Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Dec 1975
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1975jgr....80.4689h&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 80, Dec. 1, 1975, p. 4689-4699.
Statistics
Applications
32
Collisionless Plasmas, Electric Fields, Energy Dissipation, Magnetic Field Configurations, Magnetic Field Inversions, Magnetohydrodynamic Flow, Auroral Electrojets, Flow Velocity, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves, Magnetopause, Particle Motion, Plasma Acceleration, Plasma Pressure, Shock Waves, Velocity Distribution
Scientific paper
The problem of magnetic merging in a fully collisionless plasma is analyzed in terms of individual charged-particle dynamics, explicitly avoiding the use of any fluid approximation. It is shown that the Alfven self-consistency requirement, which relates plasma density to the electric and magnetic fields, is equivalent (when suitably generalized) to the stress-balance requirement discussed by Rich et al. (1972). Employing this criterion, the self-consistent electric field and the magnetic merging speed are obtained as functions of the magnetic-field configuration and the incident plasma parameters. The merging speed obtained for equal antiparallel fields is found to be within a factor of 2 of the result from fluid theory, provided the incident plasma pressure is initially isotropic. It is shown that the merging speed can be reduced or enhanced by anisotropic plasma pressures and that merging ceases when the marginal fire-hose stability criterion is met. Applications of this analysis are presented for the earth's magnetotail, the dayside magnetopause, and interplanetary sector boundaries.
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