Some sources of plasma inhomogeneities in the solar wind in front of the Earth’s magnetosphere

The origination of various plasma inhomogeneities in the magnetosheath in front of the Earth’s magnetosphere is analyzed within classical magnetohydrodynamics. The effect of directional discontinuities or tangential and rotational discontinuities of the solar wind on plasma is studied. The origination of inhomogeneities of the type of secondary MHD waves in the magnetosheath is shown; the former equalize plasma parameters when restoring the stationary state. The effect of a rotational discontinuity on the bow shock–Earth’s magnetosphere system is of special interest, with distinguishing of plasma inhomogeneities of the plateau type observed in the near-Earth space.     

Pc1 waves in the system of solar–terrestrial relations: New reflections

This paper is devoted to the beautiful and mysterious Pc1 geoelectromagnetic waves that attract the attention of many researchers all over the world as an essential element of the space physics. It is concluded that in spite of the recent progress in the investigation of Pc1 waves, it is still necessary to make a careful study of some unsettled problems posed in the past. Relevant problems and disputable issues of the physics of Pc1 waves are discussed in this paper. The discussion is started with the paradoxical dependence of the Pc1 wave activity on the solar wind plasma density, which is considered as the key problem. It is argued that the solution of this paradox is of paramount importance to understand the 11-year solar cycle variation of the Pc1 occurrence rate, interplay between Pc1 and oxygen ions in the magnetosphere, impact of interplanetary magnetic field sector boundaries on the Pc1 wave activity, and other similar problems. A schematic picture showing the place of Pc1 waves in the system of solar–terrestrial relations is presented.     

太阳风湍流和磁层亚暴的一种机制

太阳风的动量涨落将通过磁层边界在磁尾激发磁流体力学波。快磁声波携带扰动能量传到等离子体片中,发展为激波,或者通过激波的相互作用而耗散能量,使等离子体加热。等离子体片中的随机费米加速机制,使麦克斯韦分布尾巴部分的高能量粒子被加速到更高能。在宁静态时,加热、加速与耗散过程平衡。当太阳风的动量或者其涨落较大时,整个加热和加速过程加剧,更多的高能粒子产生,并从等离子体片中逃逸,形成高速的等离子体流注入近地轨道和极区,表现为磁层亚暴过程。利用这种机制,可以解释地球磁层亚暴的定性特征。     

Impact of interplanetary shock on parameters of plasma turbulence in the Earth’s magnetosheath

Data from the BMSW spectrometer, which measures the ion flux value and sometimes plasma parameters with a time resolution of 31 ms, allow the study of the parameters of turbulence of the solar wind and magnetosheath plasma on kinetic scales. In this work, the frequency spectra of the ion flux fluctuations before and after recording the interplanetary shock front in the Earth’s magnetosheath are compared based on these data. It is shown that, in contrast to the solar wind, where the exponential decay of the spectrum often occurs after the shock front on the kinetic scales, no such phenomenon is observed in the magnetosheath: the spectrum on these scales can be approximated by a power function in all the cases considered. In half of these cases, the spectrum slope on the kinetic scales does not change during the interplanetary shock propagation. The results indicate a weak impact of interplanetary shock waves on the parameters of the plasma turbulence. In addition, it is shown that an interplanetary shock does not change the level of intermittency of the ion flux in the magnetosheath at both low and high level before the front.     

耀斑-行星际激波结构与相应地磁扰动结构间关系的分析（Ⅰ）

利用297个耀斑-行星际激波-地磁扰动事件,统计研究了耀斑-行星际激波等离子体结构与相应磁扰结构间的关系,新的发现是:当激波面后的磁场南、北分量不大时,激波等离子体结构决定着相应磁扰的基本结构形态,特别是等离子体热状态与相应磁扰的恢复相关系十分密切.由本文定义的激波能量传输指数--FS指数对相应地磁扰动能给出较好的描述.推论:除磁重联这类能量传输机制外,对于行星际磁场南、北分量较小时,还可能存在以等离子体过程为基础的决定磁扰变化结构的太阳风-磁层能量传输机制,应进一步研究.     

The Influence of Parameters of the Interplanetary Medium and Magnetosheath Boundaries on the Correlation Coefficient between the Ion Flux Measured in the Solar Wind and the Magnetosheath

In this paper, the correlation coefficient between the ion fluxes in the solar wind and the magnetosheath is analyzed with the use of data of two satellites of the THEMIS mission and the THEMIS/Spektr-R satellites obtained in 2008 and 2011?2014, respectively. We have distinguished the conditions in which a high level of correlation between the measurements in the solar wind and the magnetosheath is observed, i.e., the correlation coefficient exceeds 0.7. As key factors, we consider both direct parameters of the solar wind, such as the density, the magnetic field magnitude, the magnetosonic Mach number, and the ratio β of the thermal pressure to the magnetic, and a more general factor—the type of large-scale structure of the solar wind. In addition, the effect of the satellite location in the magnetosheath relative to its boundaries—the bow shock and the magnetopause—on the correlation level is considered. It has been shown that, in roughly one third of cases, the plasma structures of the solar wind undergo a strong modification at the bow shock and in the magnetosheath, which results in a low correlation level corresponding to a correlation coefficient of less than 0.5; a high correlation level is observed in half of cases, i.e., the plasma structures are weakly disturbed. It has been determined that (1) the low correlation level in the magnetosheath behind quasi-perpendicular bow shock is more often observed near the magnetopause than in region just behind the bow shock, (2) the probability of observations of a high correlation level is independent of the profile shape of the quasi-perpendicular bow shock, and (3) the high correlation is more probable for the events corresponding to the solar wind of the Corotating Interaction Region (CIR) type than for those with the other solar wind types observed in the considered period.     

Model studying the effect of the solar terminator on the thermospheric parameters

The results of model studying the mechanism of formation of large-scale disturbances in the thermosphere under the action of short-period waves propagating from the middle atmosphere are presented. The region of the solar terminator is considered as a source of such waves. The calculation results for the summer conditions in the Northern Hemisphere indicate that such an energy source, local in the space and time, results in the formation of large-scale inhomogeneities at altitudes of 120–160 km. A disturbance of these inhomogeneities is caused by the nonlinear and dissipative processes accompanying HF propagation in the terminator region. Large-scale disturbances have a quasistationary character and are localized near the morning and evening terminators. Vortex motions around the pole at altitudes of 140–160 km are formed at nigh latitudes of the winter hemisphere under the polar night conditions.     

DETERMINATION OF LATERAL INHOMOGENEITIES IN REFLECTION SEISMICS BY INVERSION OF TRAVELTIME RESIDUALS*

Lateral inhomogeneities generate fluctuations in the traveltime of seismic waves. By evaluation of these traveltime fluctuations from different source and receiver positions, lateral inhomogeneities can be located using a pseudo inverse matrix method (Aki, Christoffersson and Husebye 1977). The formulation of the problem is possible for transmitted waves as well as for reflected and refracted waves. In reflection seismics this method is of importance, if no reflections from the inhomogeneities themselves, but only reflections from lower boundaries can be observed. The basic assumptions for the mathematical formulation are (1) the average velocities and depths of the reflecting horizons are known already from standard processing methods, and (2) the traveltime residuals are due to lateral velocity changes between different reflectors or between reflectors and the surface. The area of the earth to be considered is divided into layers and the layers into rectangular blocks. The parallel displacement of a ray after passing a disturbed block is neglected, only the traveltime residual is taken into account. In this paper the method and its application to data obtained with two-dimensional models are described.     

慢激波在快激波下游演化的限制

慢激波的演化受其上游介质性质的制约，在等离子体热压与磁压之比β值和离子、电子温度比Ｔｉ／Ｔｅ大于１的介质中不利于慢波变陡形成慢激波。由飞船ＨｅｌｉｏｓＡ，Ｂ探测资料看出，在日心距０．３-１．０ＡＵ区间只有慢速太阳风流中存在有利于慢激波形成的条件。但理论计算和飞船观测指出，在快激波下游流场中β值和Ｔｉ／Ｔｅ都增大，因而在上述区间不论何种流速的太阳风中当有快激波经过后其下游流场内很难形成慢激波。     

Intermittency of the solar wind density near the interplanetary shock

The properties of turbulent fluctuations of the solar wind plasma near the interplanetary shock observed at September 12, 2014 by the BMSW instrument are considered. The spectra of the density fluctuations in the solar wind and their statistical characteristics up-and downstream of the shock front are analyzed. They are compared with each other and with characteristics corresponding to different turbulence models. It is shown that the spectral and statistical characteristics of the density fluctuations in the solar wind conserve their basic properties after the arrival of an interplanetary shock. Intermittency is observed both before and after the front, but its level increases on average in the second case. In both regions, the scaling of the structure functions of the density fluctuations in the solar wind differ from the scaling of the classical Kolmogorov model and can be described by the log-Poisson turbulence model. Parameterization of the scaling of the structure functions revealed the presence of filamentary structures in the solar wind plasma, which provide the density intermittency in the studied space regions.     

Nonlinear phenomena related to the solar shock motion in the Earth’s magnetosphere

The motion of the MHD nonlinear shock in the Earth’s magnetosphere is considered in the scope of magnetic hydrodynamics. This wave comes from the solar wind and is refracted into the magnetosphere, generating a fast return rarefaction wave. It has been indicated that a wave refracted into the magnetosphere is a weak fast dissipative shock, propagating in magnetospheric plasma at a velocity higher than its propagation velocity in a solar wind stream. The wave motion near the Earth-Sun line with regard to the effect of the geomagnetic field transverse component is described. In this case, shock damping follows the generalized Crussard-Landau law and a wave retains its shock character up to the plasmapause, interacting with this region when an arbitrary MHD discontinuity is disintegrated. It is stated that an MHD shock loses its shock character when moving in a strongly inhomogeneous plasma within the plasmasphere and a weak shock reflected from the plasmapause can combine with a return secondary shock in the magnetosheath, promoting the experimentally observed backward motion of the bow shock front.     

Exact solutions of magnetohydrodynamics for describing different structural disturbances in solar wind

We use analytical methods of magnetohydrodynamics to describe the behavior of cosmic plasma. This approach makes it possible to describe different structural fields of disturbances in solar wind: shock waves, direction discontinuities, magnetic clouds and magnetic holes, and their interaction with each other and with the Earth’s magnetosphere. We note that the wave problems of solar–terrestrial physics can be efficiently solved by the methods designed for solving classical problems of mathematical physics. We find that the generalized Riemann solution particularly simplifies the consideration of secondary waves in the magnetosheath and makes it possible to describe in detail the classical solutions of boundary value problems. We consider the appearance of a fast compression wave in the Earth’s magnetosheath, which is reflected from the magnetosphere and can nonlinearly overturn to generate a back shock wave. We propose a new mechanism for the formation of a plateau with protons of increased density and a magnetic field trough in the magnetosheath due to slow secondary shock waves. Most of our findings are confirmed by direct observations conducted on spacecrafts (WIND, ACE, Geotail, Voyager-2, SDO and others).     

Particle energy fluxes in an unstable plasma with vortex structures in an inhomogeneous geomagnetic field in the topside ionosphere

Plasma inhomogeneities extending along geomagnetic field lines in the ionosphere and magnetosphere can have a vortex structure. Electromagnetic waves can propagate in plasma inhomogeneities in the waveguide channel mode. It has been indicated that energy and particle fluxes related to the development of small-scale electrostatic turbulence in a magnetized plasma with an unstable electron component promotes an increase in plasma density gradients in the walls of waveguide channels and an enhancement in plasma vortices. At low L shells in the region of the geomagnetic equator, the development of plasma electrostatic instability and the damping of drifting plasma vortices in the inhomogeneous geomagnetic field in the topside ionosphere can be the main mechanism by which large-scale (∼1000 km) regions with a decreased plasma density are formed.     

MHD evolutionary processes in the Earth’s model magnetic resonator

Specific features of the spatial-temporal dynamics of LF disturbances of the Earth’s magnetosphere have been analyzed by the method of numerical simulation of magnetic hydrodynamic equations taking into account plasma temperature variations. The effects related to the appearance of long-living magnetospheric jumps of density and temperature, MHD wave scattering on such inhomogeneities, Alfvén wave reflection from the near-Earth region, and magnetospheric plasma heating as a result of dissipative processes at a repeated propagation of MHD waves between magnetically conjugate regions have been considered. The problems of conformity of the discrete mathematical model with continuous equations of magnetic hydrodynamics are discussed.     

Using the nonlinear geometrical acoustics method in the problem of moreton and EUV wave propagation in the solar corona

Propagation of shock related Moreton and EUV waves in the solar atmosphere is simulated by the nonlinear geometrical acoustics method. This method is based on the ray approximation and takes account of nonlinear wave features: dependence of the wave velocity on its amplitude, nonlinear dissipation of wave energy in the shock front, and the increase in its duration with time. The paper describes ways of applying this method to solve the propagation problem of a blast magnetohydrodynamic shock wave. Results of analytical modeling of EUV and Moreton waves in the spherically symmetric and isothermal solar corona are also presented. The calculations demonstrate deceleration of these waves and an increase in their duration. The calculation results of the kinematics of the EUV wave observed on the Sun on January 17, 2010 are presented as an example.     

Nature of the scattered seismic response from zones of random clusters of cavities and fractures in a massive rock

The scattering of elastic energy by random clusters of fractures and/or cavities in a massive rock is studied. The interpretation of the scattered seismic response reveals crucial information about the clusters of inhomogeneities (fractures/cavities), which may correspond to reservoirs. The study is based on a new two‐dimensional numerical‐modelling method that relaxes the constraints on the location and orientation of the inhomogeneities, accounts for inhomogeneities that have almost no volume but a finite surface area (fractures) and improves the accuracy of the calculation when the size of the inhomogeneities is comparable to the mesh size. It is shown that the nature of the seismic response of zones of diffuse fracturing and/or cavities is associated with the non‐uniformity of micro‐inhomogeneities in such zones; accumulations of these micro‐inhomogeneities are known as clusters. The relationship between the non‐uniformity of micro‐inhomogeneities and the strength of the seismic response has been established and measured. Considerable differences in the structure of the seismic response of zones of diffuse fracturing and diffuse cavities have been identified. Converted PS‐waves dominate in the scattered wavefield associated with fractures. This is explained, as the modelling results show, by a greater transparency of fluid‐filled fractures, which reduces the reflected energy of compressional waves. The wavefield associated with cavities is characterized by the predominance (in terms of strength) of compressional PP‐waves. The strength of converted PS‐waves in the scattered wavefields for both media is approximately the same. On the whole, according to the results of the modelling, the energy of the scattered response of fractured reservoirs is considerably less (about two times) than that of cavernous reservoirs.     

太阳风动量涨落激发磁层亚暴的机制

本文将太阳风涨落传输能量产生磁层亚暴的机制推广到无碰撞等离子体过程。太阳风的涨落在磁层顶激发压缩阿尔文波,并在磁尾的无碰撞等离子体中传播。尾瓣中满足条件β?1,而等离子体片中β≥1,其中β为等离子体压力与磁压之比。这样,快磁声波在尾瓣中几乎不衰减,而在等离子体片中很快衰减,将波动能量耗散在等离子体片中使等离子体加热或者粒子加速。这种机制还表明,磁尾等离子体片中的高能粒子可以由太阳风涨落动能耗散而被加速,不一定是直接源于太阳。     

Ionospheric effects of ground motion: The roles of magnetic field and nonlinearity

Transformation of infrasound to magnetic sound upon propagation from ground level up to the ionosphere is considered. It is shown that upon entering the ionospheric layers at altitudes of order 150–170 km, the wave dynamics changes sharply. Nonlinear effects, including shock formation, are also considered. The shocks are typically formed in a relatively narrow range of altitudes, or not formed at all. Generalization of the model to a case of oblique propagation is briefly considered, and the effects of atmospheric profile variation and of finite plasma conductivity are estimated. Along with providing qualitative insight, the model gives some realistic estimates for waves generated by earthquakes.     

ULF/ELF monochromatic oscillations observed by Prognoz-8 and -10 spacecrafts during quasiperpendicular supercritical shock crossings

The present paper analyses electromagnetic turbulence in the frequency range 0.1-75 Hz, associated with the supercritical quasiperpendicular crossings of the Earth’s bow shock recorded by the Prognoz-8 and -10 satellites. The quasimonochromatic waves are identified in the shock transition region. Their frequencies, lying in the range 2–5 Hz upstream from the shock ramp, shift to a value less than 1 Hz in the downstream region. The amplitudes of these narrow emissions are great enough to provide the primary dissipation in the flow of the solar wind plasma. Electromagnetic oscillations with such properties are likely to be generated during non-linear evolution of the shock front, rather than by the instabilities driven by ion and electron drifts. Emissions with frequencies higher than 5 Hz have much smaller amplitudes and may be driven by lower hybrid-like instabilities.     

地球弓激波前的低频磁流体波

一、引言 在地球弓激波前存在着低频磁流体波。这种低频磁流体波是太阳风在地球弓激波上的反射粒子和太阳风粒子之间相互作用产生的。根据人造卫星的观测资料可以得到,在地球弓激波前,Pc3-4脉动频率范围内的低频磁流体波的主频率和行星际磁场强度