Dipole magnetic-field disturbance and generation of current systems by asymmetric plasma pressure

Nonlinear disturbance of the dipole field by nonaxisymmetric plasma pressure distribution was analyzed under the assumption of magnetostatic equilibrium for finite values of the plasma parameter at the pressure maximum area. The distributions of isolines of the constant value of magnetic-field component B _Z and the volume of magnetic flux tube in the equatorial plane were obtained. At a finite plasma pressure, local minima and maxima of the magnetic field are formed. The formation of these local maxima and minima leads to the formation of contours (not surrounding the Earth) B _min = const, where B _min is the minimum magnetic field on the magnetic field line. This changes the direction of the gradient of the volume of the magnetic flux tube. The configuration of appearing field-aligned currents was determined. The results obtained are discussed in terms of their use in explaining a number of effects observed in the Earth’s magnetosphere.