A three-dimensional (3-D) Hall MHD simulation is carried out to study the roles of initial current carrier in the topology of magnetic field, the generation and distribu- tion of field aligned currents (FACs), and the appearance of Alfvén waves. Consid- ering the contribution of ions to the initial current, the topology of the obtained magnetic field turns to be more complex. In some cases, it is found that not only the traditional By quadrupole structure but also a reversal By quadrupole structure appears in the simulation box. This can explain the observational features near the diffusion region, which are inconsistent with the Hall MHD theory with the total ini- tial current carried by electrons. Several other interesting features are also emerged. First, motions of electrons and ions are decoupled from each other in the small plasma region (Hall effect region) with a scale less than or comparable with the ion inertial length or ion skin depth di=c/ωp. In the non-Hall effect region, the global magnetic structure is shifted in +y direction under the influence of ions with initial y directional motion. However, in the Hall effect region, magnetic field lines are bent in ?y direction, mainly controlled by the motion of electrons, then By is generated. Second, FACs emerge as a result of the appearance of By. Compared with the prior Hall MHD simulation results, the generated FACs shift in +y direction, and hence the dawn-dusk symmetry is broken. Third, the Walén relation in our simulations is consistent with the Walén relation in Hall plasma, thus the presence of Alfvén wave is confirmed.
The global distribution properties of Ultra Low Frequency wave (ULF) in the inner magnetospgere and its interactions with energetic particles, such as the wave-particle resonance, modulation, and particle acceleration, are active topics in space physics research. These problems are fundamentally important issues to understand the energy transport from the solar wind into the magnetosphere. In this paper we briefly reviewed the recent research progress on ULF wave and its interactions with energetic particles in the inner magnetosphere; furthermore, we suggested some open questions for future study.
Based on observations obtained by Cluster C1, GOES 10, 12, and Polar, the global ULF wave properties are studied during the recovery phase of a very intense magnetic storm-Halloween storm (October 31, 2003, 21:00–23:00 UT). The results indicate that the ULF waves’ properties observed by different satellites, such as amplitude, period, etc. show large variations. This can be interpreted as that Field Line Resonance (FLR) might take place in the region where Cluster C1 passed. The compressional wave of the cavity mode coupled with FLR’s shear Alfven wave and fed energy to the latter, forming a large-amplitude toroidal mode. From the point of period, Cluster C1 observed the shortest period, GOES 10, 12 observed the middle, while Polar observed the longest. The wave period of toroidal mode observed by Cluster C1 kept almost unchanging when Cluster C1 passed L range from 11.7 to 5.3. Using the Squared Wavelet Coherence analysis method, we estimated that the FLR region in the dayside magnetosphere could expand to at least 4 local time widths. The toroidal mode observed by Polar was a standing wave, while the poloidal mode was a propagating wave, the observation results could be well explained by the waveguide mode theory. Since the solarwind speed V x was −800 km/s and the dynamic pressure varied little, we speculated that the source of the ULF wave was the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the magnetopause triggered by high speed solarwind.
YongFu Wang SuiYan Fu QiuGang Zong Biao Yang ZuYin Pu Lun XieXuZhi Zhou
When the IMF turns southward, a great amount of magnetic energy is stored in the magnetotail, and the electric field across the magnetotail substantially en-hances. As long as magnetic reconnection (MR) in the mag-netotail initiates and continues, the magnetic field and plasma in the central plasma sheet are carried away to the near-Earth and down to the tail, the magnetic field and plasma in the lobe region enter the CPS and are involved in MR. We call this process “Continuous Lobe Reconnection (CLR)”. In this paper a detailed analysis of Cluster observa-tion of MR through 2001―2003 is made. Plenty of CLR events are found that led to considerable changes of tail con-figuration, appearance of BBF, as well as large-scale bubbles in which both plasma temperature and number density sub-stantially decrease. It is shown that in general CLR events last for dozens of minutes and have good correspondence to substorm initiation under the condition of continuous southward IMF.
CAO XinPU ZuyinZHANG HuiFU SuiyanXIAO ChijieLIU ZhenxingJ. B. caoA. KorthM. FrazenQ. G. ZongH. RemeK. H. Glassmeier
