Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009jgra..11401209w&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 114, Issue A1, CiteID A01209
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
7
Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Convection (2463), Ionosphere: Plasma Convection (2760), Magnetospheric Physics: Polar Cap Phenomena, Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy: Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835)
Scientific paper
When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle $\theta$ c ≡ atan2(B Y , B Z ) lies in the range 0° < |$\theta$ c | < 30°, there only persist IMF-lobe and lobe-closed reconnection (both of which we call interchange-type), with Dungey-type reconnection (IMF-closed and lobe-lobe) being absent. Reconnection for IMF B Y > 0 (B Y < 0) occurs in the northern dusk (dawn) quadrant and in the southern dawn (dusk) quadrant. The IMF-lobe reconnection in one quadrant is coupled to the lobe-closed reconnection in the other quadrant by magnetic flux reciprocation, and in the ionosphere, that reconnection pair produces an ``interchange-type merging cell'' in the hemisphere of IMF-lobe reconnection and a reciprocal cell in the other hemisphere. When the polar cap is completely divided into two parts by the transpolar plasma sheet (the theta aurora configuration), the interchange-type merging cell transports open magnetic flux from one part of the polar cap to the other without affecting the theta aurora configuration, causing the dawn-dusk motion of the transpolar plasma sheet. This type of flux transport is destroyed if any Dungey-type reconnection occurs. Thus a necessary condition for the theta aurora configuration to be maintained during the dawn-dusk travel of the transpolar plasma sheet is the absence of Dungey-type reconnection. This condition is reasonably satisfied for 0° < |$\theta$ c | < 30°. The absence of Dungey-type reconnection in the presence of IMF B Y can be understood as a transitional state of the magnetic flux circulation when the IMF rotates from due northward to dawnward or duskward.
Sofko George J.
Watanabe Masakazu
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