Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer

Details Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer

Jun 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994jgr....9911211d&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 99, Issue A6, p. 11211-11224

Physics

Plasma Physics

22

Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Waves And Instabilities, Space Plasma Physics: Numerical Simulation Studies

Scientific paper

The current convective instability is identified as the dominant mechanism for producing turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer. A linear stability analysis demonstrates that the instability should be robustly unstable for the parameters of the magnetopuase current layer. Three-dimensional nonlinear simulations indicate that the current layer evolves to a strongly turbulent state. The current convective instability is driven unstable by the cross-field gradient of the parallel current in the collisionless plasma. A simple physical picture of the instability is presented. For narrow current layers with scale length L less than an ion Larmor radius ρi, the growth rates exceed the ion gyrofrequency even with Ti>>Te. A set of nonlinear fluid equations are derived in the unmagnetized ion limit ρi>L. In three-dimensional simulations based on these equations the current layer evolves to a turbulent state with layers of extended but irregular clifflike structures with transverse scale length of the order of ρes, the electron Larmor radius based on Ti. The anomalous cross-field transport rate D⊥ of current resulting from this instability is given by D⊥~ρesvy with vy the electron parallel streaming velocity. The present linear theory and simulations are limited to electrostatic disturbances. The implications of these results for understanding the structure of the magnetopause current layer are discussed.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Turbulence and transport in the magnetopause current layer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1505044