EVIDENCE FOR QUASI-ADIABATIC MOTION OF CHARGED PARTICLES IN STRONG CURRENT SHEETS IN THE SOLAR WIND

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/834/1/34· OSTI ID:22661418

Malova, H. V. ^[1]; Popov, V. Yu.; Grigorenko, E. E.; Petrukovich, A. A.; Zelenyi, L. M. ^[2]; Delcourt, D. ^[3]; Sharma, A. S. ^[4]; Khabarova, O. V. ^[5]

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1. Scobeltsyn Nuclear Physics Institute of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow (Russian Federation)
2. Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation)
3. Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Politechnique, CNRS (France)
4. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
5. Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN), Moscow (Russian Federation)

We investigate quasi-adiabatic dynamics of charged particles in strong current sheets (SCSs) in the solar wind, including the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), both theoretically and observationally. A self-consistent hybrid model of an SCS is developed in which ion dynamics is described at the quasi-adiabatic approximation, while the electrons are assumed to be magnetized, and their motion is described in the guiding center approximation. The model shows that the SCS profile is determined by the relative contribution of two currents: (i) the current supported by demagnetized protons that move along open quasi-adiabatic orbits, and (ii) the electron drift current. The simplest modeled SCS is found to be a multi-layered structure that consists of a thin current sheet embedded into a much thicker analog of a plasma sheet. This result is in good agreement with observations of SCSs at ∼1 au. The analysis of fine structure of different SCSs, including the HCS, shows that an SCS represents a narrow current layer (with a thickness of ∼10{sup 4} km) embedded into a wider region of about 10{sup 5} km, independently of the SCS origin. Therefore, multi-scale structuring is very likely an intrinsic feature of SCSs in the solar wind.

• OSTI ID: 22661418
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 834, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ADIABATIC APPROXIMATION
DATA ANALYSIS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRON DRIFT
EQUATIONS OF STATE
FINE STRUCTURE
GUIDING-CENTER APPROXIMATION
HELIOSPHERE
IONS
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
ORBITS
PLASMA
PLASMA SHEET
SOLAR ELECTRONS
SOLAR PROTONS
SOLAR WIND