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Magnetospheric Multiscale Overview and Science Objectives
Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.; Moore, T. E. +1 more
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS), a NASA four-spacecraft constellation mission launched on March 12, 2015, will investigate magnetic reconnection in the boundary regions of the Earth's magnetosphere, particularly along its dayside boundary with the solar wind and the neutral sheet in the magnetic tail. The most important goal of MMS is to conduct a…
Oblique Whistler-Mode Waves in the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere: Energy Distribution, Origins, and Role in Radiation Belt Dynamics
Agapitov, Oleksiy; Krasnoselskikh, Vladimir; Artemyev, Anton +3 more
In this paper we review recent spacecraft observations of oblique whistler-mode waves in the Earth's inner magnetosphere as well as the various consequences of the presence of such waves for electron scattering and acceleration. In particular, we survey the statistics of occurrences and intensity of oblique chorus waves in the region of the outer …
Magnetohydrodynamic Oscillations in the Solar Corona and Earth's Magnetosphere: Towards Consolidated Understanding
Zimovets, I. V.; Nakariakov, V. M.; Jelínek, P. +9 more
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) oscillatory processes in different plasma systems, such as the corona of the Sun and the Earth's magnetosphere, show interesting similarities and differences, which so far received little attention and remain under-exploited. The successful commissioning within the past ten years of THEMIS, Hinode, STEREO and SDO spacecra…
Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes in the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection
Wang, Shui; Huang, Can; Guo, Fan +7 more
Merging magnetic flux ropes, which are believed to play an important role in magnetic reconnection, have now been clearly identified. Observations show that coalescence is indeed closely related to reconnection dynamics and also to turbulence.
Electron scattering by magnetosonic waves in the inner magnetosphere
Hospodarsky, G. B.; Kurth, W. S.; Ma, Qianli +4 more
We investigate the importance of electron scattering by magnetosonic waves in the Earth's inner magnetosphere. A statistical survey of the magnetosonic wave amplitude and wave frequency spectrum, as a function of geomagnetic activity, is performed using the Van Allen Probes wave measurements and is found to be generally consistent with the wave di…
Low Frequency Waves at and Upstream of Collisionless Shocks
Wilson, L. B.
This chapter focuses on the range of low frequency electromagnetic modes observed at and upstream of collisionless shocks in the heliosphere. It discusses a specific class of whistler mode wave observed immediately upstream of collisionless shock ramps, called a whistler precursor. Though these modes have been (and are often) observed upstream of …
Compressive Coherent Structures at Ion Scales in the Slow Solar Wind
Maksimovic, M.; Alexandrova, O.; Kasper, J. C. +5 more
We present a study of magnetic field fluctuations in a slow solar wind stream, close to ion scales, where an increase of the level of magnetic compressibility is observed. Here, the nature of these compressive fluctuations is found to be characterized by coherent structures. Although previous studies have shown that current sheets can be considere…
The Electron Temperature and Anisotropy in the Solar Wind. Comparison of the Core and Halo Populations
Trávníček, P. M.; Maksimovic, M.; Štverák, Š. +3 more
Estimating the temperature of solar wind particles and their anisotropies is particularly important for understanding the origin of their deviations from thermal equilibrium and the effects this has. In the absence of energetic events, the velocity distribution of electrons reveals a dual structure with a thermal (Maxwellian) core and a supratherm…
Electrostatic solitary waves and electrostatic waves at the magnetopause
André, M.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V. +1 more
Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) are characterized by localized bipolar electric fields parallel to the magnetic field and are frequently observed in space plasmas. In this paper a study of ESWs and field-aligned electrostatic waves, which do not exhibit localized bipolar fields, near the magnetopause is presented using the Cluster spacecraft. …
Suprathermal particle energization in dipolarization fronts: Particle-in-cell simulations
Angelopoulos, V.; Fu, Huishan; Lu, San
Within dipolarization fronts (DFs) in the Earth's magnetotail, significant magnetic energy is converted to plasma energy, and a significant portion of the electrons and ions therein are accelerated to suprathermal energies. The mechanism that produces these suprathermal particles while simultaneously reducing magnetic field energy is poorly unders…