Universality of lower hybrid waves at Earth's magnetopause
D. B. Graham, Yu. V. Khotyaintsev, C. Norgren, A. Vaivads, M. Andre, J. F. Drake, J. Egedal, M. Zhou, O. Le Contel, J. M. Webster, B. Lavraud, I. Kacem, V. Geno… 展开作者
D. B. Graham, Yu. V. Khotyaintsev, C. Norgren, A. Vaivads, M. Andre, J. F. Drake, J. Egedal, M. Zhou, O. Le Contel, J. M. Webster, B. Lavraud, I. Kacem, V. Genot, C. Jacquey, A. C. Rager, D. J. Gershman, J. L. Burch, R. E. Ergun
Waves around the lower hybrid frequency are frequently observed at Earth's magnetopause, and readily reach very large amplitudes. Determining the properties of lower hybrid waves is crucial because they are thought to contribute to electron and ion heating, cross-field particle diffusion, anomalous resistivity, and energy transfer between electrons and ions. All these processes could play an important role in magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause and the evolution of the boundary layer. In this paper, the properties of lower hybrid waves at Earth's magnetopause are investigated using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. For the first time, the properties of the waves are investigated using fields and direct particle measurements. The highest-resolution electron moments resolve the velocity and density fluctuations of lower hybrid waves, confirming that electrons remain approximately frozen in at lower hybrid wave frequencies. Using fields and particle moments the dispersion relation is constructed and the wave-normal angle is estimated to be close to $90^{\circ}$ to the background magnetic field. The waves are shown to have a finite parallel wave vector, suggesting that they can interact with parallel propagating electrons. The observed wave properties are shown to agree with theoretical predictions, the previously used single-spacecraft method, and four-spacecraft timing analyses. These results show that single-spacecraft methods can accurately determine lower hybrid wave properties.
Electron heating and mixing during asymmetric reconnection are studied with a 3D kinetic simulation that matches plasma parameters from Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft observations of a magnetopause diffusion region. The mixing and heating are strongly enhanced across the magnetospheric separatrix compared to a 2D simulation. The transport of particles across the separatrix in 3D is attributed to lower-hybrid drift turbulence excited at the steep density gradient near the magnetopause. In the 3D simulation (and not the 2D simulation), the electron temperature parallel to the magneti…
We compare a global high resolution resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation of Earth's magnetosphere with observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) constellation for a southward IMF magnetopause crossing during October 16, 2015 that was previously identified as an electron diffusion region (EDR) event. The simulation predicts a complex time-dependent magnetic topology consisting of multiple separators and flux ropes. Despite the topological complexity, the predicted distance between MMS and the primary separator is less than 0.5 Earth radii. These results suggest that globa…
We consider the one-dimensional equilibrium problem of a shear-flow boundary layer within an "extended Hall-MHD" (eHMHD) model of plasma that retains first-order finite Larmor radius (FLR) corrections to the ion dynamics. We provide a generalized version of the analytic expressions for the equilibrium configuration given in Cerri et al. (2013) [Cerri et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 112112 (2013)], highlighting their intrinsic asymmetry due to the relative orientation of the magnetic field $\mathbf{b}=\mathbf{B}/|\mathbf{B}|$ and the fluid vorticity $\mathbfω=\mathbf{\nabla}\times\mathbf{u}$ ("$\math…
Plasmas in Earth's outer magnetosphere, magnetosheath, and solar wind are essentially collisionless. This means particle distributions are not typically in thermodynamic equilibrium and deviate significantly from Maxwellian distributions. The deviations of these distributions can be further enhanced by plasma processes, such as shocks, turbulence, and magnetic reconnection. Such distributions can be unstable to a wide variety of kinetic plasma instabilities, which in turn modify the electron distributions. In this paper the deviations of the observed electron distributions from a bi-Maxwellian…
Based on global hybrid simulation results, we predict that foreshock turbulence can reach the magnetopause and lead to reconnection as well as Earth-sized indents. Both the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind are constant in our simulation, and hence all dynamics are generated by foreshock instabilities. The IMF in the simulation is mostly Sun-Earth aligned with a weak northward and zero dawn-dusk component, such that subsolar magnetopause reconnection is not expected without foreshock turbulence modifying the magnetosheath fields. We show a reconnection example to illustrate th…
Using multipoint observations we show, for the first time, that Foreshock Bubbles (FBs) have a global impact on Earth's magnetosphere. We show that an FB, a transient kinetic phenomenon due to the interaction of backstreaming suprathermal ions with a discontinuity, modifies the total pressure upstream of the bow shock showing a decrease within the FB's core and sheath regions. Magnetosheath plasma is accelerated towards the the intersection of the FB's current sheet with the bow shock resulting in fast, sunward, flows as well as outward motion of the magnetopause. Ground-based magnetometers al…
The magnetopause marks the outer edge of the Earth's magnetosphere and a distinct boundary between solar wind and magnetospheric plasma populations. In this letter, we use global magnetohydrodynamic simulations to examine the response of the terrestrial magnetopause to fast-forward interplanetary shocks of various strengths and compare to theoretical predictions. The theory and simulations indicate the magnetopause response can be characterised by three distinct phases; an initial acceleration as inertial forces are overcome, a rapid compressive phase comprising the majority of the distance tr…
We present a three-dimensional study of the plasma dynamics at the flank magnetopause of the Earth's magnetosphere during mainly northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) periods. Two-fluid simulations show that the initial magnetic shear at the magnetopause and the field line bending caused by the dynamics itself (in a configuration taken as representative of the properties of the flank magnetopause) influence both the location where the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability and the induced magnetic reconnection take place and their nonlinear development. The KH vortices develop asymmetricall…
We present results from global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar wind/magnetosphere interaction. These MHD simulations are used to study ultra low frequency (ULF) pulsations in the Earth's magnetosphere driven by shear instabilities at the flanks of the magnetopause. We drive the simulations with idealized, constant solar wind input parameters, ensuring that any discrete ULF pulsations generated in the simulation magnetosphere are not due to fluctuations in the solar wind. The simulations presented in this study are driven by purely southward interplanetary …
MMS observations recently confirmed that crescent-shaped electron velocity distributions in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field occur in the electron diffusion region near reconnection sites at Earth's magnetopause. In this paper, we re-examine the origin of the crescent-shaped distributions in the light of our new finding that ions and electrons are drifting in opposite directions when displayed in magnetopause boundary-normal coordinates. Therefore, ExB drifts cannot cause the crescent shapes. We performed a high-resolution multi-scale simulation capturing sub-electron skin depth s…
Kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic reconnection. A "shoulder" in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN > 0) at the reconnection magnetic field reversal is a good indicator of the EDR, and is caused by magnetosheath electron meandering orbits in the vicinity of the x-line. Earthward of the X-line, electrons accelerated by EN form strong currents and crescent-shaped distribution functions in the plane perpendicular to B. Just downstream of the X-line, parallel electri…
Surface waves on Earth's magnetopause have a controlling effect upon global magnetospheric dynamics. Since spacecraft provide sparse in situ observation points, remote sensing these modes using ground-based instruments in the polar regions is desirable. However, many open conceptual questions on the expected signatures remain. Therefore, we provide predictions of key qualitative features expected in auroral, ionospheric, and ground magnetic observations through both magnetohydrodynamic theory and a global coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere simulation of a magnetopause surface eigenmode. These sh…
The pressure balance at the magnetopause is formed by magnetic field and plasma in the magnetosheath, on one side, and inside the magnetosphere, on the other side. In the approach of dipole earth's magnetic field configuration and gas-dynamics solar wind flowing around the magnetosphere, the pressure balance predicts that the magnetopause distance R depends on solar wind dynamic pressure Pd as a power low R ~ Pd^alpha, where the exponent alpha=-1/6. In the real magnetosphere the magnetic filed is contributed by additional sources: Chapman-Ferraro current system, field-aligned currents, tail cu…
The present study examines the response of the terrestrial magnetosphere to the long-term steady declining trends observed in solar magnetic fields and solar wind micro-turbulence levels since mid-1990's that has been continuing beyond the mini-solar maximum of cycle 24. A detailed analysis of the response of the terrestrial magnetosphere has been carried out by studying the extent and shape of the Earth's magnetopause and bow shock over the past four solar cycles. We estimate sub-solar stand-off distance of the magnetopause and bow shock, and the shape of the magnetopause using numerical as w…
Surface waves process the turbulent disturbances which drive dynamics in many space, astrophysical and laboratory plasma systems, with the outer boundary of Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetopause, providing an accessible environment to study them. Like waves on water, magnetopause surface waves are thought to travel in the direction of the driving solar wind, hence a paradigm in global magnetospheric dynamics of tailward propagation has been well-established. Here we show through multi-spacecraft observations, global simulations, and analytic theory that the lowest-frequency impulsively-excit…
Data from the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission are used to investigate asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the dayside boundary between the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind (the magnetopause). High-resolution measurements of plasmas, electric and magnetic fields, and waves are used to identify highly localized (~15 electron Debye lengths) standing wave structures with large electric-field amplitudes (up to 100 mV/m). These wave structures are associated with spatially oscillatory dissipation, which appears as alternatingly positive and negative values of J dot E (dissipatio…
Geoelectric Field Caused by Flux Transfer Events in an Ionosphere-Coupled Vlasiator Simulation
University of Helsinki（赫尔辛基大学）；CSC – IT Center for Science（芬兰IT科学中心）；University of Bergen（卑尔根大学）；LPC2E, CNRS/CNES/University of Orléans（奥尔良大学）；CIRES, University of Colorado at Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；Space Science Institute（太空科学研究所）；Finnish Meteorological Institute（芬兰气象研究所）；Air Force Research Lab（空军研究实验室）
Solar wind parameters play a dominant role in reconnection rate, which controls the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling efficiency at Earth's magnetopause. Besides, low-energy ions from the ionosphere, frequently detected on the magnetospheric side of the magnetopause, also affect magnetic reconnection. However, the specific role of low-energy ions in reconnection is still an open question under active discussion. In the present work, we report in situ observations of a multiscale, multi-type magnetopause reconnection in the presence of low-energy ions using NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale data…
The location of the terrestrial magnetopause (MP) and it's subsolar stand-off distance depends not only on the solar wind dynamic pressure and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), both of which play a crucial role in determining it's shape, but also on the nature of the processes involved in the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. The stand-off distance of the earth's MP and bow shock (BS) also define the extent of terrestrial magnetic fields into near-earth space on the sunward side and have important consequences for space weather. However, asymmetries due to the di…
The impinging solar wind and its magnetic field perturbed the Earth's magnetosphere and create magnetic storms and substorms. The Earth's magnetosphere expands (contracts) during periods of southward (northward) IMF. It is shown that these magnetospheric expansions and contractions account for poorly understood aspects of magnetic storm-substorm relationship, bifurcation of the magnetotail and the appearance of theta aurora. Quantitative theory and calculations in agreement with the suggested model of solar wind/IMF-magnetosphere coupling are presented. Pre-noon and post-noon dents on the magn…
Identifying blast-wave shocks, which can arise during CME formation, is a much more complex problem. The difference from piston shocks is that a blast-wave shock originates from the explosions that frequently accompany CME formation, and further propagates freely without any CME piston effects. The bow shock of Earth is a piston shock. Behind the bow shock front there is a flow of the modified solar wind plasma: transition layer, which also carries the modified magnetic field of solar wind. Velocity and density of plasma as well as parameters of magnetic field of this current can be estimated …
Composed of shocked solar wind, the Earth's magnetosheath serves as a natural laboratory to study the transition of turbulence from low Alfv{é}n Mach number, $M_\mathrm{A}$, to high $M_\mathrm{A}$. The simultaneous observations of magnetic field and plasma moments with unprecedented high temporal resolution provided by NASA's \textit{Magnetospheric Multiscale} Mission enable us to study the magnetosheath turbulence at both magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and sub-ion scales. Based on 1841 burst-mode segments of MMS-1 from 2015/09 to 2019/06, comprehensive patterns of the spatial evolution of magneto…
In this paper we use three-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations to investigate the interaction of a small-Larmor radius plasma cloud/jet with a transverse non-uniform magnetic field typical to a tangential discontinuity in a parallel geometry. The simulation setup corresponds to an idealized, yet relevant, magnetospheric configuration likely to be observed at the magnetopause during northward orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. The numerical simulations are adapted to study the kinetic effects and their role on the transport and entry of localized plasma jets …
In this paper global surface wave modes supported by plasma discontinuities at both the magnetopause and the plasmapause are considered. The ionosphere at the ends of the magnetic field lines of the earth outer magnetosphere is considered as reflecting boundaries of the surface waves that propagate along the plasma boundaries. As a result a standing wave structure along the magnetic field fluxes of the outer magnetosphere, i.e. surface wave resonance structure can be formed. Due to quantized wavenumbers along the magnetic field lines, the surface wave resonance possesses quantified frequencies…
Under quasi-radial interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF), foreshock turbulence can have an impact on the magnetosheath and cusps depending on the location of the quasi-parallel shock. We perform three-dimensional simulations of Earth's dayside magnetosphere using the hybrid code HYPERS, and compare northward and southward quasi-radial IMF configurations. We study the magnetic field configuration, fluctuations in the magnetosheath and the plasma in the regions around the northern cusp. Under northward IMF with Earthward $B_x$, there is a time-varying plasma depletion layer immediately outside th…
Magnetic reconnection plays an important role in converting energy while modifying field topology. This process takes place in varied plasma environments in which the transport of magnetic flux is intrinsic. Identifying active magnetic reconnection sites in in-situ observations is challenging. A new technique, Magnetic Flux Transport (MFT) analysis, has been developed recently and proven in numerical simulation for identifying active reconnection efficiently and accurately. In this study, we examine the MFT process in 37 previously reported electron diffusion region (EDR)/reconnection-line cro…
Energetic particle fluxes in the outer magnetosphere present a significant challenge to modelling efforts as they can vary by orders of magnitude in response to solar wind driving conditions. In this article, we demonstrate the ability to propagate test particles through global MHD simulations to a high level of precision and use this to map the cross-field radial transport associated with relativistic electrons undergoing drift orbit bifurcations (DOBs). The simulations predict DOBs primarily occur within an Earth radius of the magnetopause loss cone and appears significantly different for so…
We present our approach to modeling over 20 years of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system using version 5 of the Grand Unified Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Simulation (GUMICS-5). As input we use 16-s resolution magnetic field and 1-min plasma measurements by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite from 1998 to 2020. The modeled interval is divided into 28 h simulations, which include 4 h overlap. We use a maximum magnetospheric resolution of 0.5 Earth radii (Re) up to about 15 Re from Earth and decreasing resolution further away. In the ionosphere we use a maximum reso…
In preparation for the MMS mission we ask the question: how common are bipolar signatures linked to the presence of electron holes along separatrices emanating from reconnection regions? To answer this question, we conduct massively parallel simulations for realistic conditions and for the hydrogen mass ratio in boxes larger than considered in similar previous studies. The magnetic field configuration includes both a field reversal and a out of plane guide field, as typical of many space situations. The guide field is varied in strength from low values (typical of the Earth magnetotail) to hig…
Space Research Institute RAS（俄罗斯科学院空间研究所）；National Research University Higher School of Economics（国立研究型大学高等经济学院）；University of California, Los Angeles（加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校）；Drexel University（德雷塞尔大学）
Current sheets are spatially localized almost-1D structures with intense plasma currents. They play a key role in storing the magnetic field energy and they separate different plasma populations in planetary magnetospheres, the solar wind, and the solar corona. Current sheets are primary regions for the magnetic field line reconnection responsible for plasma heating and charged particle acceleration. One of the most interesting and widely observed type of 1D current sheets is the rotational discontinuity, that can be force-free or include plasma compression. Theoretical models of such 1D curre…
System-scale magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves within Earth's magnetosphere are often understood theoretically using box models. While these have been highly instructive in understanding many fundamental features of the various wave modes present, they neglect the complexities of geospace such as the inhomogeneities and curvilinear geometries present. Here we show global MHD simulations of resonant waves impulsively-excited by a solar wind pressure pulse. Although many aspects of the surface, fast magnetosonic (cavity/waveguide), and Alfvén modes present agree with the box and axially symmetric …
