Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002jgra..107.1103k&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), Volume 107, Issue A7, pp. SMP 10-1, CiteID 1103, DOI 10.1029/2001JA000288
Physics
7
Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Sheet, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetotail, Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems (2409), Magnetospheric Physics: Electric Fields (2411)
Scientific paper
Long-term averaged three-dimensional (3-D) databased magnetotail models have been created for many plasma and field parameters. A simple modeling technique that was used in earlier work is compared with a new more comprehensive procedure. Good agreement between the two methods was found when both produced stable results. The simpler method generated reliable models from any of the available data sets, while the more complex method did not. It is shown how analyses of the models can determine plasma and field parameters that are too small to be measured directly. The magnetic field data was used to calculate average electric currents flowing in the x and y directions. Full 3-D distributions of jx and jy were determined from the models even though these currents were too small to measure directly with adequate accuracy. Changes of the electron and ion pressure anisotropies as a function of distance along an average magnetic field line then were analyzed. It was concluded that the electron anisotropy was created by an electric field with a parallel component near the neutral sheet. The parallel electric field is small but is required to maintain charge neutrality in the region containing guiding center electron and nonguiding center ion orbits. In addition to creating anisotropic electron distributions the presence of this parallel electric field violates the ideal MHD assumptions near the neutral sheet. The ion anisotropy suggests that the net effect of chaotic ion motion near the neutral sheet is to create a weak source cone distribution superimposed on a denser isotropic component.
Frank Louis A.
Kaufmann Richard L.
Lu Chen
Paterson William R.
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