. Klecker ◽  
H. Kucharek ◽  
E. A. Lucek ◽  
...  

Abstract. Field-aligned beams are known to originate from the quasi-perpendicular side of the Earth's bow shock, while the diffuse ion population consists of accelerated ions at the quasi-parallel side of the bow shock. The two distinct ion populations show typical characteristics in their velocity space distributions. By using particle and magnetic field measurements from one Cluster spacecraft we present a case study when the two ion populations are observed simultaneously in the foreshock region during a high Mach number, high solar wind velocity event. We present the spatial-temporal evolution of the field-aligned beam ion distribution in front of the Earth's bow shock, focusing on the processes in the deep foreshock region, i.e. on the quasi-parallel side. Our analysis demonstrates that the scattering of field-aligned beam (FAB) ions combined with convection by the solar wind results in the presence of lower-energy, toroidal gyrating ions at positions deeper in the foreshock region which are magnetically connected to the quasi-parallel bow shock. The gyrating ions are superposed onto a higher energy diffuse ion population. It is suggested that the toroidal gyrating ion population observed deep in the foreshock region has its origins in the FAB and that its characteristics are correlated with its distance from the FAB, but is independent on distance to the bow shock along the magnetic field.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Constable ◽  
Licia Ray ◽  
Sarah Badman ◽  
Chris Arridge ◽  
Chris Lorch ◽  
...  

<p>Since arriving at Jupiter, Juno has observed instances of field-aligned proton and electron beams, in both the upward and downward current regions. These field-aligned beams are identified by inverted-V structures in plasma data, which indicate the presence of potential structures aligned with the magnetic field. The direction, magnitude and location of these potential structures is important, as it affects the characteristics of any resultant field-aligned current. At high latitudes, Juno has observed potentials of 100’s of kV occurring in both directions. Charged particles that are accelerated into Jupiter’s atmosphere and precipitate can excite aurora; likewise, particles accelerated away from the planet can contribute to the population of the magnetosphere.</p> <p>Using a time-varying 1-D spatial, 2-D velocity space Vlasov code, we examine magnetic field lines which extend from Jupiter into the middle magnetosphere. By applying and varying a potential difference at the ionosphere, we can gain insight into the effect these have on the plasma population, the potential structure, and plasma densities along the field line. Utilising a non-uniform mesh, additional resolution is applied in regions where particle acceleration occurs, allowing the spatial and temporal evolution of the plasma to be examined. Here, we present new results from our model, constrained, and compared with recent Juno observations, and examining both the upward and downward current regions.</p>


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