Search

Acceleration of single- and multicharged oxygen ions in the perturbed Earth's magnetotail is investigated as the possible source of energetic heavy ions in the ring current. The numerical model is developed that allows evaluating the acceleration of oxygen ions O+-O+8 in two possible scenarios of characteristic perturbations: (A) passage of multiple dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail; (B) passage of fronts followed by electromagnetic turbulence. It is shown that acceleration processes depend on particle charges as well as characteristic time scales of induced electric field variations. Maximum energies gained by oxygen ions correlate with values of their charges. Our simulations show that all kinds of single- and multiply charged heavy particles can be efficiently accelerated during multiple dipolarizations processes of the type (A) from initial energies 12 keV to maximum energies about several MeV. The gain of energies of heavy ions under the (B) scenario of magnetospheric perturbations is about 10% higher than in (A) scenario. The shapes of obtained in the model energy spectra were shown to be in agreement with experimental spectra in the range of L-shells corresponding to ring/radiation belts. Therefore, we conclude that the Earth's magnetotail can play the role of the depot where oxygen ions of both ionospheric and solar wind origin can be effectively accelerated during magnetic substorms to energies about several MeV and then populate the ring current and radiation belts of the Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the response of quasi-adiabatic particles to dynamical reconfigurations of the magnetotail field lines. Although they travel through a sharp field reversal with a characteristic length scale smaller than their Larmor radii, these quasi-adiabatic particles experience a negligible net change in magnetic moment. We examine the robustness of such a quasi-adiabatic behavior in the presence of a large surging electric field induced by magnetic field line reconfiguration as observed during the expansion phase of substorms. We demonstrate that, although such a short-lived electric field can lead to substantial nonadiabatic heating, quasi-adiabaticity is conserved for particles with velocities larger than the peak ExB drift speed. Because of the timevarying character of the magnetic field, it is not possible to use the adiabaticity parameter κ in a straightforward manner to characterize the particle behavior. We rather consider a κ parameter that is averaged over equatorial crossings. We demonstrate that particles intercepting the field reversal in the early stage of the magnetic transition may experience significant energization and enhanced oscillating motion in the direction normal to the midplane. In contrast, particles interacting with the field reversal in the late stage of the magnetic transition experience weaker energization and slower oscillations about the midplane. We show that quasi-adiabatic particles accelerated during such events can lead to energy-time dispersion signatures at low altitudes as is observed in the plasma sheet boundary layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review we discuss the formation of plasma structures in hot plasmas with large β. We use spacecraft observations of magnetic field fluctuations in the Earth magnetotail to reveal the main multiscale plasma properties. Fourier spectra of magnetic field fluctuations observed by various spacecraft in the different domains of the magnetotail at quiet or moderately disturbed times demonstrated a number of practically universal features: (1) the presence of two kinks at low (∼5×10 Hz) and high (∼5×10 Hz) frequencies, (2) in the frequency interval between the kinks the power law shape with an index ∼2.5, and (3) the significant intensification of fluctuations with the increase of plasma flow velocities. To describe these spectra we consider properties of a principal structure supporting the equilibrium of a hot plasma configuration-the magnetotail current sheet. The observed spatial scales of current sheets are often very small and almost reach the ion Larmor radius. Convection of such mesoscale plasma structures by plasma flows can be responsible for the formation of a certain part of the spectrum of magnetic field fluctuations. Lower- and higher- frequency domains in Fourier spectra can be generated respectively by large-scale MHD oscillations of current sheets and by kinetic small-scale instabilities excited by strong local magnetic field gradients existing in active current sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin current sheets having kinetic scales are an important plasma structure, where the magnetic energy dissipation and charged particle acceleration are the most effective. It is believed that such current sheets are self-consistently formed by the specific nonadiabatic dynamics of charged particles and play a critical role in many space plasma and astrophysical objects. Current sheets in the near-Earth plasma environment, e.g., the magnetotail current sheet, are readily available for in-situ investigations. The dedicated multi-spacecraft Cluster mission have revealed basic properties of this current sheet, which are presented in this review: typical spatial profiles of magnetic field and current density, distributions of plasma temperature and density, role of heavy ions and electron currents, etc. Being important for the Earth magnetosphere physics, the new knowledge also could provide the basis for advancement in general plasma physics as well as in plasma astrophysics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a short review of kinetic models of the thin current sheet and corresponding Cluster observations in the Earth magnetotail. We concentrate mainly on manifestations of non-fluid ion kinetic effects. We discuss the different approaches to model description of the proton component and show that current sheets observed by Cluster contain population of particles with transient trajectories, which, in fact, are main carriers of the transverse current in the Earth magnetotail. We describe the influence of the electron temperature anisotropy on the current sheet structure. We demonstrate that the decoupling of proton and electron motions in thin current sheets results in appearance of the earthward electrostatic field, which redistributes currents due to the cross-field drift. This effect can describe small or negative proton currents often observed by Cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Experimental findings of the last decade shed new light on the physics of the magnetotail plasma system, e.g. investigation of very thin current sheets, and motivated a number of theoretical studies. An example of such theoretical investigations is the analytical 1D collisionless self-consistent model of thin current sheet [Zelenyi L.M., Malova, H.V., Popov, V.Yu., Delcourt, D., Sharma, A.S. 2004. Nonlinear equilibrium structure of thin currents sheets: influence of electron pressure anisotropy. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics 11, 1–9]. The principal characteristic of this model is its anisotropy (typical features of thin current sheet). Because anisotropic current sheets have larger free energy than Harris’ ones, we decided to revisit the classical problem of their stability. The linear tearing instability, as the most natural mechanism for the spontaneous reconnection of magnetic field lines, is investigated in the frame of our anisotropic model. We search for regions in the parameter space of the current sheet where the system could become unstable. The main region of instability is concentrated near Bn ∼0.1B 0 and its width depends on the parameters of the system. This result conforms with an earlier work by Galeev and Zeleny [1976. Tearing instability in plasma configurations. Zhurnal Eksperimental’noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki, 70(6), 2133–2151(in Russian)], which suggested that tearing mode could develop in a limited region of Bn values (however, these gaps were erroneously ascribed to Harris equilibrium). Therefore, the current investigation of the stability of anisotropic current sheets in the magnetotail could help to extend the previous results about the stability of Harris-like current sheets with magnetized electrons, and have implications for the physics of substorm initiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We extend our large-scale kinetic (LSK) simulation of the magnetotail by including the global electrostatic effects generated by the field-aligned motion of electrons. Differences in electron and ion dynamics result in significant electrostatic fields near the current sheet (especially near X-lines) and in the auroral zone. In addition, Eƒ and E⊥ alter the ion precipitation profile and affect particle loss from the system through the flanks and downtail. This work provides a basis for including transverse electron currents in our calculations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]