Search Publications
Energy Range of Electron Rolling Pin Distribution Behind Dipolarization Front
Xu, Y.; Fu, H. S.; Burch, J. L. +4 more
The electron rolling pin distribution, showing electron pitch angles primarily at 0°, 90°, and 180°, has recently been observed behind dipolarization fronts (DFs) and explained using an analytical model. However, the energy range of such distribution has been unknown so far, owing to the low-resolution data in previous spacecraft missions. Here us…
Effects of Ducting on Whistler Mode Chorus or Exohiss in the Outer Radiation Belt
Hanzelka, Miroslav; Santolík, Ondřej
Previously published statistics based on Cluster spacecraft measurements surprisingly show that in the outer radiation belt, lower band whistler mode waves predominantly propagate unattenuated parallel to the magnetic field lines up to midlatitudes, where ray tracing simulations indicated highly attenuated waves with oblique wave vectors. We expla…
Multispacecraft Analysis of Electron Holes
Russell, C. T.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V. +4 more
Electron holes (EHs) are nonlinear electrostatic structures in plasmas. Most previous in situ studies of EHs have been limited to single- and two-spacecraft methods. We present statistics of EHs observed by Magnetospheric Multiscale on the magnetospheric side of the magnetopause during October 2016 when the spacecraft separation was around 6 km. E…
Combined Scattering of Radiation Belt Electrons Caused by Landau and Bounce Resonant Interactions With Magnetosonic Waves
Fu, Song; Ni, Binbin; Gu, Xudong +2 more
We develop a full relativistic test particle code to model the combined electron scattering effect of Landau and bounce resonances with magnetosonic waves. Test particle simulations of magnetosonic wave-electron interactions indicate that the two resonances coexist to affect radiation belt electrons at different energies and pitch angles, and the …
Evidence of Magnetic Nulls in the Reconnection at Bow Shock
Wang, Z.; Xu, Y.; Fu, H. S. +2 more
Magnetic nulls are believed to play important roles in the energy dissipation during reconnection. Such nulls have been observed in reconnection at the magnetopause, magnetosheath, and magnetotail but have never been observed in reconnection at the bow shock. Recently, four reconnection events were reported at the terrestrial bow shock, by utilizi…
Electron Vorticity Indicative of the Electron Diffusion Region of Magnetic Reconnection
Russell, C. T.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Hasegawa, H. +17 more
While vorticity defined as the curl of the velocity has been broadly used in fluid and plasma physics, this quantity has been underutilized in space physics due to low time resolution observations. We report Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of enhanced electron vorticity in the vicinity of the electron diffusion region of magnetic reco…
High-Frequency Wave Generation in Magnetotail Reconnection: Nonlinear Harmonics of Upper Hybrid Waves
Graham, Daniel B.; Yoon, Peter H.; Sibeck, David G. +4 more
MMS3 spacecraft passed the vicinity of the electron diffusion region of magnetotail reconnection on 3 July 2017, observing discrepancies between perpendicular electron bulk velocities and E>→×B>→ drift, and agyrotropic electron crescent distributions. Analyzing linear wave dispersions, Burch et al. (2019,
First Observations of the Disruption of the Earth's Foreshock Wave Field During Magnetic Clouds
Escoubet, C. P.; Dandouras, I.; Palmroth, M. +8 more
The foreshock, extending upstream of Earth's bow shock, is a region of intense electromagnetic wave activity and nonlinear phenomena, which can have global effects on geospace. It is also the first geophysical region encountered by solar wind disturbances journeying toward Earth. Here, we present the first observations of considerable modification…
IMF By Influence on Magnetospheric Convection in Earth's Magnetotail Plasma Sheet
Hamrin, M.; Tenfjord, P.; Laundal, K. M. +7 more
We use Geotail, Cluster, and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms data over 15 years (1995-2009) to statistically investigate convective ion flows (V⊥xy<200 km/s) in the magnetotail plasma sheet under the influence of a clearly nonzero dawn-dusk interplanetary magnetic field (IMF By). We find…
Magnetized Dust Clouds Penetrating the Terrestrial Bow Shock Detected by Multiple Spacecraft
Lai, H. R.; Russell, C. T.; Jia, Y. D. +1 more
Clouds of charged nanometer dust, produced in intra-meteoroid collisions and accelerated by the magnetized solar wind, twist the interplanetary magnetic field as they are accelerated. Depending on the cloud size, minutes to hours-long perturbations are observed by interplanetary spacecraft and have been termed interplanetary field enhancements (IF…