HR: 13:40h
AN: SM43B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Universal Aspects of the Local Plasma Environment
AU: * Siscoe, G
EM: siscoe@bu.edu
AF: Boston University, Center for Space Physics 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215 United States
AB: There are two long-range forces that determine the structure and behavior of matter in the universe: gravitational and magnetic. Traditional astrophysics emphasizes the first and plasma astrophysics the second. Regarding the second, fifty years of investigating the local plasma environment-that accessible to in situ measurements by spacecraft but including the sun-has revealed structures and processes that appear to be universal and, thus, to characterize modes in which plasma physics operates at least on the scale of the local cosmos. These universal aspects of cosmic plasma behavior can be divided into five categories: creation and annihilation of magnetic fields, explosive energy conversion, generation of penetrating radiation, spontaneous generation of structures and transients, and magnetic coupling. This talk will illustrate the five categories with solar system examples, describe their treatment by scaling and dimensional analysis, and as an applied example, show that Earth's magnetosphere manifests two such modes of universal behavior.
DE: 7500 SOLAR PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND ASTRONOMY
DE: 7800 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS
DE: 2700 MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting