Search Publications
Unveiling the journey of a highly inclined CME. Insights from the March 13, 2012, event with 110° longitudinal separation
Lario, D.; Jian, L. K.; Temmer, M. +8 more
Context. A fast (∼2000 km s−1) and wide (> 110°) coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun on March 13, 2012. Its interplanetary counterpart was detected in situ two days later by STEREO-A and near-Earth spacecraft, such as ACE, Wind, and Cluster. We suggest that at 1 au the CME extended at least 110° in longitude, with Earth …
Derivation of a generalized Kappa distribution from the scaling properties of solar wind magnetic field fluctuations at kinetic scales
Consolini, Giuseppe; Benella, Simone; Belardinelli, Daniele +1 more
Context. Kinetic-scale dynamics in weakly collisional space plasmas usually exhibits a self-similar statistics of magnetic field fluctuations. This implies the existence of an invariant probability density function (master curve). Aims. We provide an analytical derivation of the master curve by assuming that perpendicular fluctuations can be model…
MHD study of the planetary magnetospheric response during extreme solar wind conditions: Earth and exoplanet magnetospheres applications
Pantellini, F.; Zarka, P.; Varela, J. +3 more
Context. The stellar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field modify the topology of planetary magnetospheres. Consequently, the hazardous effect of the direct exposition to the stellar wind, for example, regarding the integrity of satellites orbiting the Earth or the habitability of exoplanets, depends upon the space weather conditions.
Ai…
Pitch-angle distribution of accelerated electrons in 3D current sheets with magnetic islands
Zharkova, V.; Xia, Q.
Aims: This research aims to explore variations of electron pitch-angle distributions (PADs) during spacecraft crossing of reconnecting current sheets (RCSs) with magnetic islands. Our results can benchmark the sampled characteristic features with realistic PADs derived from in situ observations.
Methods: Particle motion is simulated in 2…
Characteristics of solar wind suprathermal halo electrons
Fichtner, H.; Pierrard, V.; Lazar, M. +1 more
A suprathermal halo population of electrons is ubiquitous in space plasmas, as evidence of their departure from thermal equilibrium even in the absence of anisotropies. The origin, properties, and implications of this population, however, are poorly known. We provide a comprehensive description of solar wind halo electrons in the ecliptic, contras…
Statistics of solar wind electron breakpoint energies using machine learning techniques
Walsh, A. P.; Rae, I. J.; Smith, A. W. +4 more
Solar wind electron velocity distributions at 1 au consist of a thermal "core" population and two suprathermal populations: "halo" and "strahl". The core and halo are quasi-isotropic, whereas the strahl typically travels radially outwards along the parallel or anti-parallel direction with respect to the interplanetary magnetic field. Using Cluster…
Dual Maxwellian-Kappa modeling of the solar wind electrons: new clues on the temperature of Kappa populations
Fichtner, H.; Pierrard, V.; Lazar, M. +2 more
Context. Recent studies on Kappa distribution functions invoked in space plasma applications have emphasized two alternative approaches that may assume the temperature parameter either dependent or independent of the power-index κ. Each of them can obtain justification in different scenarios involving Kappa-distributed plasmas, but direct evidence…