Search Publications
Observation of Inertial Energy Cascade in Interplanetary Space Plasma
Bavassano, B.; Pietropaolo, E.; Bruno, R. +6 more
Direct evidence for the presence of an inertial energy cascade, the most characteristic signature of hydromagnetic turbulence (MHD), is observed in the solar wind by the Ulysses spacecraft. After a brief rederivation of the equivalent of Yaglom’s law for MHD turbulence, a linear relation is indeed observed for the scaling of mixed third-order stru…
Dissipation in Turbulent Plasma due to Reconnection in Thin Current Sheets
Retinò, Alessandro; Sundkvist, David; Vaivads, Andris +1 more
We present in situ measurements in a space plasma showing that thin current sheets the size of an ion inertial length exist and are abundant in strong and intermittent plasma turbulence. Many of these current sheets exhibit the microphysical signatures of reconnection. The spatial scale where intermittency occurs corresponds to the observed struct…
Evidence for an Elongated (>60 Ion Skin Depths) Electron Diffusion Region during Fast Magnetic Reconnection
Eastwood, J. P.; Phan, T. D.; Mozer, F. S. +2 more
Observations of an extremely elongated electron diffusion region occurring during fast reconnection are presented. Cluster spacecraft in situ observations of an expanding reconnection exhaust reveal a broad current layer (∼10 ion skin depths thick) supporting the reversal of the reconnecting magnetic field together with an intense current embedded…
Mode Conversion and Anomalous Transport in Kelvin-Helmholtz Vortices and Kinetic Alfvén Waves at the Earth's Magnetopause
Acuna, M.; Fujimoto, M.; Reme, H. +5 more
Observations at the Earth’s magnetopause identify mode conversion from surface to kinetic Alfvén waves at the Alfvén resonance. Kinetic Alfvén waves radiate into the magnetosphere from the resonance with parallel scales up to the order of the geomagnetic field-line length and spectral energy densities obeying a k⊥-2.4 power l…
Magnetic Double-Gradient Instability and Flapping Waves in a Current Sheet
Semenov, V. S.; Erkaev, N. V.; Biernat, H. K.
A new kind of magnetohydrodynamic instability and waves are analyzed for a current sheet in the presence of a small normal magnetic field component varying along the sheet. These waves and instability are related to the existence of two gradients of the tangential (Bτ) and normal (Bn) magnetic field components along the norma…
Spontaneous Generation of Self-Organized Solitary Wave Structures at Earth's Magnetopause
Davies, J. A.; Vaivads, A.; Dunlop, M. W. +5 more
Spontaneous formation of solitary wave structures has been observed in Earth’s magnetopause, and is shown to be caused by the breakup of a zonal flow by the action of drift wave turbulence. Here we show matched observations and modeling of coherent, large-scale solitary electrostatic structures, generated during the interaction of short-scale drif…
Solitary Electromagnetic Pulses Detected with Super-Alfvénic Flows in Earth's Geomagnetic Tail
Dandouras, I.; Lucek, E.; Rème, H. +11 more
Solitary nonlinear (δB/B≫1) electromagnetic pulses have been detected in Earth’s geomagnetic tail accompanying plasmas flowing at super-Alfvénic speeds. The pulses in the current sheet had durations of ∼5s, were left-hand circularly polarized, and had phase speeds of approximately the Alfvén speed in the plasma frame. These pulses were associated …