dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaIsolated Electrostatic Structures Observed Throughout the Cluster Orbit: Relationship to Magnetic Field Strength
| Authors | J. S. Pickett, L. -J. Chen, S. W. Kahler, O. Santolik, D. A. Gurnett, B. T. Tsurutani, A. Balogh |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0402122 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0402122 |
| DOI | 10.5194/angeo-22-2515-2004 |
Abstract
Isolated electrostatic structures are observed throughout much of the 4 Re by 19.6 Re Cluster orbit. These structures are observed in the Wideband plasma wave instrument's waveform data as bipolar and tripolar pulses. These structures are observed at all of the boundary layers, in the solar wind and magnetosheath, and along auroral field lines at 4.5-6.5 Re. Using the Wideband waveform data from the various Cluster spacecraft we have carried out a survey of the amplitudes and time durations of these structures and how these quantities vary with the local magnetic field strength. Such a survey has not been carried out before, and it reveals certain characteristics of solitary structures in a finite magnetic field, a topic still inadequately addressed by theories. We find that there is a broad range of electric field amplitudes at any specific magnetic field strength, and there is a general trend for the electric field amplitudes to increase as the strength of the magnetic field increases over a range of 5 to 500 nT. We provide a possible explanation for this trend that releates to the structures being Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal mode solitary waves. There is no corresponding dependence of the duration of the structures on the magnetic field strength, although a plot of these two quantities reveals the unexpected result that with the exception of the magnetosheath, all of the time durations for all of the other regions are comparable, wheras the magnetosheath time durations clearly are in a different category of much smaller time duration. We speculate that this implies the structures are much smaller in size.
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"abstract": "Isolated electrostatic structures are observed throughout much of the 4 Re by\n19.6 Re Cluster orbit. These structures are observed in the Wideband plasma\nwave instrument\u0027s waveform data as bipolar and tripolar pulses. These\nstructures are observed at all of the boundary layers, in the solar wind and\nmagnetosheath, and along auroral field lines at 4.5-6.5 Re. Using the Wideband\nwaveform data from the various Cluster spacecraft we have carried out a survey\nof the amplitudes and time durations of these structures and how these\nquantities vary with the local magnetic field strength. Such a survey has not\nbeen carried out before, and it reveals certain characteristics of solitary\nstructures in a finite magnetic field, a topic still inadequately addressed by\ntheories. We find that there is a broad range of electric field amplitudes at\nany specific magnetic field strength, and there is a general trend for the\nelectric field amplitudes to increase as the strength of the magnetic field\nincreases over a range of 5 to 500 nT. We provide a possible explanation for\nthis trend that releates to the structures being Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal mode\nsolitary waves. There is no corresponding dependence of the duration of the\nstructures on the magnetic field strength, although a plot of these two\nquantities reveals the unexpected result that with the exception of the\nmagnetosheath, all of the time durations for all of the other regions are\ncomparable, wheras the magnetosheath time durations clearly are in a different\ncategory of much smaller time duration. We speculate that this implies the\nstructures are much smaller in size.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0402122",
"authors": [
"J. S. Pickett",
"L. -J. Chen",
"S. W. Kahler",
"O. Santolik",
"D. A. Gurnett",
"B. T. Tsurutani",
"A. Balogh"
],
"categories": [
"physics.space-ph"
],
"doi": "10.5194/angeo-22-2515-2004",
"title": "Isolated Electrostatic Structures Observed Throughout the Cluster Orbit: Relationship to Magnetic Field Strength",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0402122"
},
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