Physics
Scientific paper
May 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agusmsm43a..02p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #SM43A-02
Physics
2744 Magnetotail, 2764 Plasma Sheet, 2772 Plasma Waves And Instabilities
Scientific paper
The classical ballooning mode is driven by a large enough pressure gradient in the same direction as the magnetic curvature. An alternative driver for interchange/ballooning modes in a high beta system is a tailward-directed gradient in the equatorial magnetic field profile such as is frequently formed in the magnetotail during extended periods of plasma-sheet convection. A massively parallel 3-D PIC code is used to determine the properties of this mode. The linear mode spectrum is dominated by relatively short wavelengths satisfying ky ρin ~ 5, where ρin is the ion gyroradius in the local normal magnetic field. The observed growth rate is γ/Ωi0 ~ 0.1, which is much smaller than predicted by a simple fluid analysis. A kinetic treatment is used to obtain this result. The real frequency is comparable to the growth rate, and the phase velocity is directed in the direction of the ion drift. Nonlinearly, the mode evolves to produce the classic extended fingers of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The mode does not lead to a disruption of the global current sheet, but it does produce a local dipolarization. Further implications for magnetotail dynamics will be discussed.
Coroniti Ferdinan V.
Pritchett Philip L.
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