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Nonlinear Alfvén waves, discontinuities, proton perpendicular acceleration, and magnetic holes/decreases in interplanetary space and the magnetosphere: intermediate shocks?

Lakhina, G. S.; Tsurutani, B. T.; Pickett, J. S. +3 more

Alfvén waves, discontinuities, proton perpendicular acceleration and magnetic decreases (MDs) in interplanetary space are shown to be interrelated. Discontinuities are the phase-steepened edges of Alfvén waves. Magnetic decreases are caused by a diamagnetic effect from perpendicularly accelerated (to the magnetic field) protons. The ion accelerati…

On the generation of solitary waves observed by Cluster in the near-Earth magnetosheath

Gurnett, D. A.; Balogh, A.; Lakhina, G. S. +13 more

Through case studies involving Cluster waveform observations, solitary waves in the form of bipolar and tripolar pulses have recently been found to be quite abundant in the near-Earth dayside magnetosheath. We expand on the results of those previous studies by examining the distribution of solitary waves from the bow shock to the magnetopause usin…

Dissipation scales in the Earth's plasma sheet estimated from Cluster measurements

Balogh, A.; Nakamura, R.; Baumjohann, W. +5 more

In order to estimate the dissipation time-scale in magnetic turbulence in the plasma sheet a novel method is introduced for classification of velocity dependent patterns of two-point probability density functions' shapes near their maxima. For the first time, we provide evidence for Reynolds number (velocity) dependent widening of the inertial ran…