Peculiarities of formation of thin current sheet in the Earth’s magnetotailстатья
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Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 6 февраля 2017 г.
Аннотация:We investigate the process of self-consistent formation of a thin current sheet, with thickness close to the ion gyroradius, in the presence of decreasing magnetic field normal component Bn. This is a typical behavior during the substorm growth phase. Using PIC codes for numerical simulation, it is shown that the appearance of a self-consistent of the electric field component Ey inside the current sheet can lead to its significant thinning and eventually, to formation of multi-scale configuration, with a thin current sheet in the central region, supported by transient particles. Structure of the resulting equilibrium is determined by initial parameters of the model and by particle dynamics in the course of the sheet thinning. At certain conditions, the particle drift in the crossed electric and magnetic fields leads to the capture of significant portion of ions near the neutral sheet and, in such a way to formation of a wider configuration with an embedded thin current sheet. The population of captured particles produces diamagnetic negative currents which manifest themselves in the form of “negative wings” at the sheet periphery. Correspondingly, in the direction perpendicular to the sheet, non-monotonic coordinate dependence of the magnetic field appears. Mechanisms of the current sheet evolution in the Earth’s magnetotail and formation of its multi-scale structure are discussed.