E. E. Grigorenko

Currents and associated electron scattering and bouncing near the diffusion region at Earth's magnetopause

Based on high-resolution measurements from NASAs Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, we present the dynamics of electrons associated with current systems observed near the diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earths magnetopause. Using pitch angle distributions (PAD) and magnetic curvature analysis, we demonstrate the occurrence of electron scattering in the curved magnetic field of the diffusion region down to energies of 20 eV. We show that scattering occurs closer to the current sheet as the electron energy decreases. The scattering of inflowing electrons, associated with field-aligned electrostatic potentials and Hall currents, produces a new population of scattered electrons with broader PAD which bounce back and forth in the exhaust. Except at the center of the diffusion region the two populations are collocated and appear to behave adiabatically: the inflowing electron PAD focuses inward (toward lower magnetic field), while the bouncing population PAD gradually peaks at 90° away from the center (where it mirrors owing to higher magnetic field and probable field-aligned potentials).

Universal properties of the nonadiabatic acceleration of ions in current sheets

The electric-field-induced acceleration of ions in current sheets in a collisionless plasma is investigated. The analysis of nonadiabatic ion dynamics provides a universal property of the ion acceleration mechanism, which is independent of the magnetic-field model and the initial particle distribution function. The width of the resonance region is estimated. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental and numerical simulation data.

Evidence of strong energetic ion acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail

Until now it is still questionable whether ions are accelerated to energies above 100 keV in the near-Earth current sheet (CS), in the vicinity of a possible near-Earth neutral line. By using 11 years of 3-D energetic ion flux data for protons, helium, and oxygen (~150 keV–1 MeV) from the RAPID instrument on board Cluster 4, we statistically study the energetic ion acceleration by investigating ion anisotropies in the near-Earth magnetotail (−20 RE  150 keV) ions (protons, He+, and O+) tend to become higher as the earthward (tailward) plasma bulk flows (measured by Cluster Ion Spectrometry experiment) become stronger. During such periods the presence of a strong acceleration source tailward (earthward) of Cluster spacecraft (S/C) is confirmed by the hardening energy spectra of the earthward (tailward) energetic ion flows. A good statistical correlation between tailward bulk flow, negative Bz, and the tailward anisotropy of energetic ions indicates that the strong ion acceleration might be related to a near-Earth reconnection, which occurred earthward of the Cluster S/C. The energetic ion anisotropies do not show a clear dependence on the AE index, which may indicate that the acceleration source(s) for the energetic ions could be spatially localized.

Distribution of energetic oxygen and hydrogen in the near-Earth plasma sheet

The spatial distributions of different ion species are useful indicators for plasma sheet dynamics. In this statistical study based on 7 years of Cluster observations, we establish the spatial distributions of oxygen ions and protons at energies from 274 to 955 keV, depending on geomagnetic and solar wind (SW) conditions. Compared with protons, the distribution of energetic oxygen has stronger dawn-dusk asymmetry in response to changes in the geomagnetic activity. When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is directed southward, the oxygen ions show significant acceleration in the tail plasma sheet. Changes in the SW dynamic pressure (Pdyn) affect the oxygen and proton intensities in the same way. The energetic protons show significant intensity increases at the near-Earth duskside during disturbed geomagnetic conditions, enhanced SW Pdyn, and southward IMF, implying there location of effective inductive acceleration mechanisms and a strong duskward drift due to the increase of the magnetic field gradient in the near-Earth tail. Higher losses of energetic ions are observed in the dayside plasma sheet under disturbed geomagnetic conditions and enhanced SW Pdyn. These observations are in agreement with theoretical models.

Acceleration of ions to suprathermal energies by turbulence in the plasmoid-like magnetic structures

We study energetic spectra of H+, He+, and O+ ion fluxes in the energy range ≥130 keV measured by Cluster/Research with Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors (RAPID) instruments during 37 intervals of the tailward bulk flow propagation in the near-Earth tail (at X ≤ −19 RE). In all events from our database, the plasmoid-like magnetic structures with the superimposed low-frequency magnetic and electric field fluctuations were observed along with the tailward bulk flows. The plasmoid-like structures were associated with the enhancements of energetic ion fluxes and the hardening of energy spectra of H+ and He+ ion components in 80% of events and of O+ ion component in 64% of events. The hardening of energy spectra was more pronounced for heavy ions than for protons. The analysis of the magnetic structures and power spectral density (PSD) of the magnetic and electric field fluctuations from our database revealed the following factors favorable for the ion energization: (1) the spatial scale of a plasmoid should exceed the thermal gyroradius of a given ion component in the neutral plane inside the plasmoid; (2) the PSD of the magnetic fluctuations near the gyrofrequency of a particular ion component should exceed ~ 50.0 nT2/Hz for oxygen ions; while the energization of helium ions and protons takes place for much lower values of the PSD. The kinetic analysis of ion dynamics in the plasmoid-like magnetic configuration similar to the observed one with the superimposed turbulence confirms the importance of ion resonant interactions with the low-frequency electromagnetic fluctuations for ion energization inside plasmoids.

Spatial-temporal ion structures in the earth's magnetotail: Beamlets as a result of nonadiabatic impulse acceleration of the plasma

The properties of high-energy ion beams (beamlets) observed in the boundary layer of the plasma sheet of the Earth’s magnetotail during short time intervals (1–2 min) have been considered. Beamlets are induced by nonlinear impulse accelerating processes occurring in the current sheet of the far regions of the geomagnetic tail. Then, moving toward the Earth along the magnetic field lines, they are detected in the magnetotail (in the plasma sheet boundary layer) and in the high-latitude part of the auroral zone in the form of short bursts of high-energy ions (with energies of several tens of keVs). The size of the localization region of the beamlets in the magnetotail and auroral zone has been determined by the epoch-superposition method, and it has been shown that beamlets are concentrated in a narrow region near the plasma sheet boundary, whose latitude size is no more than 0.8δ. This conclusion corroborates the theoretical prediction that the nonadiabatic resonant acceleration of ions occurs in a spatially localized region near the separatrix separating the open magnetic field lines and closed field lines, which contain the hot and isotropic plasmas of the plasma sheet. Based on the CLUSTER multisatellite measurements, the spatial structure of beamlets is analyzed and it has been found that the Alfvén wave arises due to the excitation of fire-hose instability at the instant of the exit of the ion beam from the current sheet to the high-latitude region of the far tail of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The longitudinal (along the magnetic field) and transverse sizes of a beamlet are estimated. It has been found that the beamlet is a dynamic plasma structure whose longitudinal size is several hundred times larger than its transverse size.

Heating and acceleration of charged particles during magnetic dipolarizations

In this paper, we analyzed the thermal and energy characteristics of the plasma components observed during the magnetic dipolarizations in the near tail by the Cluster satellites. It was previously found that the first dipolarization the ratio of proton and electron temperatures (Tp/Te) was ~6–7. At the time of the observation of the first dipolarization front Tp/Te decreases by up to ~3–4. The minimum value Tp/Te (~2.0) is observed behind the front during the turbulent dipolarization phase. Decreases in Tp/Te observed at this time are associated with an increase in Te, whereas the proton temperature either decreases or remains unchanged. Decreases of the value Tp/Te during the magnetic dipolarizations coincide with increase in wave activity in the wide frequency band up to electron gyrofrequency fce. High-frequency modes can resonantly interact with electrons causing their heating. The acceleration of ions with different masses up to energies of several hundred kiloelectron-volts is also observed during dipolarizations. In this case, the index of the energy spectrum decreases (a fraction of energetic ions increases) during the enhancement of low-frequency electromagnetic fluctuations at frequencies that correspond to the gyrofrequency of this ion component. Thus, we can conclude that the processes of the interaction between waves and particles play an important role in increasing the energy of plasma particles during magnetic dipolarizations.

A study of the changes of the near‐Earth plasma sheet and lobe driven by multiple substorms: Comparison with a full particle simulation of reconnection

Comparisons of multispacecraft observations and full-particle simulations are used to understand magnetotail changes during substorms and the related cross-tail current disruptions/reductions. We first show that the electric field accompanying current disruptions can be measured in the tail lobe from the drift velocity of oxygen beams. A stormy period is studied here with a fleet of spacecraft including the four Cluster spacecraft and the Double Star spacecraft TC-1 in the tail, ACE and Geotail respectively in the solar wind and magnetosheath, and five LANL geostationary satellites, thus allowing the determination of the direction of propagation of the substorm disturbances. Each substorm here corresponds to an energy-loading period followed by a dipolarization of the magnetic field seen from 11 to 18 R-E. Plasma sheet thinning inside 12 R-E occurs during energy loading and is enhanced at the onset of strong dissipations of magnetic energy, which precede by several minutes particle injections at 6.6 R-E. Dipolarizations coincide with an increase of the lobe electric field, up to several mV/m. This study shows that the onset of the magnetic energy conversion occurs at about similar to 10-11 R-E and that once initiated, the perturbation propagates both toward the Earth and toward the distant tail. Comparisons of the measurements with recently published 2D full particle simulations of the reconnection process by Oka et al. (2008) indicate a good agreement between data and simulated magnetic lobe signatures. This suggests that the lobe magnetic changes are the signature of a tailward retreating neutral line, with its associated current disruption/reduction.

Heliospheric Current Sheet and Effects of Its Interaction with Solar Cosmic Rays

The effects of interaction of solar cosmic rays (SCRs) with the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) in the solar wind are analyzed. A self-consistent kinetic model of the HCS is developed in which ions with quasiadiabatic dynamics can present. The HCS is considered an equilibrium embedded current structure in which two main plasma species with different temperatures (the low-energy background plasma of the solar wind and the higher energy SCR component) contribute to the current. The obtained results are verified by comparing with the results of numerical simulations based on solving equations of motion by the particle tracing method in the given HCS magnetic field with allowance for SCR particles. It is shown that the HCS is a relatively thin multiscale current configuration embedded in a thicker plasma layer. In this case, as a rule, the shear (tangential to the sheet current) component of the magnetic field is present in the HCS. Taking into account high-energy SCR particles in the HCS can lead to a change of its configuration and the formation of a multiscale embedded structure. Parametric family of solutions is considered in which the current balance in the HCS is provided at different SCR temperatures and different densities of the high-energy plasma. The SCR densities are determined at which an appreciable (detectable by satellites) HCS thickening can occur. Possible applications of this modeling to explain experimental observations are discussed.

Formation of self-organized shear structures in thin current sheets

Self-consistent kinetic (particle-in-cell) model of magnetotail thin current sheet (TCS) is used to understand the formation of self-consistent sheared magnetic structures. It is shown that shear configurations appear in TCS as a result of self-consistent evolution of some initial magnetic perturbation at the current sheet center. Two general shapes of shear TCS components are found as a function of the transverse coordinate: symmetric and antisymmetric. We show that TCS formation goes together with the emergence of field-aligned currents in the center of the current sheet, as a result of north-south asymmetry of quasi-adiabatic ion motions. Ion drift currents can also contribute to the magnetic shear evolution, but their role is much less significant, their contribution depending upon the normal component B-z and the amplitude of the initial perturbation in TCS. Parametric maps illustrating different types of TCS equilibria are presented that show a higher probability of formation of symmetric shear TCS configuration at lower values of the normal magnetic component.