Search Publications
Tangent Directions of the Cusp Boundary Derived From the Simulated Soft X Ray Image
Wang, Chi; Sun, Tianran; Wang, Xue
The magnetospheric cusp plays an essential role in mass and energy transportation from the solar wind to the geo space environment. Recent development of the X ray imaging technique makes it possible to study the large scale properties of the cusp region from a global view. As the detected X ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight (…
Flux Transfer Events at a Reconnection Suppressed Magnetopause: Cassini Observations at Saturn
Coates, Andrew J.; Fuselier, Stephen A.; Slavin, James A. +5 more
We present the discovery of seven new flux transfer events (FTEs) at Saturn's dayside magnetopause by the Cassini spacecraft and analyze the observations of all eight known FTEs. We investigate how FTEs may differ at Saturn where the magnetopause conditions are likely to diamagnetically suppress magnetic reconnection from occurring. The measured i…
Particle-In-Cell Simulations of Electrostatic Solitary Waves in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection
Wang, Shui; Lu, Quanming; Gao, Xinliang +5 more
Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) are ubiquitously observed in magnetic reconnection. In this study, two-dimensional (2-D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are performed to investigate the characteristics of ESWs in asymmetric magnetic reconnection. ESWs with bipolar structures of the parallel electric field can be generated near the separatri…
Thermodynamics of the Magnetotail Current Sheet Thinning
Petrukovich, A. A.; Nakamura, R.; Artemyev, A. V. +1 more
Substorm growth phase in the magnetotail is characterized by formation of a thin current sheet (CS) becomes unstable due to external or internal drivers. Such instability results in magnetic field line reconnection, the substorm onset. The CS thinning, as a key process of substorm dynamics, has been included into many global and local simulations …
The Spacecraft Wake: Interference With Electric Field Observations and a Possibility to Detect Cold Ions
Eriksson, Anders I.; Khotyaintsev, Yuri V.; André, Mats +1 more
Wakes behind spacecraft caused by supersonic drifting positive ions are common in plasmas and disturb in situ measurements. We review the impact of wakes on observations by the Electric Field and Wave double-probe instruments on the Cluster satellites. In the solar wind, the equivalent spacecraft charging is small compared to the ion drift energy …
Empirical Selection of Auroral Kilometric Radiation During a Multipoint Remote Observation With Wind and Cassini
Jackman, C. M.; Bonnin, X.; Cecconi, B. +5 more
Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR) is terrestrial radio emission that originates in particle acceleration regions along magnetic field lines, coinciding with discrete auroral arcs. AKR viewing geometry is complex due to the confinement of the source regions to nightside local times (LTs) and the anisotropy of the beaming pattern, so observations a…
Electron Energy Interplay in the Geomagnetic Trap Below the Auroral Acceleration Region
Khazanov, George V.; Glocer, Alex; Chu, Mike
This publication addresses the collisional superthermal electron dynamics below the auroral acceleration region (AAR). This region is the portion of an auroral field line with a field aligned electric field that leads to the formation of precipitating monoenergetic keV electron fluxes that produce the discrete auroral displays observable from the …
Thin Current Sheet Behind the Dipolarization Front
Russell, C. T.; Escoubet, C. P.; Fazakerley, A. N. +18 more
We report a unique conjugate observation of fast flows and associated current sheet disturbances in the near-Earth magnetotail by MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) and Cluster preceding a positive bay onset of a small substorm at ∼14:10 UT, September 8, 2018. MMS and Cluster were located both at X ∼ −14 RE. A dipolarization front (DF) of …
20 Years of Cluster Observations: The Magnetopause
Hasegawa, H.; Dunlop, M.; Haaland, S. +2 more
The terrestrial magnetopause forms the boundary between the solar wind plasma with its embedded interplanetary magnetic field on one side, and the terrestrial magnetosphere, dominated by Earth's dipole field, on the other side. It is therefore a key region for the transfer of mass, momentum, and energy from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. The…
New Measurement of the Vertical Atmospheric Density Profile From Occultations of the Crab Nebula With X Ray Astronomy Satellites Suzaku and Hitomi
Katsuda, Satoru; Sato, Kosuke; Tashiro, Makoto S. +6 more
We present new measurements of the vertical density profile of the Earth's atmosphere at altitudes between 70 and 200 km, based on Earth occultations of the Crab Nebula observed with the X ray Imaging Spectrometer onboard Suzaku and the hard X ray Imager onboard Hitomi. X ray spectral variation due to the atmospheric absorption is used to derive t…