HR: 17:00h
AN: SM54A-05 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Multiscale magnetospheric physics from a simple model of self-organized dynamics
AU: * Liu, W
EM: william.liu@space.gc.ca
AF: Canadian Space Agency, 6767 route de l'Aeroport, Saint-Hubert, QC J3Y 8Y9, Canada
AU: Charbonneau, P
EM: paulchar@ASTRO.UMontreal.CA
AF: Universite de Montreal, Department of Physics, Montreal, QC H3C3J7, Canada
AB: Distributions of geomagnetic indices and aurora have been used to show the nonlinear characteristics of magnetospheric dynamics. However, the physics underlying these distributions is often not clear. Self organization of micro-scale perturbations has been suggested as a possibility whereby robust power-law distributions of magnetospheric dynamics indices can be produced. Earlier we proposed that some aspects of observed substorm distributions can be explained qualitatively by a model featuring interactive discrete flux tubes which are used to simulate the central plasma sheet dynamics driven by a constant energy input. A one- dimensional simulation of the model yielded scale-free distributions of auroral activity and quasiperiodic injection. This result raised the question what dynamical category the substorm belongs to, scale-free or with definite scales. In this talk, we present the latest two-dimensional simulation and auroral observational results, in an attempt to elucidate the dynamical nature of the substorm.
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2790 Substorms
DE: 4430 Complex systems
DE: 4480 Self-organized criticality
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting