HR: 14:25h
AN: SM32C-04    [PDF]
TI: Magnetotail Bubbles, Current Sheets, and Auroral Arcs
AU: * Birn, J
EM: jbirn@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, PO Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Schindler, K
EM: ks@tp4.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
AF: Ruhr University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse, Bochum, 44780 Germany
AU: Hesse, M
EM: hesse@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard SpaceFlight Center, Code 696, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Raeder, J
EM: j.raeder@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Morse Hall, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Wang, Y
EM: ylwang@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, PO Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AB: Using two-dimensional steady-state Vlasov theory, we investigate properties of thin current sheets that result from exact particle motion. The self-consistent quasi-neutral structure of such current sheets generally requires the presence of an electric potential, which is constant along field lines. We explore the possible association with the perpendicular electric fields that are part of the U-shaped potential structures above auroral arcs. For sufficiently small scales, the converging perpendicular electric field corresponds to two oppositely directed thin Hall current sheets. We construct such double current sheet models and confirm that they result in potentials with the postulated shape and, for sufficiently small scales, in potential differences of up to the ion thermal potential. The formation of such thin double current sheets is found in simulations of an earthward collapsing entropy-depleted magnetic flux tube (``bubble"), This may provide a further link between bursty bulk flows, bubbles, and auroral features.
DE: 2704 Auroral phenomena (2407)
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting