Tearing at the dayside magnetopause

Details Tearing at the dayside magnetopause Tearing at the dayside magnetopause

May 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981jgr....86.3289q&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 86, May 1, 1981, p. 3289-3298.

Physics

58

Daytime, International Sun Earth Explorers, Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Magnetopause, Plasma Waves, Tearing Modes (Plasmas), Asymptotic Methods, Electron Density (Concentration), Electron Energy, Landau Damping, Magnetometers, Transit Time

Scientific paper

Initial observations of the dayside magnetopause thickness using magnetometers on board ISEE 1 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) and ISEE 2 indicate that this boundary may only be a few ion gyro-radii thick during periods of observed southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Such a thin current layer can destabilize the collisionless tearing mode, a probable first step in the reconnection sequence. The linear growth rate is calculated assuming typical magnetopause parameters and it is found that it is a sensitive function of IMF orientation, magnetopause thickness, and electron number density. It is also shown that the finite size of the dayside magnetopause necessitates the existence of a two-dimensional tearing mode wave vector spectrum, a consequence of the inability of a thermal electron to maintain Landau resonance with the wave for a growth period. Implications regarding reconnection are discussed.

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