磁尾中交换不稳定性所产生偶极化锋面的动力学特性研究

本文利用考虑了Hall效应和有限Larmor半径（FLR）效应的磁流体数值模拟研究了在离子惯性长度/离子Larmor半径尺度内偶极化锋面的动力学特性.偶极化锋面由磁尾近地区域中由于热压尾向梯度和磁场曲率力不平衡所引起的交换不稳定性自洽产生.数值研究表明,偶极化锋面是切向间断,在相对该锋面结构静止的参考系中等离子体穿过偶极化锋面的法向速度为零.Hall效应主要影响与偶极化锋面的切平面相正交的电场,使得锋面切向电流增大,同时产生锋面结构不对称.研究表明离子在Larmor半径尺度产生的FLR效应可导致锋面结构的大尺度漂移运动.由FLR效应产生的离子磁化流速在偶极化锋面的日下点处指向昏向,锋面后区域的速度晨向分量增长,从而导致整个锋面结构向晨向漂移.     

Possible role of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in auroral arc generation

Three models for the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling feedback instability are considered. The first model is based on demagnetization of hot ions in the plasma sheet. The instability takes place in the global magnetosphere-ionosphere system when magnetospheric electrons drift through a spatial gradient of hot magnetospheric ion population. Such a situation exists on the inner and outer edges of the plasma sheet where relatively cold magnetospheric electrons move earthward through a radial gradient of hot ions. This leads to the formation of field-aligned currents. The effect of upward field-aligned current on particle precipitation and the magnitude of ionospheric conductivity leads to the instability of this earthward convection and to its division into convection streams oriented at some angle with respect to the initial convection direction. The growth rate of the instability is maximum for structures with sizes less than the ion Larmor radius in the equatorial plane. This may lead to formation of auroral arcs with widths about 10 km. This instability explains many features of such arcs, including their conjugacy in opposite hemispheres. However, it cannot explain the very high growth rates of some auroral arcs and very narrow arcs. For such arcs another type of instability must be considered. In the other two models the instability arises because of the generation of Alfven waves from growing arc-like structures in the ionospheric conductivity. One model is based on the modulation of precipitating electrons by field-aligned currents of the upward moving Alfven wave. The other model takes into consideration the reflection of Alfven waves from a maximum in the Alfven velocity at an altitude of about 3000 km. The growth of structures in both models takes place when the ionization function associated with upward field-aligned current is shifted from the edges of enhanced conductivity structures toward their centers. Such a shift arises because the structures move at a velocity different from the E × B drift. Although both models may work, the growth rate for the model, based on the modulation of the precipitating accelerated electrons, is significantly larger than that of the model based on the Alfven wave reflection. This mechanism is suitable for generation of auroral arcs with widths of about 1 km and less. The growth rate of the instability can be as large as 1 s^-1, and this mechanism enables us to justify the development of auroral arcs only in one ionosphere. It is hardly suitable for excitation of wide and conjugate auroral arcs, but it may be responsible for the formation of small-scale structures inside a wide arc.Polar Geophysical Institute, Apatity, Russia     

Plasma inhomogeneities in the topside ionosphere in the region of the geomagnetic equator and wave radiation according to the APEX satellite data

The measurements of the broadband wave radiation in the topside ionosphere in the region of the geomagnetic equator (the APEX satellite experiment) are presented. The region of unstable plasma with increased density was observed in the nightside topside ionosphere. This region could be formed by heating of the ionosphere from below. An asymmetric distribution of the frequency band width and electrostatic radiation intensity relative to the geomagnetic equator was registered. It has been indicated that a substantial effect of the geomagnetic equator on plasma diffusion from the heating region could be related to the generation, propagation, and damping of electrostatic oscillations and large-scale (as compared to the Larmor ion radius) plasma vortices. The anisotropy in the temperature of the plasma electron component can increase in the regions where the transverse electric field of disturbances damps. The intensity of the electromagnetic radiation, caused by the external sources, apparently, of an artificial origin at frequencies higher than the local plasma frequency, decreases to the radiation detection threshold level in the region of increased plasma density.     

Nongyrotropy in magnetoplasmas: simulation of wave excitation and phase-space diffusion

Nongyrotropic (gyrophase bunched) ion distributions in a magnetoplasma are studied by analytical methods and by two-dimensional hybrid code simulations. Nongyrotropy may not occur in a plasma being simultaneously homogeneous, stationary, and solenoidal in phase space. A detailed study is performed for a homogeneous and stationary plasma with sources and sinks in phase space. The analytical investigation cast in the framework of linearized Maxwell-Vlasov theory yields a coupling of low-frequency left-handed, right-handed, and longitudinal modes. Nongyrotropic ion distributions are unstable; they excite left-handed waves. The growth rate is comparable to that of the ion ring instability. The hybrid code simulation study confirms the expected propagation direction parallel to the background magnetic field. Three diffusion processes are studied: arc lengthening, arc broadening, and arc radius decreasing corresponding to particle energy diffusion. The characteristic diffusion time-scales are found to be of the order of 101 wave cycles.     

Equatorial spread-F (ESF) and vertical winds

The Equatorial Spread-F (ESF) phenomenon is recorded in ionograms as a hierarchy of plasma instabilities in the F-layer of the equatorial ionosphere. The ESF is characterized by irregularities in the plasma (electron and ion) density and electric field distributions perpendicular to the Earth’s magnetic field. Large scale irregularities are generated by a primary plasma instability that develops in electric fields and plasma densities. Other secondary instabilities then develop and generate irregularities at several scale sizes that often produce a plasma ‘hole’ or ‘bubble’ that rises up with high E×B velocities. The ESF/plasma bubble phenomenon has been studied extensively with experimental techniques and modeling, which revealed important features. In the bottom side F-layer, near sunset, when the vertical density gradient steepens as the layer is supported by the horizontal (North–South) Earth’s magnetic field lines against the omnipresent Earth’s gravitational acceleration (g), the plasma conditions can give rise to Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) type instability. But the observed day to day variability of the ESF occurrence suggested that other agencies may also be involved in generating the instability. Sekar and Raghavarao (1987) with linear theory, and Raghavarao, Sekar and Suhasini (1992), with non-linear numerical modeling, suggested that vertical downward (upward) winds in the ambient gas have the potential to cause (inhibit) the ESF/bubble phenomenon. The presence of downward winds near the equator was reported earlier. In this paper, we show evidence for the presence of downward winds collocated with irregularities in electric fields and plasma densities as revealed by an unique combination of highly accurate measurements with instruments onboard the DE-2 satellite. The observations reported here are also consistent with the notion that the build-up of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) prior to local sunset is important for the ESF instability.     

旋转分层导电流体的双扩散磁流体动力学不稳定性

本文研究了双扩散效应对处于地球物理极限q→0条件下旋转分层导电流体的磁流体动力学（MHD）不稳定性的影响。研究发现,只要|R_S|足够大,对流总能在流体静力稳定分层的导电流体中发展。当磁场作用较弱,即Λ～Ο（1）时,对所有可能的角向波数m优先发展的是双扩散不稳定性。当R_s>0时,流体中发生几乎不变的“指状”对流。当R_s<0时,流体中发生缓慢东向运行的“扩散”振荡。当磁场作用较强,即Λ≥Λ_M时,与原始Soward模式类似,优先发展的仅是m=1磁力驱动不稳定性,并东向运行,但双扩散效应使得正R_T不稳定性与负R_T不稳定性间的对称性破缺。     

基于双频磁共振的未知拉莫尔频率地下水探测方法

在利用地面磁共振方法进行地下水探测时,要求发射频率与拉莫尔（Larmor）频率相同.由于地磁场的不均匀性和噪声干扰,实际测量时无法获得准确的Larmor频率,导致发生偏共振现象.如果假设磁共振或频率偏量未知时,反演得到的含水量和弛豫时间（T₂^*）将存在较大误差.为了解决未知Larmor频率情况下的准确探测问题,本文在频率环测量方案的基础上提出了双频磁共振探测方法,即只需知道Larmor频率的范围区间,通过区间外的两个频率进行偏共振激发,利用频率差值的一半作为频率偏量计算核函数,即可消除未知Larmor频率的影响.通过仿真实验,证明了在电阻率大于100 Ωm时,双频磁共振和偏共振的核函数偏差较小.对于双层含水层模型,双频磁共振和偏共振的信号偏差小于3 nV,因此得到双频磁共振信号可以用偏共振核函数进行反演.通过对假设磁共振、假设偏共振和双频磁共振反演结果的对比,可以得到在未知频率偏量和设定频率偏量改变时,双频磁共振均能得到准确的反演结果.但是,当环境噪声增加和电阻率降低时,反演结果的准确度降低.最后,通过长春市烧锅镇采集数据的反演结果与已知钻探资料进行对比,验证了双频磁共振探测方法的有效性和准确性.     

消除多次透射公式高频振荡失稳的一种措施

多次透射公式（MTF）物理概念简单,便于在计算机上实现时空解藕的高精度波动数值模拟。然而,MTF与其它局部人工边界条件类似,存在数值模拟失稳问题,如高频振荡便是可能出现的失稳现象。本文在分析MTF高频振荡失稳机理的基础上,提出了在波动有限元数值模拟中消除MTF高频振荡失稳的一种措施,即在整个有限元数值模拟区内施加与应变速率成正比的较小粘性阻尼;同时,讨论了这一稳定措施的有效性及其对数值计算精度的影响,并通过数值试验检验了这一稳定措施的可行性。结果表明,消除高频振荡失稳的措施行之有效,且只对波动有限元数值模拟中无意义的高频分量具有抑制作用,而对有意义的较低频段内的波动有限元数值模拟精度影响较小。     

Verification of magnetic field models based on measurements of solar cosmic ray protons in the magnetosphere

Measurements of solar cosmic ray (SCR) protons in the magnetosphere can be used to verify models of the Earth’s magnetic field. The latitudinal profiles of precipitating SCRs with energies of 1–90 MeV were measured on the CORONAS-F low-orbiting satellite during a strong magnetic storm on October 29–30, 2003. A flux of precipitating protons can remain equal to the interplanetary flux only due to a strong pitch angle diffusion that originates when the radius of the field line curvature is close to that of the particle rotation Larmor radius. The observed boundaries of the strong diffusion region can be compared with the boundaries anticipated according to the models of the magnetic field of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The adiabaticity parameter values, calculated for several instants of the CORONAS-F satellite pass based on the TS05 and parabolic models, do not always correspond to measurements. How possible changes in the model configurations of the magnetic field can allow us to eliminate discrepancies with the experiment and to explain why solar protons with energies of several megaelectronvolts penetrate deep in the Earth’s inner magnetosphere is considered here.     

Role of finite ion temperature in the generation of field swelling instability

Field swelling instability is one of the most important instabilities in plasmas in which electrons are hotter than ions. In contrast to diamagnetic (mirror) instability belonging to the branch of slow magnetosonic waves, field swelling instability corresponds to the branch of fast magnetosonic waves. The theory of this instability was developed by (Basu and Coppi, 1982, 1984) in the early 1980s in the idealized zero ion temperature limit in the context of the magnetohydrodynamic model. To make the model more realistic, it is necessary to complete it with finite ion temperature effects. In addition, we consider the field swelling theory in the context of a more instructive quasihydrodynamic approach which showed a good performance on examination of the mirror instability. Here, it appears to be necessary to use only the transverse plasma pressure balance condition and Liouville theorem for calculating the transverse pressure variation. This consideration is simpler and clearer and makes it possible to understand in more detail the physical nature of the instability and to prepare the necessary basis for interpreting observational data.     

近磁尾TC-1观测到伴随有高速流的ULF波及不稳定性分析

2004年8月3日近地TC-1卫星在磁尾X_GSM~－12R_E的等离子体片内,观测到了伴随着高速流的低于离子回旋频率的波,即超低频波(ULF,Ultra Low Frequency).该波垂直分量的振幅在高速流及其振荡减速期间大致相当;而平行分量振幅在高速流时明显大于其振荡减速时. 利用一个扰动双流模型对完全磁化离子横场漂移驱动的电磁不稳定性计算后,预测结果表明:(1)对于垂直分量来说,横场漂移速度与Alfvén速度的比值影响不稳定性增长率和激发波频率,随其比值增加,增长率变大,激发波频率从负值增加到正值.(2)对于平行分量来说,温度各向异性时等离子体热速度与Alfvén速度比值只影响不稳定性增长率和激发波频率,未改变不稳定性模类别;而温度各向同性时离子横场漂移速度与Alfvén速度比值既影响不稳定性模的种类及其分支,又影响激发波频率.进一步将卫星观测到的等离子体密度、温度、整体流速和磁场代入模型方程,进行数值计算与上述预测结果对比后发现:卫星观测中垂直分量的功率谱密度(PSD,Power Spectrum Density)增强时间和频段与理论模型中由β_//、β_⊥和v_⊥/V_A引起不稳定性激发的波一致;卫星观测中平行分量的功率谱密度增强时间与理论模型基本相符,但是前者的频率明显地低于后者.因此,除了需考虑平行磁场的离子整体流速对不稳定性激发波频率的可能影响,还需要统计上进一步核实伴随有高速流的ULF波与不稳定性的相关性.     

The instability of an electron beam with a finite radius in a boundless plasma

Within the framework of a linear theory, the instability of an electron beam with a finite radius in a cold magnetised boundless plasma is considered. It is shown that a finite beam dimension influences the generation of quasi-potential waves in two aspects: the perpendicular wave number is quantised so that the frequencies of the waves are subjected to strong selection; a new kind of instability appears due to wave energy losses by emission into surrounding space. Growth rate dependence of wave numbers and frequencies is investigated for typical parameters of experiments with electron beams in space.     

A case study of electron precipitation in the late substorm growth phase on and nearby a preonset arc

We follow the electron precipitation characteristics on and nearby a preonset arc using the high resolution Freja TESP instrument. Our data coverage extends from about 10 min before onset up to 1 min before onset. The arc is the most equatorward one (around MLAT 62°) of a system of growth phase arcs, and it was close to the radiation belt precipitation. Within the preonset arc, inverted-V type precipitation dominates. Poleward of the arc we also find some precipitation regions, and here there is systematically a cold electron population superposed with a warm population. Using single and double Maxwellian fits to the measured electron spectra we find the ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling parameters (field-aligned conductance K and the parallel potential drop V) as well as the effective source plasma properties (density and temperature) during the event. Compared to typical expansion phase features, the preonset parallel potential drop is smaller by a factor of ten, the electron temperature is smaller by a factor of at least five, and the field-aligned conductance is about the same or larger. The fact that there are two isotropic superposed electron populations on the poleward side of the preonset arc suggests that the distance between warm trapped electrons on dipolar field lines and colder electrons on open field lines has become so small near the onset that mixing e.g. due to finite electron Larmor radius effects can take place.     

The instability of barotropic circular vortices

Abstract

The linear, normal mode instability of barotropic circular vortices with zero circulation is examined in the f-plane quasigeostrophic equations. Equivalents of Rayleigh's and Fjortoft's criteria and the semicircle theorem for parallel shear flow are given, and the energy equation shows the instability to be barotropic. A new result is that the fastest growing perturbation is often an internal instability, having a finite vertical scale, but may also be an external instability, having no vertical structure. For parallel shear flow the fastest growing perturbation is always an external instability; this is Squire's theorem. Whether the fastest growing perturbation is internal or external depends upon the profile: for mean flow streamfunction profiles which monotonically decrease with radius, the instability is internal for less steep profiles with a broad velocity extremum and external for steep profiles with a narrow velocity extremum. Finite amplitude, numerical model calculations show that this linear instability analysis is not valid very far into the finite amplitude range, and that a barotropic vortex, whose fastest growing perturbation is internal, is vertically fragmented by the instability.     

Excitation of ion-acoustic waves in the high-latitude ionosphere

The broadband electrostatic turbulence generally observed in the high-latitude ionosphere is a superposition of nonlocal waves of ion-acoustic and ion-cyclotron types. In the presence of a shear of ion parallel velocity, ion-acoustic modes can be induced by an instability emerging due to an inhomogeneous distribution of energy density. This paper is devoted to the studies of excitation of oblique ion-acoustic wave in background configurations with inhomogeneous profiles of both electric field and ion parallel velocity. A numerical algorithm has been developed, and instability was simulated at various parameters of background plasma. The general possibility of oblique ion-acoustic wave generation by a gradient of ion parallel velocity is shown. In this case, the wave spectrum is found to be broadband, which agrees with satellite observations.     

Effects of molecular ions on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in the night-time equatorial ionosphere

In view of composition measurements in the night-time equatorial ionosphere, the role of molecular ions on the collisional Rayleigh–Taylor instability is examined using a linear perturbation analysis and a growth rate expression in the presence of double-ion species is obtained. The expression reveals that the growth rate depends on the number densities of both the ion species. This is in contrast to a single ionic constituent wherein the growth rate is independent of number density. The numerical calculation under realistic conditions reveals that the growth rate of the instability reduces with the introduction of the second dominant ion species and never exceeds the growth rate corresponding to a single ionic constituent. Further, the growth of the plasma instability is feasible even when the scale length of the second dominant ion is negative.     

Plasma disturbance sources in the postsunset low-latitude outer ionosphere according to the Intercosmos-Bulgaria-1300 satellite

The satellite low-latitude and midlatitude measurements of the disturbed postsunset plasma density and electron temperature at altitudes of ～900 km have been compared with the data of incoherent scattering and high-altitude rocket launching at the corresponding local time. It has been found that plasma density disturbances are independently caused by the turbulent interaction between atmospheric masses of gas and plasma ascending from heated and not yet cooled ionospheric regions and cooling masses descending from protonospheric altitudes. Plasma regions with an energetically nonequilibrium vertical density distribution of the mixture of heavy ion impurity (O⁺) and major light ions (H⁺) can simultaneously appear, as a result of which the gradient-drift impurity instability is generated. If this instability is sufficiently developed, there appears an anomalous ion drift with the formation of real plasma regions of decreased density. All these phenomena generate different irregularities in a wide range of scales: from several tens or hundreds of meters to several hundreds of kilometers.     

Role of interchange instability in flux transfer event origin

It is shown that the interaction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), when it has southward component, with the geomagnetic field leads to the formation of an enhanced pressure layer (EPL) near the magnetopause. Currents flowing on the boundary between the EPL and the magnetosheath prevent the IMF from penetrating the magnetosphere. However, the outward boundary of the EPL is unstable. The interchange instability permanently destroys the EPL. Separate filaments of the EPL move away from the Earth. New colder plasma of the magnetosheath with a frozen magnetic field replaces the hotter EPL plasma, and the process of EPL formation and destruction repeats itself.The instability increment is calculated for various magnitudes of the azimuthal wave number, k_y, and curvature radius of the magnetic field lines, R_c. The disturbances with R⁻¹_e\leqk_y\leq4R⁻¹_e (where R_e is the Earth’s radius) and R_c\simeqR_e are the most unstable.A possible result of the interchange instability of the EPL may be patchy reconnection, displayed as flux transfer events (FTEs) near the magnetopause.     

利用GS流场重构方法研究磁尾等离子体片涡流

2000年9月30日Geotail卫星分别于17∶54∶36~18∶09∶00UT和18∶59∶00~19∶30∶00UT在磁尾晨侧等离子体片内(n≈0.4 cm^-3,T≈6 keV)观测到等离子体涡流事件.本文采用Grad-Shafranov (GS)流场重构技术再现了这些涡流的二维速度场、离子数密度和离子温度的分布图像.结果显示:从地心太阳磁层坐标系(GSM)赤道面上面看, 涡流的尺度约为5000 km×1400 km , 朝地球的运动速度约为15~25 km/s.所有5个涡流的旋转方向都为顺时针方向,旋转周期约为6~11 min.相邻涡流的相互作用导致它们之间的磁场强度增强.考察观测数据发现,涡流内不仅包含等离子体片热等离子体成分,也包含较大通量的类似源自磁鞘的冷等离子体成分(T<1 keV).这与观测到涡流等离子体的平均温度(T≈4 keV)较磁尾等离子体片等离子体的典型温度(T≈6 keV)明显偏低的事实是一致的.不仅如此,离子数密度和温度在结构内的分布也不均匀,数密度在涡流内部偏离中心的位置比较低而在每个涡流的边缘位置比较高,温度的分布大体上与密度相反.分析认为观测到的磁尾等离子体涡流事件可能由发生在低纬边界层的Kelvin-Helmholtz不稳定性引起,涡流结构内的冷等离子体可能来自磁层顶外部的磁鞘.     

Hydromagnetic waves in a differentially rotating annulus. II. Resistive instabilities

Abstract

In part I of this study (Fearn, 1983b), instabilities of a conducting fluid driven by a toroidal magnetic field B were investigated. As well as confirming the results of a local stability analysis by Acheson (1983), a new resistive mode of instability was found. Here we investigate this mode in more detail and show that instability exists when B(s) has a zero at some radius s=s _c. Then (in the limit of small resistivity) the instability is concentrated in a critical layer centered on s _c . The importance of the region where B is small casts some doubt on the validity of the simplifications made to the momentum equation in I. Calculations were therefore repeated using the full momentum equation. These demonstrate that the neglect of viscous and inertial terms when the mean field is strong does not lead to spurious results even when there are regions where B is small.