Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm11a1567j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM11A-1567
Physics
[2712] Magnetospheric Physics / Electric Fields, [2730] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere: Inner, [2730] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere: Inner, [2764] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Sheet
Scientific paper
A widely accepted model of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet is based on drift motion of individual particles. Particle drift patterns are determined by the collective effects of the sunward E x B drift, and corotation, and gradient and curvature drifts, which in turn are controlled by the magnetic field and the electric field of the inner magnetosphere. The inner boundary of the plasma sheet is identified as the separatrix between drift trajectories linking the tail to the dayside magnetopause (open paths) and trajectories closed around the earth. The inner boundary of the electron plasma sheet moves inward as the convection electric field increases and vice versa. Another consequence of this model is that for a given field configuration, electrons with lower energies penetrate closer to the earth than do those of higher energies and hence the boundaries are energy dispersive. We report on a statistical study of the inner boundary of the electron plasma sheet using Themis plasma data from Nov. 2007 to Apr. 2009. We studied the variation of the inner boundary’s location with geomagnetic local time, electron kinetic energy and used the data to parameterize the convection electric field. The relationship between convection strength derived from the location of inner boundary of the electron plasma sheet and the three-hour averaged AE index is displayed, and reveals that the cross polar potential saturates at large values of AE. The dependence of the convection electric field on the Kp index is also investigated and compared with results from other observational bases. The comparison between our statistical results and a steady-state drift boundary model using a dipole magnetic field and a Volland-Stern electric field shows that even though other mechanisms play a role in shaping the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet, the analytical steady-state drift boundary model gives a good approximation to the average location of the inner boundary of the electron plasma sheet in the local time sector between 2200 and 0600 except at very high activity levels. Possible mechanisms that cause the deviation of the observations from the steady-state drift boundary model are qualitatively investigated.
Angelopoulos Vassilis
Galland Kivelson Margaret
Hsu Ted
Jiang Feng
Khurana Krishan K.
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