Average pitch angle distributions in the terrestrial magnetotail: Cluster observations and implications for magnetotail structure (Invited)

Details Average pitch angle distributions in the terrestrial magnetotail: Cluster observations and implications for magnetotail structure (Invited) Average pitch angle distributions in the terrestrial magnetotail: Cluster observations and implications for magnetotail structure (Invited)

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm34b..02w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM34B-02

Physics

[2744] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetotail, [2748] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetotail Boundary Layers, [2764] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Sheet

Scientific paper

We present results from the first systematic survey of proton and electron pitch angle distributions in the Earth’s magnetotail, based on one year of Cluster CIS and PEACE data binned by proton plasma beta. The proton distributions conform to the canonical picture of magnetotail ions: a distinct boundary layer made up of Earthward streaming and bi-directional field-aligned particles surrounding a broadly isotropic central plasma sheet. The electron distributions however are significantly different from the canonical picture. A “boundary layer” dominated by bi-directional field-aligned electrons is observed to values of beta as high as 17. This boundary quickly gives way to distributions dominated by perpendicular electrons close to the neutral sheet. Hence, our results suggest that, on average, there is no extended, isotropic electron plasma sheet and that the physical processes responsible for the energization and isotropization of magnetotail particles act much more efficiently on protons than on electrons. We discuss possible reasons for this in terms of reconnection and wave-particle interaction processes that are known to operate in the terrestrial magnetotail.

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