Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 1990
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990georl..17..591s&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 17, April 1990, p. 591-594.
Physics
26
Boundary Layer Plasmas, Geomagnetic Tail, Magnetohydrodynamics, Polytropic Processes, Two Dimensional Models, Heat Flux, Mass Transfer, Plasma Density, Plasma Pressure, Radial Distribution
Scientific paper
The polytropic index has been obtained as a function of distance along the midnight meridian in the terrestrial magnetotail. To establish the effects of the finite width of the magnetotail, use is made of a simple theoretical model of plasma sheet convection. Particle orbits are treated independently for portions of the phase space distribution on shells of constant energy. On the midnight meridian, the moments of the distribution are parameterized by tau, the ratio of half the cross-tail potential energy to the characteristic Maxwellian energy of a distant down-tail plasma source. The plasma pressure, P, and the number density, n, along the midnight meridian are inferred from the model as a function of tau. P and n define locally an 'effective' polytropic index, gamma. It is found that gamma ranges between 5/3 and 1, depending on the value of tau and on geocentric distance.
Galland Kivelson Margaret
Spence Harlan E.
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