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At least 289 records · Page 16

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NASA NTRS1986

Detailed observations of the plasma sheet during a substorm on April 24, 1979

Plasma, magnetic field, and energetic particle data obtained by ISEE 1 and 2 satellites for the April 24, 1979 substorm are studied in relation to the neutral line model and the boundary layer model. The ISEE 1 and 2 instruments and experiments utilized to collect the data are discussed. The major reconfiguration of the tail plasma and magnetic field plasma region, and the plasma ion flows observed support the neutral line model for interpreting substorms. The plasma ion distribution function and plasma flow are examined. The region of lobe-plasma sheet interface referred to as the separatrix layer is identified. The differences in times of plasma sheet dropout and recovery, and absence or presence of flux anisotropies are investigated. Energetic particle measurements are analyzed to study the relationship between energetic ions and plasma ions, and the velocity distributions. The data support the application of the neutral line model to the evaluation of substorms; however, the data are inconsistent with the boundary layer dynamics model.

Hones, E. W., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The influence of charge exchange on the velocity distribution of hydrogen in the Venus exosphere

The simulation of the exosphere of Venus by a Monte Carlo technique has been extended to provide velocity distribution profiles that can be used with radiative transfer simulation to model the Lyman-alpha emission seen by spacecraft. The line profiles show a narrow core due to the exobase thermal source of hydrogen superimposed on the broad profile of hot hydrogen from charge exchange with hot ions in the nighttime ionosphere. Nightside radial profiles show long tails of upward flowing, escaping atoms. There are some downward and lateral superescape signatures, because the charge exchange source extends well above the exobase. At higher altitudes, flattening and even shallow central valleys appear in the transverse profiles. The planetary average escape rate due to charge exchange was found to be 2.8 x 10 to the 7th/sq cm per s, which is several times larger than escape rates for other candidate mechanisms.

Hodges, Richard R., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Dynamic of Langmuir and Ion-Sound Waves in Type 3 Solar Radio Sources

The evolution of Langmuir and ion-sound waves in type 3 sources is investigated, incorporating linear growth, linear damping, and nonlinear electrostatic decay. Improved estimates are obtained for the wavenumber range of growing waves and the nonlinear coupling coefficient for the decay process. The resulting prediction for the electrostatic decay threshold is consistent with the observed high-field cutoff in the Langmuir field distribution. It is shown that the conditions in the solar wind do not allow a steady state to be attained; rather, bursty linear and nonlinear interactions take place, consistent with the highly inhomogeneous and impulsive waves actually observed. Nonlinear growth is found to be fast enough to saturate the growth of the parent Langmuir waves in the available interaction time. The resulting levels of product Langmuir and ion-sound waves are estimated theoretically and shown to be consistent with in situ ISEE 3 observations of type 3 events at 1 AU. Nonlinear interactions slave the growth and decay of product sound waves to that of the product Langmuir waves. The resulting probability distribution of ion-sound field strengths is predicted to have a flat tail extending to a high-field cutoff. This prediction is consistent with statistics derived here from ISEE 3 observations. Agreement is also found between the frequencies of the observed waves and predictions for the product S waves. The competing processes of nonlinear wave collapse and quasilinear relaxation are discussed, and it is concluded that neither is responsible for the saturation of Langmuir growth. When wave and beam inhomogeneities are accounted for, arguments from quasi-linear relaxation yield an upper bound on the Langmuir fields that is too high to be relevant. Nor are the criteria for direct wave collapse of the beam-driven waves met, consistent with earlier simulation results that imply that this process is not responsible for saturation of the beam instability. Indeed, even if the highest observed Langmuir fields are assumed to he part of a long-wavelength 'condensate' produced via electrostatic decay, they still fall short of the relevant requirements for wave collapse. The most stringent requirement for collapse is that collapsing wave packets not be disrupted by ambient density fluctuations in the solar wind. Fields of several mV m(exp -1) extending over several hundred km would be needed to satisfy this requirement; at 1 AU such fields are rare at best.

Robinson, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The Jovian magnetotail

The current understanding of the plasma, magnetic field, and plasma wave characteristics of the near and distant Jovian magnetotail is discussed. The properties of these two regions are compared, with particular emphasis given to the data on the distant tail obtained by Voyager 2. The Jovian tail has many unusual properties, such as the large scale sausage-string shape of its outer boundary, but some of its properties resemble those of the earth's magnetotail, such as its central current sheet and a surrounding region resembling a plasma sheet consisting of hot ions. Data are presented that support the view that plasma in the Jovian tail plasma sheet comes from Jupiter.

Lepping, R. P.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Magnetotails at unmagnetized bodies - Comparison of Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Venus

It is found that the near ionopause environs play a crucial role in the tail formation process at both Venus and G-Z and that draping at the two very different sized bodies occurs on ionopause scale sizes. On the other hand, ion densities, downtail mass fluxes, tailward J x B forces, and lobe betas are factors of about 10,000, 50, 100, and 20 times greater in the G-Z tail than in Venus', while bulk flow speeds and ion temperatures are factors of about 15 and 240 times lower. These large quantitative differences in the properties within the two magnetotails are attributable to the significantly greater upstream mass loading of the solar wind by the extended neutral atmosphere at G-Z (comets in general) compared to the gravitationally bound atmosphere of Venus.

Mccomas, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS2006

The Distant Magnetotail Under Long Duration, Very Northward IMF Conditions: October 22-24, 2003

A unique 32 hour interval of very northward Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) on October 22-24, 2003 created a exceptionally thick cold dense magnetotail plasma sheet, a small polar cap and accompanying small tail lobe. These features were detected by the Cluster DMSP and FAST spacecraft and modeled by a global simulation as described in papers by Oieroset et al. (2005) and Li et al. (2005). During the same interval the Wind spacecraft was passing through the center of the magnetotail about 130 Re downstream of Earth. Wind results will be described that reveal a very unusual magnetotail characterized by (1) continual tailward flow of 200-400 km/s with densities in the range 0.2-3/cc, both of whch are clearly less than those expected in the magnetosheath, (2) a mostly northward Bz but with a predominant Bx field component with sign reversals indicating crossings between the two hemispheres of the tail, and (3) velocity waves superposed on the downstream flow with peak-to-peak amplitudes of 100 to 200 km/s, periods of 10 to 20 minutes and clockwise polarization. Low altitude DMSP and Fast measurements reveal an auroral oval with enhanced latitudinal thickness and a small polar cap filled with structured precipitzting electrons and few ions. A new global MHD simulation of the event exhibits a highly elliptical tail of diminished cross-section at 130 Re with major axis aligned with the northward IMF. The tail current sheet also tends to be aligned in a north-south direction with the two tail hemispheres to the east and west with their polarities depending on prior history of the IMF. The simulation appears to be consistent with many, but not all, of the observations. High latitude cusp reconnection and subsequent downtail flow of closed field lines may explain the tail structure, but the waves are more likely due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability often thought to occur during northward IMF conditions.

Fairfield, Donald H.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Theory of the large-amplitude plane magnetoacoustic wave propagating transverse to the magnetic field in a hot collisionless plasma

An exact solution of the kinetic and electromagnetic equations for a large-amplitude plane magnetoacoustic wave propagating transverse to the magnetic field in a hot collisionless plasma is presented. The solution gives simple relations among the magnetic-field strength, density, stress tensor, and plasma velocity, all of which are measurable in the interplanetary plasma. These relations are independent of the electron and ion velocity distributions, subject to certain restrictions on 'high-velocity tails.' The magnetic field of the wave is linearly polarized. The wave steepens to form a shock much as the analogous waves of MHD theory do.

Barnes, A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Interpretation of high-speed flows in the plasma sheet

Pursuing an idea suggested by Pontius and Wolf (1990), we propose that the `bursty bulk flows' observed by Baumjohann et al. (1990) and Angelopoulos et al. (1992) are `bubbles' in the Earth's plasma sheet. Specifically, they are flux tubes that have lower values of pV(exp 5/3) than their neighbors, where p is the thermal pressure of the particles and V is the volume of a tube containing one unit of magnetic flux. Whether they are created by reconnection or some other mechanism, the bubbles are propelled earthward by a magnetic buoyancy force, which is related to the interchange instability. Most of the major observed characteristics of the bursty bulk flows can be interpreted naturally in terms of the bubble picture. We propose a new `stratified fluid' picture of the plasma sheet, based on the idea that bubbles constitute the crucial transport mechanism. Results from simple mathematical models of plasma sheet transport support the idea that bubbles can resolve the pressure balance inconsistency, particularly in cases where plasma sheet ions are lost by gradient/curvature drift out the sides of the tail or bubbles are generated by reconnection in the middle of plasma sheet.

Chen, C. X.↗

NASA NTRS1999

The Influence of Convection on Magnetotail Variability

This study investigates the evolution of the magnetotail's magnetic field with the aid of a self-consistent two-dimensional model. In this model the plasma mantle continuously supplies particles to the magnetotail, the ion current periodically updates the magnetic field using the Biot-Savart law. The simulated magnetotail evolves into a quasi-steady state, characterized by the periodic motion of the model's near-Earth X-line. This variability results from the nonadiabatic acceleration of ions in the current sheet and their rapid loss from the tail. The characteristic time scale of variability in the magnetotail is on the order of 4 - 5 minutes. We also investigate how the magnetotail's topology responds to increased convection electric fields, and show examples of observations of variability in the magnetotail.

Peroomian, Vahe↗

NASA NTRS1999

Intrinsic Variability in the Quiet-Time Magnetotail

This study investigates the evolution of the magnetotail's magnetic field with the aid of a self-consistent two-dimensional model in which the ion current periodically updates the magnetic field. The plasma mantle supplies particles continuously to the magnetotail, and the perturbation magnetic field is calculated from the ion current using the Biot-Savart law. The simulated magnetotail evolves into a quasi-steady state, characterized by the periodic motion of the near-Earth X-line in the model. This variability is caused by the nonadiabatic acceleration of ions in the current sheet and their rapid loss from the tail. Particularly noteworthy is the value found for the characteristic time scale of variability in the magnetotail. on the order of 4 - 5 minutes.

Peroomian, Vahe↗

NASA NTRS2006

Finite Gyro-Radius Ion Pickup Current at Titan: Application to T9 and T5

We propose a possible explanation for the second wake event observed by Cassini during the T9 encounter with Titan. As shown in Hartle and Sittler [2007a], ions will emanate from Titan's upper atmosphere as ion beams when the ion gyroradii are large compared to the neutral scale height. Furthermore, Sittler and Hartle [2007] and Hartle and Sittler [2007b] showed that when this condition is satisfied and the electric field of the external flow is not reduced significantly due to draping field lines, the heavier pickup ions will be highly localized in space and velocity, or beam-like, in Titan's wake. This can cause these ion bunches to jump across the spacecraft trajectory and not be observed except for the lighter ions such as H+ and H2+, which have smaller gyroradii. These heavy ions will form a large pickup current which can deflect the tail position away from Saturn. We will discuss this model for the T9 encounter, which was a wake pass, and also explore its possible application for T5.

Sittler, Edward C.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Mercury's Atmosphere and Magnetosphere: MESSENGER Third Flyby Observations

MESSENGER's third flyby of Mercury en route to orbit insertion about the innermost planet took place on 29 September 2009. The earlier 14 January and 6 October 2008 encounters revealed that Mercury's magnetic field is highly dipolar and stable over the 35 years since its discovery by Mariner 10; that a structured, temporally variable exosphere extends to great altitudes on the dayside and forms a long tail in the anti-sunward direction; a cloud of planetary ions encompasses the magnetosphere from the dayside bow shock to the downstream magnetosheath and magnetotail; and that the magnetosphere undergoes extremely intense magnetic reconnect ion in response to variations in the interplanetary magnetic field. Here we report on new results derived from observations from MESSENGER's Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS), Magnetometer (MAG), and Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS) taken during the third flyby.

Slavin, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Comparing the Performance of Hyperbolic and Circular Rod Quadrupole Mass Spectrometers with Applied Higher Order Auxiliary Excitation

This work applies higher order auxiliary excitation techniques to two types of quadrupole mass spectrometers (QMSs): commercial systems and spaceborne instruments. The operational settings of a circular rod geometry commercial system and an engineering test-bed for a hyperbolic rod geometry spaceborne instrument were matched, with the relative performance of each sensor characterized with and without applied excitation using isotopic measurements of Kr+. Each instrument was operated at the limit of the test electronics to determine the effect of auxiliary excitation on extending instrument capabilities. For the circular rod sensor, with applied excitation, a doubling of the mass resolution at 1% of peak transmission resulted from the elimination of the low-mass side peak tail typical of such rod geometries. The mass peak stability and ion rejection efficiency were also increased by factors of 2 and 10, respectively, with voltage scan lines passing through the center of stability islands formed from auxiliary excitation. Auxiliary excitation also resulted in factors of 6 and 2 in peak stability and ion rejection efficiency, respectively, for the hyperbolic rod sensor. These results not only have significant implications for the use of circular rod quadrupoles with applied excitation as a suitable replacement for traditional hyperbolic rod sensors, but also for extending the capabilities of existing hyperbolic rod QMSs for the next generation of spaceborne instruments and low-mass commercial systems.

Gershman, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Comparing the Performance of Hyperbolic and Circular Rod Quadrupole Mass Spectrometers with Applied Higher Order Auxiliary Excitation

auxiliary excitation↗

NASA NTRS1986

The stability of the cometary plasma tail and rays

The stability of both the main cometary plasma tail and the tail rays is considered, taking into account the coupling between the plasma and the neutrals that flow out radially from the nucleus. It is shown that this coupling has a negligible effect on wave damping. Rather, it was found that the neutral wind tends to destabilize the flanks of the main tail. On the other hand, the cometary rays are subject to both stabilizing and destabilizing effects because of the ion-neutrals drag. As a result, helical perturbations should become azimuthally asymmetric. The study predicts that the folding rays may become wavy while approaching the tail axis, whereas they should remain straight far away from the tail axis.

Ershkovich, A. I.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Inferences concerning the magnetospheric source region for auroral breakup

Inferences concerning the magnetospheric source region for auroral arcs obtained from particle measurements on polar orbiting satellites are presented and contrasted with other ideas. An argument that the magnetospheric source region for auroral arc breakup and substorm initiation is along Boundary Plasma Sheet (BPS) magnetic field lines is given. This source region lies beyond a distinct central plasma sheet region and sufficiently far from the Earth that energetic ion motion violates the guiding center approximation (is chaotic). The source region is not constrained to any particular range of distances from the Earth, and substorm initiation may be possible over a wide range of distances from near synchronous orbit to the distant tail. It is also argued that the layer of low energy electrons and velocity dispersed ion beams observed at low altitudes on Aureol 3 is not a different region from the region of auroral arcs. Both comprise the BPS. The two regions occasionally appear distinct at low altitudes because of the effects of arc field aligned potential drops on precipitating particles.

Lyons, L. R.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Microphysics of Relativistic Collisionless Electron-ion-positron Shocks

Abstract We perform particle-in-cell simulations to elucidate the microphysics of relativistic weakly magnetized shocks loaded with electron-positron pairs. Various external magnetizations σ ≲ 10 −4 and pair-loading factors Z ± ≲ 10 are studied, where Z ± is the number of loaded electrons and positrons per ion. We find the following: (1) The shock becomes mediated by the ion Larmor gyration in the mean field when σ exceeds a critical value σ L that decreases with Z ± . At σ ≲ σ L the shock is mediated by particle scattering in the self-generated microturbulent fields, the strength and scale of which decrease with Z ± , leading to lower σ L . (2) The energy fraction carried by the post-shock pairs is robustly in the range between 20% and 50% of the upstream ion energy. The mean energy per post-shock electron scales as E ¯ e ∝ Z ± + 1 − 1 . (3) Pair loading suppresses nonthermal ion acceleration at magnetizations as low as σ ≈ 5 × 10 −6 . The ions then become essentially thermal with mean energy E ¯ i , while electrons form a nonthermal tail, extending from E ∼ Z ± + 1 − 1 E ¯ i to E ¯ i . When σ = 0, particle acceleration is enhanced by the formation of intense magnetic cavities that populate the precursor during the late stages of shock evolution. Here, the maximum energy of the nonthermal ions and electrons keeps growing over the duration of the simulation. Alongside the simulations, we develop theoretical estimates consistent with the numerical results. Our findings have important implications for models of early gamma-ray burst afterglows.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS1992

A note on dust grain charging in space plasmas

Central to the study of dust-plasma interactions in the solar system is the electrostatic charging of dust grains. While previous calculations have generally assumed that the distributions of electrons and ions in the plasma are Maxwellian, most space plasmas are observed to have non-Maxwellian tails and can often be fit by a generalized Lorentzian (kappa) distribution. Here we use such a distribution to reevaluate the grain potential, under the condition that the dominant currents to the grain are due to electron and ion collection, as is the case in certain regions of space. The magnitude of the grain potential is found to be larger than that in a Maxwellian plasma as long as the electrons are described by a kappa distribution: this enhancement increased with ion mass and decreasing electron kappa. The modification of the grain potential in generalized Lorentzian plasmas has implications for both the physics (e.g., grain growth and disruption) and the dynamics of dust in space plasmas. These are also briefly discussed.

Rosenberg, M.↗