Analysis of suprathermal electron properties at the magnetic pile-up boundary of Comet P/Halley

Details Analysis of suprathermal electron properties at the magnetic pile-up boundary of Comet P/Halley Analysis of suprathermal electron properties at the magnetic pile-up boundary of Comet P/Halley

Sep 1989

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1989georl..16.1035m&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 16, Sept. 1989, p. 1035-1038. Research supported by Max-Planck-Gessellschaft

Physics

28

Electron Plasma, Halley'S Comet, Hot Electrons, Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Magnetic Field Configurations, Space Plasmas, Giotto Mission, Lines Of Force, Plasma Layers

Scientific paper

Among the plasma discontinuities detected by the Giotto spacecraft around Comet P/Halley, the magnetic pile-up boundary, located at about 135,000 km from the nucleus, has a sharpness which was not foreseen by theoretical models. At this boundary, which marks the beginning of the region where the field lines draped around the nucleus have been piled up, the magnetic field jumps sharply. Electron measurements provided by the RPA experiment show that a clear plasma discontinuity coincides with this magnetic feature. Significant changes occur here in the suprathermal electron distribution function. A magneto-plasma sheet is clearly defined after the boundary. Inside this sheet, close correlations exist between the parameters describing the magnetic field and the electron population. The polytropic equation of state governing the suprathermal electrons in the sheet has been deduced from RPA measurements. Some implications of this law are discussed.

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