Engineering topics

Stern, D. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Stern, D. P..

At least 37 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS1979

The role of O-type neutral lines in magnetic merging during substorms and solar flares

A model has been constructed for the magnetic field configuration of a combination of X- and O-type neutral lines in the middle of the geomagnetic tail. The main feature is a bubble centered on the O-type line, the field lines of which are not connected to the main geomagnetic field. An analytical model of the motion of charged particles in the vicinity of an O-type neutral line, with an electric field aligned parallel to it, has been constructed and analyzed. Finally it is found that two distinct mechanisms of particle acceleration may exist if a substorm is powered by the inductive emf generated when the tail's magnetic field returns to a more dipolelike configuration by flowing through a pair of X- and O-type neutral lines.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Solar Terrestrial programs: A five year plan

Major projects to be initiated in the 1980-1985 period, designed to study the Sun, the heliosphere, Earth's magnetosphere, and the upper atmosphere involve the use of spacelab as well as free flying spacecraft. Current and recent investigations in these areas are reviewed and the guiding principles followed in planning future missions are examined. The implementation strategy, the planning process, and supporting research and technology are discussed.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Adiabatic particle motion in a nearly drift-free magnetic field - Application to the geomagnetic tail

An investigation is made of the adiabatic particle motion occurring in an almost drift-free magnetic field. The dependence of the mean drift velocity on the equatorial pitch angle and the variation of the local drift velocity along the trajectories is studied. The fields considered are two-dimensional and resemble the geomagnetic tail. Derivations are presented for instantaneous and average drift velocities, bounce times, longitudinal invariants, and approximations to the adiabatic Hamiltonian. As expected, the mean drift velocity is significantly smaller than the instantaneous drift velocities found at typical points on the trajectory. The slow drift indicates that particles advance in the dawn-dusk direction rather slowly in the plasma sheet of the magnetospheric tail.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1978

The role of O-type neutral lines in magnetic merging during substorms and solar flares

An analytical model of O-type configurations was derived, for visualizing the geometry and for numerical treatment of plasma flows. It was found that at a certain distance from the neutral line the mean particle motion became decoupled from that of magnetic field lines (which obey the MHD condition). The decoupling distance depended on initial conditions in momentum space, suggesting that the MHD approximation which averages out such conditions may not suffice for describing plasma dynamics near the neutral line. It was also found that after inflowing particles are decoupled from the field line motion, they go over to a mode of runaway acceleration along the neutral line. It is concluded that if merging occurs at an X-O pair, two particle populations may be expected - low energy particles accelerated adiabatically by earthward convection past the X-type line and high-energy particles convected towards the O-type line. The second acceleration process depends critically on the rapidity of merging and is therefore expected to vary considerably from event to event.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Large-scale electric fields in the earth's magnetosphere

Studies of the earth's magnetosphere have indicated that a large-scale electric field E plays a central role in its electrodynamics and in the flow and acceleration of charged particles there; while many observations relevant to E have accumulated, quite a few basic problems involving the origin and structure of this field remain unsolved. The ultimate source of E is presumably the flow of the solar wind past the earth, but the mechanism by which E arises is still unclear, and several independent sources may contribute to it, some of them being of a rather transient nature. This review attempts to sum up the main observed facts and theoretical concepts related to E.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

A search for auroral type motions in solar flares

Because of analogies between auroras and solar flares, and because of well-established motion along auroras (the so-called westward travelling surge), one might expect systematic motion of brightness to occur along flare ribbons. The Sacramento Peak Observatory flare records of 37 double-ribbon solar flares observed from 1968 to 1972 were examined for evidence of such systematic motion, but results of the investigation were negative.

Beckers, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Adiabatic particle motion in a nearly drift-free magnetic field: Application to the geomagnetic tail

The guiding center motion of particles in a nearly drift free magnetic field is analyzed in order to investigate the dependence of mean drift velocity on equatorial pitch angle, the variation of local drift velocity along the trajectory, and other properties. The mean drift for adiabatic particles is expressed by means of elliptic integrals. Approximations to the twice-averaged Hamiltonian W near z = O are derived, permitting simple representation of drift paths if an electric potential also exists. In addition, the use of W or of expressions for the longitudinal invariant allows the derivation of the twice averaged Liouville equation and of the corresponding Vlasov equation. Bounce times are calculated (using the drift-free approximation), as are instantaneous guiding center drift velocities, which are then used to provide a numerical check on the formulas for the mean drift.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Representation of magnetic fields in space

Several mathematical methods which are available for the description of magnetic fields in space are reviewed. Examples of the application of such methods are given, with particular emphasis on work related to the geomagnetic field, and their individual properties and associated problems are described. The methods are grouped in five main classes: (1) methods based on the current density, (2) methods using the scalar magnetic potential, (3) toroidal and poloidal components of the field and spherical vector harmonics, (4) Euler potentials, and (5) local expansions of the field near a given reference point. Special attention is devoted to models of the magnetosphere, to the uniqueness of the scalar potential as derived from observed data, and to the L parameter.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Drift-free magnetic geometries in adiabatic motion

There exist magnetic fields in which particles bouncing between mirror points experience no net first-order guiding center drift. In such fields, even though the instantaneous gradient and curvature drifts are not zero, their total effect integrated over any bounce period vanishes, so that particles merely wobble back and forth around fixed field lines. A class of two-dimensional drift-free fields, somewhat resembling the configuration found in the geomagnetic tail, is described; several proofs of the drift-free property are given, including some that suggest that the property of vanishing net drift might extend to nonadiabatic orbits. A general criterion for identifying drift-free fields is developed, and a case of motion in a nearly drift-free field is also investigated. The theory is applied to the plasma sheet in the earth's magnetotail, and observational evidence is presented suggesting that the magnetic field there indeed approaches a drift-free configuration.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

The source of the electric field in the nightside magnetosphere

In the open magnetosphere model magnetic field lines from the polar caps connect to the interplanetary magnetic field and conduct an electric field from interplanetary space to the polar ionosphere. By examining the magnetic flux involved it is concluded that only slightly more than half of the magnetic flux in the polar caps belongs to open field lines and that such field lines enter or leave the magnetosphere through narrow elongated windows stretching the tail. These window regions are identified with the tail's boundary region and shift their position with changes in the interplanetary magnetic field, in particular when a change of interplanetary magnetic sector occurs. The circuit providing electric current in the magnetopause and the plasma sheet is extended across those windows; thus energy is drained from the interplanetary electric field and an electric potential drop is produced across the plasma sheet. The polar cap receives its electric field from interplanetary space on the day side from open magnetic field lines and on the night side from closed field lines leading to the plasma sheet. The theory described provides improved understanding of magnetic flux bookkeeping, of the origin of Birkeland currents, and of the boundary layer of the geomagnetic tail.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Error enhancement in geomagnetic models derived from scalar data

An investigation conducted by Backus (1970) regarding the possible existence of two harmonic functions of certain characteristics in three-dimensional space is considered. The derivation of a model of the main geomagnetic field from scalar data is discussed along with a numerical simulation study. It is found that experimental discrepancies between vector field observations and the predictions of the model may have a mathematical origin, related to the work of Backus.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Quantitative models of magnetic and electric fields in the magnetosphere

In order to represent the magnetic field B in the magnetosphere various auxiliary functions can be used: the current density, the scalar potential, toroidal and poloidal potentials, and Euler potentials -- or else, the components of B may be expanded directly. The most versatile among the linear representations is the one based on toroidal and poloidal potentials; it has seen relatively little use in the past but appears to be the most promising one for future work. Other classifications of models include simple testbed models vs. comprehensive ones and analytical vs. numerical representations. The electric field E in the magnetosphere is generally assumed to vary only slowly and to be orthogonal to B, allowing the use of a scalar potential which may be deduced from observations in the ionosphere, from the shape of the plasmapause, or from particle observations in synchronous orbits.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Drift-free magnetic geometries in adiabatic

A class of two-dimensional drift-free fields, somewhat resembling the configuration found in the geomagnetic tail, is described; several proofs of the drift-free property are given, including some that suggest that the property of vanishing net drift might extend to nonadiabatic orbits. A general criterion for identifying drift-free fields was developed, and a case of motion in a nearly drift-free field was also investigated. The theory was applied to the plasma sheet in the earth's magnetotail, and observational evidence is presented suggesting that the magnetic field there does approach a drift-free configuration.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Representation of magnetic fields in space

Several methods by which a magnetic field in space can be represented are reviewed with particular attention to problems of the observed geomagnetic field. Time dependence is assumed to be negligible, and five main classes of representation are described by vector potential, scalar potential, orthogonal vectors, Euler potentials, and expanded magnetic field.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

The motion of a proton in the equatorial magnetosphere

In a time-independent model of the magnetosphere including a dipole magnetic field, a convection electric field (deduced from polar orbit observations), and an electric field due to the earth's rotation, the motion of a proton in the equatorial plane is analyzed. By means of the Hamiltonian of the motion, three regimes of motion are identified. A method is then developed for determining for any given observation point which arrival energies correspond to trapped particles and which represent 'open' trajectories.

Stern, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Adiabatic Hamiltonian of charged particle motion in a dipole field

The Hamiltonian for a dipole field is developed, and the result is expressed by an analytic approximation accurate to within about 1%. This allows extension of results derived for equatorial particles to particles with arbitrary pitch angles; in particular, it makes available even in the presence of electric fields orthogonal to the magnetic field a function K that is preserved by the bounce-averaged motion. This function provides at once the equations of drift paths in (alpha, beta) or of their projections onto the equatorial plane; the derivation of a pacing function that times the progress of particles along such drift paths is also described.

Chen, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS1974

The average motion of a charged particle in a dipole field

The numerical representation of the average motion of a charged particle trapped in a geomagnetic field is developed. An assumption is made of the conservation of the first two adiabatic invariants where integration is along a field line between mirror points. The averaged motion also involved the parameters defining the magnetic field line to which the particle is attached. Methods involved in obtaining the motion in the equatorial plane of model magnetospheres are based on Hamiltonian functions. The restrictions imposed by the special nature of the dipole field are defined.

Chen, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS1974

The motion of a proton in the equatorial magnetosphere

A proton of low energy moving in the equatorial plane of the earth will experience drift motions due to both the magnetic field (magnetic gradient drift only, if the field is assumed to be that of a dipole) and the electric field. The electric drift again separates into two parts - the drift due to the main electric field (or convection electric field) existing in the frame of the earth, and that due to the earth's rotation. One result indicated by this work is that at distances of 4 - 6 earth radii, a transition from trapped proton orbits to open trajectories leading to the tail occurs at about 10 kev, the precise value depending upon local time. Such a transition also seems to be indicated by particle observations using Explorer 45. The energy spectrum (at magnetically quiet times) of equatorial protons above this energy can be explained by charge exchange but increased flux observed below it seems to be related to the influx of particles on open orbits from the tail.

Stern, D. P.↗