Two-Dimensional Velocity of the Magnetic Structure Observed on July 11, 2017 by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft

In order to determine particle velocities and electric field in the frame of the magnetic structure, one first needs to determine the velocity of the magnetic structure in the frame of the spacecraft observations. Here, we demonstrate two methods to determine a two-dimensional magnetic structure velocity for the magnetic reconnection event observed in the magnetotail by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft on July 11, 2017, Spatio-Temporal Difference (STD) and the recently developed polynomial reconstruction method. Both of these methods use the magnetic field measurements; the reconstruction technique also uses the current density measured by the particle instrument. We find rough agreement between the results of our methods and with other velocity determinations previously published. We also explain a number of features of STD and show that the polynomial reconstruction technique is most likely to be valid within a distance of 2 spacecraft spacings from the centroid of the MMS spacecraft. Both of these methods are susceptible to contamination by magnetometer calibration errors

Direct Multipoint Observations Capturing the Reformation of a Supercritical Fast Magnetosonic Shock

Using multipoint Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations in an unusual string-of-pearls configuration, we examine in detail observations of the reformation of a fast magnetosonic shock observed on the upstream edge of a foreshock transient structure upstream of Earth's bow shock. The four MMS spacecraft were separated by several hundred kilometers, comparable to suprathermal ion gyroradius scales or several ion inertial lengths. At least half of the shock reformation cycle was observed, with a new shock ramp rising up out of the "foot" region of the original shock ramp. Using the multipoint observations, we convert the observed time-series data into distance along the shock normal in the shock's rest frame. That conversion allows for a unique study of the relative spatial scales of the shock's various features, including the shock's growth rate, and how they evolve during the reformation cycle. Analysis indicates that the growth rate increases during reformation, electron-scale physics play an important role in the shock reformation, and energy conversion processes also undergo the same cyclical periodicity as reformation. Strong, thin electron-kinetic-scale current sheets and large-amplitude electrostatic and electromagnetic waves are reported. Results highlight the critical cross-scale coupling between electron-kinetic- and ion-kinetic-scale processes and details of the nature of nonstationarity, shock-front reformation at collisionless, fast magnetosonic shocks.Peer reviewe

Motor Preparatory Activity in Posterior Parietal Cortex is Modulated by Subjective Absolute Value

For optimal response selection, the consequences associated with behavioral success or failure must be appraised. To determine how monetary consequences influence the neural representations of motor preparation, human brain activity was scanned with fMRI while subjects performed a complex spatial visuomotor task. At the beginning of each trial, reward context cues indicated the potential gain and loss imposed for correct or incorrect trial completion. FMRI-activity in canonical reward structures reflected the expected value related to the context. In contrast, motor preparatory activity in posterior parietal and premotor cortex peaked in high “absolute value” (high gain or loss) conditions: being highest for large gains in subjects who believed they performed well while being highest for large losses in those who believed they performed poorly. These results suggest that the neural activity preceding goal-directed actions incorporates the absolute value of that action, predicated upon subjective, rather than objective, estimates of one's performance

Space Physics Effects in the Near-Magnetopause Magnetosheath Elicited by Large-Amplitude Alfvénic Fluctuations Terminating in a Field and Flow Discontinuity

International audienceIn this paper we report on a sequence of large-amplitude Alfvénic fluctuations terminating in a field and flow discontinuity and their effects on electromagnetic fields and plasmas in the near-magnetopause magnetosheath. An arc-polarized structure in the magnetic field was observed by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms-C in the solar wind, indicative of nonlinear Alfvén waves. It ends with a combined tangential discontinuity/vortex sheet, which is strongly inclined to the ecliptic plane and at which there is a sharp rise in the density and a drop in temperature. Several effects resulting from this structure were observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft in the magnetosheath close to the subsolar point (11:30 magnetic local time) and somewhat south of the geomagnetic equator (−33 ∘ magnetic latitude): (i) kinetic Alfvén waves; (ii) a peaking of the electric and magnetic field strengths where E ⋅ J becomes strong and negative (−1 nW/m 3) just prior to an abrupt dropout of the fields; (iii) evolution in the pitch angle distribution of energetic (a few tens of kilo-electron-volts) ions (H + , He n+ , and O n+) and electrons inside a high-density region, which we attribute to gyrosounding of the tangential discontinuity/vortex sheet structure passing by the spacecraft; (iv) field-aligned acceleration of ions and electrons that could be associated with localized magnetosheath reconnection inside the high-density region; and (v) variable and strong flow changes, which we argue to be unrelated to reconnection at partial magnetopause crossings and likely result from deflections of magnetosheath flow by a locally deformed, oscillating magnetopause

Capital Control Reconsidered: Financialisation and Economic Policy

We consider capital controls and their impact on selected countries, providing a critique of IMF policy. We show how the warning signs of the 1970s were ignored and the consequences became apparent during the ensuing period of neoliberal hegemony. We contend that promoting increased capital mobility is counterproductive as it reduces macroeconomic ‘policy space’. We introduce a development of the international policy ‘trilemma’ in the form of a variant of the idea of the ‘quadrilemma’. We suggest that, in most cases, the key policy driving economic growth is fiscal policy but it may be that its unconstrained use (and that of monetary policy) is not possible either under fixed exchange rates or when free capital mobility exists; a nation may face a ‘demi-quadrilemma’. We contend that, in practice, a country can only adopt ‘two from four’; if it chooses to retain free use of monetary and fiscal policy, it must sacrifice both fixed exchange rates and capital mobility. We advocate the rejection of fixed exchange rates and free capital mobility allowing the retention of requisite monetary and fiscal policy space, and that a multinational approach to the capital control policy would effectively contribute to a growth and development strategy

Multiscale Currents Observed by MMS in the Flow Braking Region

We present characteristics of current layers in the off-equatorial near-Earth plasma sheet boundary observed with high time-resolution measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission during an intense substorm associated with multiple dipolarizations. The four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, separated by distances of about 50 km, were located in the southern hemisphere in the dusk portion of a substorm current wedge. They observed fast flow disturbances (up to about 500 km/s), most intense in the dawn-dusk direction. Field-aligned currents were observed initially within the expanding plasma sheet, where the flow and field disturbances showed the distinct pattern expected in the braking region of localized flows. Subsequently, intense thin field-aligned current layers were detected at the inner boundary of equatorward moving flux tubes together with Earthward streaming hot ions. Intense Hall current layers were found adjacent to the field-aligned currents. In particular, we found a Hall current structure in the vicinity of the Earthward streaming ion jet that consisted of mixed ion components, that is, hot unmagnetized ions, cold E × B drifting ions, and magnetized electrons. Our observations show that both the near-Earth plasma jet diversion and the thin Hall current layers formed around the reconnection jet boundary are the sites where diversion of the perpendicular currents take place that contribute to the observed field-aligned current pattern as predicted by simulations of reconnection jets. Hence, multiscale structure of flow braking is preserved in the field-aligned currents in the off-equatorial plasma sheet and is also translated to ionosphere to become a part of the substorm field-aligned current system

Ejaculate Economics: Testing the Effects of Male Sexual History on the Trade-Off between Sperm and Immune Function in Australian Crickets

Trade-offs between investment into male sexual traits and immune function provide the foundation for some of the most prominent models of sexual selection. Post-copulatory sexual selection on the male ejaculate is intense, and therefore trade-offs should occur between investment into the ejaculate and the immune system. Examples of such trade-offs exist, including that between sperm quality and immunity in the Australian cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Here, we explore the dynamics of this trade-off, examining the effects that increased levels of sexual interaction have on the viability of a male's sperm across time, and the concomitant effects on immune function. Males were assigned to a treatment, whereby they cohabited with females that were sexually immature, sexually mature but incapable of copulation, or sexually mature and capable of copulation. Sperm viability of each male was then assessed at two time points: six and 13 days into the treatment, and immune function at day 13. Sperm viability decreased across the time points, but only for males exposed to treatment classes involving sexually mature females. This decrease was similar in magnitude across both sexually mature classes, indicating that costs to the expression of high sperm viability are incurred largely through levels of pre-copulatory investment. Males exposed to immature females produced sperm of low viability at both time points. Although we confirmed a weak negative association between sperm viability and lytic activity (a measure of immune response to bacterial infection) at day 13, this relationship was not altered across the mating treatment. Our results highlight that sperm viability is a labile trait, costly to produce, and subject to strategic allocation in these crickets

The Properties of Lion Roars and Electron Dynamics in Mirror Mode Waves Observed by the Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission

Mirror mode waves are ubiquitous in the Earth's magnetosheath, in particular behind the quasi‐perpendicular shock. Embedded in these nonlinear structures, intense lion roars are often observed. Lion roars are characterized by whistler wave packets at a frequency ∼100 Hz, which are thought to be generated in the magnetic field minima. In this study, we make use of the high time resolution instruments on board the Magnetospheric MultiScale mission to investigate these waves and the associated electron dynamics in the quasi‐perpendicular magnetosheath on 22 January 2016. We show that despite a core electron parallel anisotropy, lion roars can be generated locally in the range 0.05–0.2fce by the perpendicular anisotropy of electrons in a particular energy range. We also show that intense lion roars can be observed up to higher frequencies due to the sharp nonlinear peaks of the signal, which appear as sharp spikes in the dynamic spectra. As a result, a high sampling rate is needed to estimate correctly their amplitude, and the latter might have been underestimated in previous studies using lower time resolution instruments. We also present for the first‐time 3‐D high time resolution electron velocity distribution functions in mirror modes. We demonstrate that the dynamics of electrons trapped in the mirror mode structures are consistent with the Kivelson and Southwood (1996) model. However, these electrons can also interact with the embedded lion roars: first signatures of electron quasi‐linear pitch angle diffusion and possible signatures of nonlinear interaction with high‐amplitude wave packets are presented. These processes can lead to electron untrapping from mirror modes