Guided waves in the plasma sheet and triggering of a substorm

A guided propagation of magnetoacoustic wave in the plasma sheet located between two lobes of the magnetotail is investigated. The dispersion equation for the wave and equation connecting a disturbance of plasma pressure inside the plasma sheet and amplitude of the plasma sheet boundary oscillations are obtained. For some value of plasma pressure disturbance, the displacement of the plasma sheet boundaries becomes of order of the half-thickness of the plasma sheet. In the case of symmetrical oscillations of the boundaries (“sausage-like” mode), it creates the favorable conditions for reconnection of the magnetic field lines in the magnetotail and may lead to triggering of a substorm. The magnetoacoustic wave may be generated by sudden impulse of the solar wind plasma pressure.     

Solar wind induced processes in the magnetotail

Solar wind/IMF parameters and their variations influence the state and dynamics of the magnetosphere in several different ways, and the plasma sheet plays its own active role to form the magnetotail’s rssponse to external driving. This field is still quite conrtoversial; key unsolved issues are those which probably involve the nonsteady, nonequilibrium and nonlinear character of the system. This paper discusses an interesting development of concepts concerning (1) plasma sheet convection, (2) mechanisms which initiate the substorm onset, and (3) variability of tail dynamics. A remarkable example is a recognition of Bursty Bulk Flows as a basic way for the plasma sheet to sustain the convective transport of plasma, energy and magnetic flux via transient mesoscale dynamic structures. As concerns the substorm onset, the sharp change from the magnetic reconnection (NEL) model to processes in the dipolar-like near tail is now moving into a synthetic stage. Hear non-linear models of different coupled instabilities are actively explored to find a way to excite the tearing mode starting from a singular thin current sheet configuration which seems to form in the near tail prior to breakup. Variable responses to external drivers and the variability of substorms compel a recognition of the magnetotail as a very complicated nonlinear open system which includes a heirarchy of coupled process of different scales. A unique fleet of magnetospheric spacecraft, simultaneously probing different domains and supported by extensive ground observations, global imaging and solar wind monitoring, noe provides a real chance to understand the magnetotail as a global dynamic system.     

K-H不稳定性在多电流片系统磁场重联中的效应

等离子体系统中存在两个或多个电流片时，电流片中发生的不稳定性可能会相互作用．行星际磁场北向时，背阳面碰层顶电流片与磁尾等离子体片之间可能发生相互作用，高纬边界层强烈的流场剪切可能促进磁场重联，产生磁层亚暴．本文运用二维可压缩磁流体模拟研究具有强流场剪切的多个电流片系统中磁场重联的演化．结果表明，Kelvin－Helmholtz不稳定性使多电流片系统的磁场重联过程明显加快；相邻电流片之间的距离越近，两者相互作用越强，重联增长率越大；在三电流片系统中，超Alfven速度强流场导致外侧两个电流片中出现强烈的磁场重联，并引发中心电流片的磁场重联．行星际磁场北向时，也可能发生磁层亚暴．     

K-H不稳定性在多电流片系统磁场重联中的效应

等离子体系统中存在两个或多个电流片时,电流片中发生的不稳定性可能会相互作用．行星际磁场北向时,背阳面碰层顶电流片与磁尾等离子体片之间可能发生相互作用,高纬边界层强烈的流场剪切可能促进磁场重联,产生磁层亚暴．本文运用二维可压缩磁流体模拟研究具有强流场剪切的多个电流片系统中磁场重联的演化．结果表明,Kelvin－Helmholtz不稳定性使多电流片系统的磁场重联过程明显加快;相邻电流片之间的距离越近,两者相互作用越强,重联增长率越大;在三电流片系统中,超Alfven速度强流场导致外侧两个电流片中出现强烈的磁场重联,并引发中心电流片的磁场重联．行星际磁场北向时,也可能发生磁层亚暴．     

Interchange instability as a mechanism of magnetotail current disruption at the magnetic storm recovery phase

The theory of relaxation of geomagnetic depression observed during magnetic storm has been proposed based on the knowledge of the interaction between the Dst index and the magnetotail current. It has been indicated that the disruption of the tail current that was enhanced during the storm main phase can be caused by the interchange instability, which develops in the boundary plasma sheet due to the sheet curvature in the near to the Earth region and due to a sharp, directed toward the curvature center, plasma pressure gradient at the boundary between the plasma sheet and the tail lobe. The dispersion equation and expression for the instability growth rate have been obtained. The theoretically predicted characteristic time of storm depression relaxation τ is ～10 h and is in good agreement with the experimental estimate.     

Sausage mode instability of thin current sheets as a cause of magnetospheric substorms

Observations have shown that, prior to substorm explosions, thin current sheets are formed in the plasma sheet of the Earth’s magnetotail. This provokes the question, to what extent current-sheet thinning and substorm onsets are physically, maybe even causally, related. To answer this question, one has to understand the plasma stability of thin current sheets. Kinetic effects must be taken into account since particle scales are reached in the course of tail current-sheet thinning. We present the results of theoretical investigations of the stability of thin current sheets and about the most unstable mode of their decay. Our conclusions are based upon a non-local linear dispersion analysis of a cross-magnetic field instability of Harris-type current sheets. We found that a sausage-mode bulk current instability starts after a sheet has thinned down to the ion inertial length. We also present the results of three-dimensional electromagnetic PIC-code simulations carried out for mass ratios up to M_i/m_e = 64. They verify the linearly predicted properties of the sausage mode decay of thin current sheets in the parameter range of interest.     

Geomagnetotail dynamics: Different types of equilibriums and transitions between them

Two time scales are distinguished in the geomagnetotail dynamics. The small scale (T ₁) corresponds to disturbances propagating in the tail lobes, which have a relatively strong magnetic field and low plasma density. The larger scale (T ₂) corresponds to plasma motions in the plasma sheet and has a relatively weak magnetic field and a relatively higher density. A disturbance, which is initiated by a localized burst of magnetic reconnection and appears in the geomagnetotail on the time scale T ₁, generates the upset of equilibrium in the plasma sheet zones with intermediate spatial dimensions (about R _E). The theoretical considerations and numerical simulation indicate that the relaxation process, which subsequently proceeds on the larger time scale (T ₂), results in the appearance of extremely thin embedded current sheets and in the generation of fast plasma flows. This process gives an effective mechanism by which the magnetic energy stored in the geomagnetotail is transformed into the plasma flow kinetic energy. Such fast flows can also generate eddy plasma motions on smaller spatial scales. On the one hand, fast MHD components of this process carry a disturbance in other plasma sheet zones, where new magnetic reconnection bursts can originate at a large distance from the zone of an initial nonlinear disturbance. As a result, new recurrent processes of relaxation originate on the T ₂ time scale. Alternation originating in such a way is apparently the characteristic feature of eddy disturbances actually observed in the plasma sheet.     

Dynamics of equilibrium upset and electromagnetic energy transformation in the geomagnetotail: A theory and simulation using particles. 2. Numerical simulation using particles

The process of rapid geomagnetotail reconfiguration after the equilibrium upset (substorm activation) has been studied using the numerical simulation. The decisive reconfiguration feature consists in the spontaneous formation of nonlinear kinetic small-scale structures in the position of the initial current sheet (CS). Substantially different reconfiguration channels are possible depending on the value of the magnetic field component normal to CS: the dominating process can be the formation of a collisionless slow magnetosonic shock or a forced kinetic current sheet (FKCS). The first option is presented in this part of the work. During the late stages, the process is independent of the type of an initial disturbance; the disturbance intensity is spontaneously formed at a certain final level. Far from CS, the disturbance has the form of a rarefaction wave propagating from CS in background plasma. The reconfiguration results in a large-scale transformation of electromagnetic energy into the energy of plasma flows and heat.     

等离子体片中能量离子的空间分布——Cluster/RAPID观测数据分析

本文根据Cluster卫星上的粒子成像质谱仪（RAPID）探测器在穿越地球等离子体片过程中的观测数据,统计研究了等离子体片中能量离子能量密度的空间分布（氢离子能量范围从40keV到1500keV,氦离子和氧离子从10keV到1500keV）,并且给出了离子能量密度在不同地磁活动时期随GSE-Z向分布的剖面.研究表明能量离子的能量密度以及能量密度的梯度与地磁活动指数Kp之间存在近似线性的关系.观测结果表明形成这种分布变化的主要原因是在地磁活动期间在电流片附近离子能量密度的增加,特别是其中的重离子成分增加更为显著.本文通过一个简化的电流片模型的数值计算,定性地研究了形成能量离子空间分布的机理.计算表明重离子在电流片中可以获得更多的能量,电流片加速可能是形成能量密度分布变化的一种可能的机制.     

宁静期间双峰电流片的观测研究

2001年8月19日2011～2030UT,AE指数相对较小(40～130 nT),Cluster 卫星穿越磁尾电流片.利用Cluster 观测资料分析,发现宁静期间有双峰电流片存在,这期间没有明显的高速流,没有明显的电流片振荡. 同时,进一步分析双峰电流片中的离子特性发现:质子数密度Np在中性线（ = 0）附近相对较大,呈非对称性分布;质子温度分布比较均匀;在中性线两侧,质子y方向上的流速Vy方向相反. 最后讨论LHDI（低混杂漂移不稳定性）的非线性演化可能是形成宁静期间双峰电流片的主要机制. 这些对进一步完善电流片形成机制可能有很重要的意义.     

地球磁尾等离子体片磁洞的统计分析

本文利用THEMIS卫星的磁场数据和等离子体观测数据,统计分析地球磁尾等离子体片区域线性磁洞的发生率、时空尺度、分布特征、和发生率与地磁AE指数的相关性.分析结果表明磁尾等离子体片区域的磁洞的时间尺度为几秒到几十秒,空间尺度小于当地的质子回旋半径.通过磁洞在空间的位置分布和卫星数据在空间的数据采样分布的对比,我们发现线性磁洞在等离子体片内经常发生,然而在磁尾等离子体片中的发生率要小于太阳风中磁洞的发生率.本文最后统计分析了磁洞发生和AE指数的相关性,结果表明磁洞可能与地磁活动有关系.

     

Dynamics of equilibrium upset and electromagnetic energy transformation in the geomagnetotail: A theory and simulation using particles. 3. Versions of formation of thin current sheets

The final part of the study is devoted to the process of rapid reconfiguration of the geomagnetotail after the upset of the equilibrium, i.e., to substorm activation. Such a version of spontaneous formation of nonlinear kinetic small-scale structures at the site occupied by an initial current sheet (CS), which results in the formation of a specific equilibrium current structure with strong ion anisotropy (forced kinetic current sheet, FKCS), has been revealed in the course of numerical simulation. This reconfiguration “channel” is realized when the relative value of the magnetic field component normal to CS is smaller than a certain critical value. In this case the disturbance intensity is SPONTANEOUSLY settled at a certain final level at the late stages. The obtained results are compared with the previous study of the system evolution under the action of the external trigger. The physical causes and specific features of different CS evolution regimes are considered. The studied plasma mechanisms are responsible for the effects of rapid energy transformation—magnetic field “annihilation”—that took place in the geomagnetotail.     

基于磁镜结构的Wang-Pan方法在磁强计在轨标定中的应用

磁通门磁强计(FGM)的磁补偿随时间会发生缓慢变化; 因此,提高FGM磁补偿的标定精度对实现高精度磁场测量至关重要.最近,一种基于磁镜结构的标定方法被提出,本文将其称之为Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ.本文分析了Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ在太阳风、地球磁鞘和磁尾电流片区域的适用性.我们发现,磁镜结构或线性磁洞事件个数的增加有助于降低Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ的计算误差; 此外,事件的背景磁场强度和磁场耗散程度会显著影响Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ的计算精度.Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ在太阳风和磁尾电流片中的计算误差在±0.2 nT以内的概率高达70%,在磁鞘中计算误差比太阳风及磁尾电流片中的大了约1个数量级.为了提高利用磁镜结构标定磁补偿值的精度,我们研究了线性磁洞事件的多个参数特征对磁补偿计算误差的影响,该研究结果将为Wang-Pan方法Ⅱ的应用提供磁镜结构或线性磁洞事件的筛选参考准则.

     

中近磁尾等离子体片统计特性研究

本文使用Cluster-C1卫星的CIS仪器和FGM仪器测量得到的质子通量数据和计算的β数据,判断Cluster卫星在地球磁尾不同位置位于等离子体片内的概率.使用2001-2004年7-11月的Cluster-C1数据,分别在行星际磁场南向和北向时,得出XRE区域内卫星位于等离子体片的概率在Y-Dz平面的分布图(Dz是卫星到中性片的距离).通过对比行星际磁场南向和北向时的卫星位于等离子体片的概率的分布图,我们发现等离子体片在行星际磁场南向时比在行星际磁场北向时要薄,并且这个效应在磁尾晨昏两侧比在午夜附近明显,同时我们还发现等离子体片在晨侧比在昏侧厚.     

Quiet-time Pc 5 pulsations in the Earth’s magnetotail: IMP-8, ISEE-1 and ISEE-3 simultaneous observations

Quasi-periodic Pc 5 pulsations have been reported inside and just outside the Earth’s magnetotail during intervals of low geomagnetic activity. In order to further define their characteristics and spatial extent, we present three case studies of simultaneous magnetic field and plasma observations by IMP-8, ISEE-1 (and ISEE-2 in one case) in the Earth’s magnetotail and ISEE-3 far upstream of the bow shock, during intervals in which the spacecraft were widely separated. In the first case study, similar pulsations are observed by IMP-8 at the dawn flank of the plasma sheet and by ISEE-1 near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) near midnight local time. In the second case study, simultaneous pulsations are observed by IMP-8 in the dusk magnetosheath and by ISEE-1 and 2 in the dawn plasma sheet. In the third case study, simultaneous pulsations are observed in the north plasma sheet boundary layer and the south plasma sheet. We conclude that the pulsations occur simultaneously throughout much of the nightside magnetosphere and the surrounding magnetosheath, i.e. that they have a global character. Some additional findings are the following: (a) the observed pulsations are mixed mode compressional and transverse, where the compressional character is more apparent in the close vicinity of the plane Z_GSM=0; (b) the compressional pulsations of the magnetic field in the dusk magnetosheath show peaks that coincide (almost one-to-one) with similar peaks observed inside the dawn plasma sheet; (c) in the second case study the polarization sense of the magnetic field and the recurrent left-hand plasma vortices observed in the dawn plasma sheet are consistent with antisunward moving waves on the magneto-pause; (d) pulsation amplitudes are weaker in the PSBL(or lobe) as compared with those in the magneto-tail’s flanks, suggesting a decay with distance from the magnetopause; (e) the thickness of the plasma sheet (under extremely quiet conditions) is estimated to be \sim22 R_E at an average location of (X, Y)_GSM=(16, 17) R_E, whereas at midnight local time the thickness is \sim14 R_E. The detected pulsations are probably due to the pressure variations (recorded by ISEE-3) in the solar wind, and/or the Kelvin Helmholtz instability in the low-latitude boundary layer or the magnetopause due to a strongly northward IMF.     

Magnetotail particle distributions associated with pitch angle isotropization

We present modeled ion distributions in the near-Earth magnetotail expected to be associated with high latitude pitch angle isotropization. The model consists of a magnetic field reversal and a plasma source such that particles have a ratio of the minimum field line curvature radius to maximum gyroradius near unity, a nonadiabatic regime. For precipitating particles observed at the edge of the field reversal, we find structuring in the ion distribution consisting of peaks and valleys in the pitch angle distribution, particularly for intermediate values of field line curvature, which is consistent with the near-Earth tail region. The structures are non-Maxwellian and not gyrotropic. They are resolvable by instruments such as the GEOTAIL spacecraft CPI detector and can be used as a remote sensing method for fields in this regime between adiabatic motion and current sheet motion.     

Magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a solar flare: 2. Flare model and simulation using active-region magnetic maps

The results of a three-dimensional MHD simulation and data obtained using specialized spacecraft made it possible to construct an electrodynamic model of solar flares. A flare results from explosive magnetic reconnection in a current sheet above an active region, and electrons accelerated in field-aligned currents cause hard X rays on the solar surface. In this review, we considered works where the boundary and initial conditions on the photosphere were specified directly from the magnetic maps, obtained by SOHO MDI in the preflare state, in order to simulate the formation of a current sheet. A numerical solution of the complete set of MHD equations, performed using the new-generation PERESVET program, demonstrated the formation of several current sheets before a series of flares. A comparison of the observed relativistic proton spectra and the simulated proton acceleration along a magnetic field singular line made it possible to estimate the magnetic reconnection rate during a flare (∼10⁷ cm s⁻¹). Great flares (of the X class) originate after an increase in the active region magnetic flux up to 10²² Mx.     

Large-Scale Variations in Ion Flows in the Central Part and the Boundary of the Plasma Sheet

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The results of multisatellite observations in a magnetotail at short distances ( $${\sim }10{{R}_{E}}$$ ) in two close regions inside the plasma sheet of the magnetotail...     

Dynamics of magnetospheric current systems during magnetic storms of different intensity

The dynamics of the magnetospheric magnetic field during the magnetic storms of different intensity has been studied. The magnetic field variations on the Earth’s surface were calculated using the paraboloid model of the magnetosphere, taking into account the induction currents flowing in the diamagnetically conductive Earth. Dst and its components have been calculated for ten magnetic storms. It has been indicated that relative contributions of magnetospheric sources to Dst change depending on the storm power. For weak and moderate storms, the contribution of the magnetotail current sheet can reach values comparable with the ring current contribution and, sometimes, can even exceed this contribution. For strong storms, the ring current field dominates over the tail current field, the absolute value of which does not exceed 150 nT (also achieved during less intense storms). For storms with minimum Dst exceeding-200 nT, the tail current field is saturated, whereas the ring current can continue developing.     

Formation of accelerated ion flows in Alfvén disturbances of the magnetotail

This paper shows that there exists a mechanism of longitudinal plasma acceleration which is inherent in the process of the process of resonant conversion of a fast magnetosonic wave freely propagating along the magnetic field into an Alfvén wave. This mechanism is caused by the Ampere force arising due to the interaction between the poloidal component of the current of the compressible disturbance and the generated toroidal disturbance. It is shown that plasma acceleration takes place at the stage of increase in the Alfvén wave amplitude and that the accelerated flow retains its velocity when the process of resonant conversion is over. We describe spatiotemporal structures of plasma flows arising with the transformation of fast magnetosonic waves into Alfvén waves. An interpretation of the presence of fast ion flows in the magnetotail as a consequence of the action of the plasma acceleration mechanism considered in this work is proposed.