A Statistical Study on the Reconnection in Boundary Layers of Small-scale Magnetic Flux Tubes in Solar Winds

With the data from WIND satellite in 1995—2005, the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with two methods, i.e., the arti?cial recognition and program selection respectively, are compared. It is found that there are magnetic reconnections in the boundary layers of 41% small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the program selection method, which is similar to the re- sult of small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the method of arti?cial recognition. The features of magnetic reconnections, such as the magnetic shear angle, magnetic ?eld strength, and duration of the dissipation region of recon- nection at the small-scale ?ux tubes’ boundaries determined from both methods have the same statistical tendency. This shows that there is no essential differ- ence in the properties of reconnections in the boundary layers of the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes determined with the two methods. Hence the data yielded by both methods can be used as the samples for statistically studying the events of reconnection in the front and back boundary layers of small-scale ?ux ropes. There are totally 71 magnetic reconnection events selected in this paper. Our statistical result shows that in 50 events (70%) the decrease of magnetic ?eld strength in the dissipation region of reconnection is larger than 20%, and in 47 events (66%) the magnetic shear angle is larger than 90 degrees. These indicate that the magnetic reconnections in boundaries of the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes are more likely to be anti-parallel. The statistics has been performed sep- arately in the reconnections of the front and back boundary layers of small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes. The results show that the features of reconnections in the front and back boundaries are similar to each other, which is different from the various properties in the front and back boundaries of the magnetic clouds, and this means that the expansion in the large-scale magnetic ?ux tubes, such as magnetic clouds, does not happen in the small-scale magnetic ?ux tubes.     

Flushing effect in reconnection: Effects of minority species of oxygen ions

Effects of O⁺ ions on magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail are examined in a Harris equilibrium using a combination of linear Vlasov theory and large-scale driven and non-driven two-dimensional fully kinetic particle simulations. Linear theory of multiple species plasma indicates that the growth rate is rather insensitive to the composition of the background (lobe) or its temperature but more sensitive to the properties of the current carriers. Thus O⁺ can affect significant changes to the linear growth rate of tearing mode only as a current carrier. However, it is demonstrated that in the nonlinear stage reconnection can effectively move trace material from the lobes into the current sheet proper. If the supply of lobe markers (like O⁺) is sufficiently permanent in the lobe, an initially proton-dominated current sheet can be virtually replaced by the marker ions through this “flushing effect”. The dominance of marker ions introduces finite Larmor radius signatures with marker gyroradii scales rather than that of the protons. In this way, the presence of heavier marker species in the lobe can lead to (i) reduced efficiency of energy conversion, (ii) reduction in the number and repetition frequency of secondary islands, (iii) broadening of the quadrupole magnetic structure, (iv) slowing down of the coalescence process and (v) modification of the composition of the ion current carriers. Using Cluster observations, we show the evidence for the “flushing effect” in the data. Detailed comparison with observations is planned for future work.     

Extremely energetic 4B/X17.2 flare and associated phenomena

We observed 4B/X17.2 flare in Hα from super-active region NOAA 10486 at ARIES, Nainital. This is one of the largest flares of current solar cycle 23, which occurred near the Sun’s center and produced extremely energetic emission almost at all wavelengths from γ-ray to radio-waves. The flare is associated with a bright/fast full-halo earth directed CME, strong type II, type III and type IV radio bursts, an intense proton event and GLE. This flare is well observed by SOHO, RHESSI and TRACE. Our Hα observations show the stretching/de-twisting and eruption of helically twisted S shaped (sigmoid) filament in the south-west direction of the active region with bright shock front followed by rapid increase in intensity and area of the gigantic flare. The flare shows almost similar evolution in Hα, EUV and UV. We measure the speed of Hα ribbon separation and the mean value is ∼ 70 km s^-1. This is used together with photospheric magnetic field to infer a magnetic reconnection rate at three HXR sources at the flare maximum. In this paper, we also discuss the energetics of active region filament, flare and associated CME.     

我国磁层物理研究的进展和展望

在我国空间科学的开拓者赵九章教授的倡导下，1959年我国开始开展磁层物理研究工作．70年代中期以后，经过20多年的努力，我国磁层物理研究有了很大进展，现已具备重点发展和重点突破的条件本文在文献[1-3]综述的基础上，对近年来我国在磁层物理若干领域内的主要成果进行了补充评述，并对21世纪初我国磁层物理学的发展提出若干建议     

亚暴事件中磁尾多重等离子体团的数值研究（Ⅰ）

GEOTAIL卫星于1994年1月15日亚暴期间，在深磁尾（x＝96R_E）观测到多重等离子体团及与之相对应的高能离子爆，作者以宁静磁尾平衡位形为初态，考虑介质的可压缩性，数值研究亚暴期间磁尾动力学过程．计算结果展现了等离子体团间歇性形成及其运动发展过程．体现了强亚暴事件中储存于碰尾的能量，通过多重等离子体团的排放而逐渐释放的进程．数值结果还表明：持续施加于边界上的晨昏电场及由此引发的驱动重联是导致等离子体团准周期形成的主要因素．此外，作者还考察尾瓣内任一点磁场强度及其分量随时间的演化，它与行进压缩区（TCRs）的观测特征基本相符．     

多层电流片中撕裂模不稳定性的数值研究

应用二维磁流体动力学模拟方法数值研究了三层电流片中电阻撕裂模不稳定性的特征及磁场重联过程．结果表明，这是一种复杂的非稳态磁场重联．在初期阶段，三个电流片中分别由撕裂模不稳定性引起磁场重联，形成薄而长的磁岛．随着撕裂模不稳定性的非线性发展，每个磁岛的宽度都逐步增大，以至导致新的磁场重联发生．同时，三个电流片的强度都逐渐减弱，且原中心反向电流区最终消失．部分磁能不断地转化为等离子体的热能和动能，引起等离子体的加热和加速．多层电流片中撕裂模不稳定性引起的自发重联，可能对太阳耀斑、日冕加热、太阳风与磁层耦合等有重要影响．     

非稳态多重X线重联的类型与特征

为了进一步认识间歇性多重Ｘ线重联的特征，本文分析计算结果，发现入流自边界进入后向两侧发散，沿着ｘ轴（ｚ＝０）和出流边界（ｚ＝２），压强Ｐ和磁场Ｂ的分布形态表明这种非稳态重联属快模式扩张型．数值结果还表明，进入扩散区的入流马赫数Ｍ_ｉ与磁雷诺数Ｒｍ之间基本满足关系式Ｍ_ｉ≈１．５Ｒ_ｍ^－１／２─１．７５Ｒ_ｍ^－１／２，而且等离子体的加速与压强Ｐ_ｔ(Ｐ_ｔ     

太阳大气中自发磁重联的数值模拟(Ⅱ)重力、热传导下二维三分量的计算结果

在无力场中引入反常电阻,数值模拟电阻撕裂模不稳定性引起的均匀重力场中的二维三分量磁重联过程．首先研究了Vc（反常电阻模型中的临界漂移速度）和β0（气压磁压比）对磁重联的影响,结果表明：（1）在Vc大的情况下,重联率开始很小,但最终出现爆发现象．另外,温度的增加不如Vc小的情况明显。（2）Vc相同而β0不同的情况具有相似的演化特征,但β0越小,动力学过程越剧烈。（3）Vc大巨β0也大的情况不能产生爆发现象．还研究了各向同性热传导对磁重联过程及扩散区结构的影响．结果表明热传导加快磁重联速率．在无热传导的情况中,开始时温度增加迅速,重联率较低,但最终出现磁重联率迅速上升的现象．对上述结果及其在解释耀斑、日冕物质抛射及冕流等太阳大气现象方面进行了讨论．     

多层电流片中双撕裂模的耦合

应用边界层理论研究了多层电流片中m≥2的双撕裂模的耦合发展行为．在一阶近似下,解析求得了环位形中撕裂模的外区匹配参数Δ,所得结论对撕裂模的线性和非线性发展均有意义．结果表明,两有理面模之间的耦合总是使双撕裂模更不稳定．耦合的强度不仅与两有理面之间的距离和平衡状态有关,而且与模在两有理面发展的相对强弱有关．两有理面相距愈远,耦合相对愈弱;发展强的有理面处的模对另一有理面处的模影响更大．本文用所得结论对双撕裂模的初始非统性发展行为进行了分析．多层电流片中撕裂模不稳定性引起的自发重朕,可能对太阳耀斑、日冕加热、太阳风和磁层耦合等有重要影响．