GEOPHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROPHYSICS: Cluster Observation of Electrostatic Solitary Waves around Magnetic Null Point in Thin Current Sheet
Fu, Song; Zhou, Meng; Wang, Jing-Fang; Deng, Xiao-Hua; Li, Shi-You; Yuan, Zhi-Gang; Lin, Xi; Lin, Min-Hui
China
Abstract
Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) are observed in the vicinity of the magnetic null of the widely studied magnetic reconnection taking place at the near-earth tail when current sheet becomes dramatic thinning during substorm time on 1 October 2001. We use the Imada method for the 2-D reconnection model and study the characteristics of ESWs near the X-line region and the magnetic null points. The result shows that the amplitude of the observed ESWs in the vicinity of X-line region ranges from 0.1 mV/m to 5 mV/m, and the amplitude is larger near the magnetic null points. The generation mechanism and the role of ESWs associated with magnetic reconnection are also discussed.