Sudden disruption of the cross-tail current in the magnetotail

Journal Article · Sat Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2899302· OSTI ID:21106178

Ma, Z W ^[1]

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1. Institute of Plasma Physics, CAS, Hefei, Anhui, 230031 (China)

A Hall magnetohydrodynamic simulation is used to study current dynamic processes with realistic magnetotail geometry. The simulation results indicate that sudden disruption of cross-tail current at the near Earth region inside 15R{sub E} is triggered by fast magnetic reconnection with the reconnection rate {approx}0.15. The cross-tail current density exhibits an impulsive intensification in the late growth phase. The magnitude of the current increases more than one order within a few minutes. After the reconnection onset, the cross-tail current is suddenly disrupted in a few Alfven times, which is in good agreement with that from the satellite observations. Associated with the current disruption, the tail-like geometry becomes a dipolarlike structure with an impulsive enhancement of the magnetic field B{sub z}. Large increases of the electric field and Earthward bulk flow in this simulation are observed immediately after the reconnection onset.

• OSTI ID: 21106178
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 15; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CURRENT DENSITY
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
GEOMETRY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MAGNETOTAIL
PLASMA
SIMULATION