Magnetic Field Aligned Potentials as an Acceleration Mechanism at Jupiter

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>

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj K. Soni ◽  
Bharati Kakad ◽  
Amar Kakad

Abstract In the Earth’s inner magnetosphere, there exist regions like plasmasphere, ring current, and radiation belts, where the population of charged particles trapped along the magnetic field lines is more. These particles keep performing gyration, bounce and drift motions until they enter the loss cone and get precipitated to the neutral atmosphere. Theoretically, the mirror point latitude of a particle performing bounce motion is decided only by its equatorial pitch angle. This theoretical manifestation is based on the conservation of the first adiabatic invariant, which assumes that the magnetic field varies slowly relative to the gyro-period and gyro-radius. However, the effects of gyro-motion cannot be neglected when gyro-period and gyro-radius are large. In such a scenario, the theoretically estimated mirror point latitudes of electrons are likely to be in agreement with the actual trajectories due to their small gyro-radius. Nevertheless, for protons and other heavier charged particles like oxygen, the gyro-radius is relatively large, and the actual latitude of the mirror point may not be the same as estimated from the theory. In this context, we have carried out test particle simulations and found that the L-shell, energy, and gyro-phase of the particles do affect their mirror points. Our simulations demonstrate that the existing theoretical expression sometimes overestimates or underestimates the magnetic mirror point latitude depending on the value of L-shell, energy and gyro-phase due to underlying guiding centre approximation. For heavier particles like proton and oxygen, the location of the mirror point obtained from the simulation deviates considerably (∼ 10°–16°) from their theoretical values when energy and L-shell of the particle are higher. Furthermore, the simulations show that the particles with lower equatorial pitch angles have their mirror points inside the high or mid-latitude ionosphere.


We construct a non-local kinetic equation for a plasma in a very strong magnetic field B where the charged particles coincide with their guiding centres and have zero drifts. It is shown that, although in this system mass transport occurs only along the field lines, heat transport cannot be confined only in the direction of the magnetic field. In particular, we estimate that a finite cross field heat flux scaling as 3/2 n ∂ T /∂ t = ∂( k ∞ ⊥ ∂ T /∂ x )∂ x ; k ∞ ⊥ = 3/2π ½ ( n 2 e 4 / m ½ T 3/2 ) L 2 ⊥ can be driven by collisions between like particles at the limit B → ∞. Hence, the classical B -2 dependence of k ⊥ must be modified to comply with this result. The choice of the cut-off length L ⊥ , representing the distance across B over which electrostatic interactions can be sustained, is discussed briefly at the end of the present work.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneesah Kamran ◽  
Emma Bunce ◽  
Stanley Cowley ◽  
Jonathan Nichols ◽  
Gabrielle Provan

<p>We present a comparison of magnetic field data collected by the NASA Juno spacecraft, with the magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling model for the Jovian system developed by the University of Leicester. We study the magnetic field of Jupiter, in the Northern Hemisphere, for Perijoves 1-13. By virtue of the offset of the magnetic field to the rotation axis and the subsequent “wobble” of the Juno trajectory in magnetic coordinates, these northern hemisphere portions of PJs 1-13 see the spacecraft traversing the magnetic field lines connecting to the inner, middle, outer and tail regions of the magnetosphere. As such, even away from the close Perijove period, the observations contain evidence of the expected magnetic field perturbations associated with field-aligned currents associated with this fundamental MI coupling. In this study, therefore, we focus on investigating the nature of the field-aligned current signatures evident in the residual azimuthal field (having subtracted the Connerney et al 2018 JRM09 internal magnetic field model) along the magnetic field lines outside of the close periapsides. We map the residual azimuthal field signatures into the ionosphere, and calculate the corresponding ionospheric Pedersen current on an orbit by orbit basis. We compare the magnitude and distribution of these field-aligned current signatures to those expected from the Leicester model, and consider the observed orbit-by-orbit variation as a function of ionospheric colatitude and longitude. We deduce estimates for the field-aligned current densities on auroral field lines for each observation using the Pedersen currents and their distribution in co-latitude, and compare to the previous work of Kotsiaros et al [2019]. We discuss possible reasons for the variations we see, and present the next steps of our broader analysis.</p>


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.


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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory G. Howes ◽  
Sofiane Bourouaine

Plasma turbulence occurs ubiquitously in space and astrophysical plasmas, mediating the nonlinear transfer of energy from large-scale electromagnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales at which the energy may be ultimately converted to plasma heat. But plasma turbulence also generically leads to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting wander of the magnetic field lines may significantly impact a number of important physical processes, including the propagation of cosmic rays and energetic particles, confinement in magnetic fusion devices and the fundamental processes of turbulence, magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration. The various potential impacts of magnetic field line wander are reviewed in detail, and a number of important theoretical considerations are identified that may influence the development and saturation of magnetic field line wander in astrophysical plasma turbulence. The results of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence of sub-ion length scales are evaluated to understand the development and saturation of the turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and of the magnetic field line wander. It is found that turbulent space and astrophysical plasmas are generally expected to contain a stochastic magnetic field due to the tangling of the field by strong plasma turbulence. Future work will explore how the saturated magnetic field line wander varies as a function of the amplitude of the plasma turbulence and the ratio of the thermal to magnetic pressure, known as the plasma beta.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. M. Walker ◽  
G. J. Sofko

Abstract. When studying magnetospheric convection, it is often necessary to map the steady-state electric field, measured at some point on a magnetic field line, to a magnetically conjugate point in the other hemisphere, or the equatorial plane, or at the position of a satellite. Such mapping is relatively easy in a dipole field although the appropriate formulae are not easily accessible. They are derived and reviewed here with some examples. It is not possible to derive such formulae in more realistic geomagnetic field models. A new method is described in this paper for accurate mapping of electric fields along field lines, which can be used for any field model in which the magnetic field and its spatial derivatives can be computed. From the spatial derivatives of the magnetic field three first order differential equations are derived for the components of the normalized element of separation of two closely spaced field lines. These can be integrated along with the magnetic field tracing equations and Faraday's law used to obtain the electric field as a function of distance measured along the magnetic field line. The method is tested in a simple model consisting of a dipole field plus a magnetotail model. The method is shown to be accurate, convenient, and suitable for use with more realistic geomagnetic field models.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document