76 research outputs found
Distinct Scaling Regimes of Energy Release Dynamics in the Nighttime Magnetosphere
Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of POLAR UVI images, we show that the
auroral emission events that initiate equatorward of the isotropic boundary
(IB) obtained from a time-dependent empirical model, have systematically
steeper power-law slopes of energy, power, area and lifetime probability
distributions compared to the events that initiate poleward of the IB. The
low-latitude group of events contains a distinct subpopulation of
substorm-scale disturbances violating the power-law behavior, while the high
latitude group is described by nearly perfect power-law statistics over the
entire range of scales studied. The results obtained indicate that the inner
and outer portions of the plasma sheet are characterized by substantially
different scaling regimes of bursty energy dissipation suggestive of different
physics in these regions.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Hysteresis-controlled instability waves in a scale-free driven current sheet model
Magnetospheric dynamics is a complex multiscale process whose statistical features can be successfully reproduced using high-dimensional numerical transport models exhibiting the phenomenon of self-organized criticality (SOC). Along this line of research, a 2-dimensional driven current sheet (DCS) model has recently been developed that incorporates an idealized current-driven instability with a resistive MHD plasma system (Klimas et al., 2004a, b). The dynamics of the DCS model is dominated by the scale-free diffusive energy transport characterized by a set of broadband power-law distribution functions similar to those governing the evolution of multiscale precipitation regions of energetic particles in the nighttime sector of aurora (Uritsky et al., 2002b). The scale-free DCS behavior is supported by localized current-driven instabilities that can communicate in an avalanche fashion over arbitrarily long distances thus producing current sheet waves (CSW). In this paper, we derive the analytical expression for CSW speed as a function of plasma parameters controlling local anomalous resistivity dynamics. The obtained relation indicates that the CSW propagation requires sufficiently high initial current densities, and predicts a deceleration of CSWs moving from inner plasma sheet regions toward its northern and southern boundaries. We also show that the shape of time-averaged current density profile in the DCS model is in agreement with steady-state spatial configuration of critical avalanching models as described by the singular diffusion theory of the SOC. Over shorter time scales, SOC dynamics is associated with rather complex spatial patterns and, in particular, can produce bifurcated current sheets often seen in multi-satellite observations
Low frequency 1/f-like fluctuations of the AE-index as a possible manifestation of self-organized criticality in the magnetosphere
Active current sheets and hot flow anomalies in Mercury's bow shock
Hot flow anomalies (HFAs) represent a subset of solar wind discontinuities
interacting with collisionless bow shocks. They are typically formed when the
normal component of motional (convective) electric field points toward the
embedded current sheet on at least one of its sides. The core region of an HFA
contains hot and highly deflected ion flows and rather low and turbulent
magnetic field. In this paper, we report first observations of HFA-like events
at Mercury identified over a course of two planetary years. Using data from the
orbital phase of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, we identify a representative ensemble of active
current sheets magnetically connected to Mercury's bow shock. We show that some
of these events exhibit unambiguous magnetic and particle signatures of HFAs
similar to those observed earlier at other planets, and present their key
physical characteristics. Our analysis suggests that Mercury's bow shock does
not only mediate the flow of supersonic solar wind plasma but also provides
conditions for local particle acceleration and heating as predicted by previous
numerical simulations. Together with earlier observations of HFA activity at
Earth, Venus and Saturn, our results confirm that hot flow anomalies are a
common property of planetary bow shocks, and show that the characteristic size
of these events is of the order of one planetary radius.Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures, 2 table
Low frequency 1/<i>f</i>-like fluctuations of the AE-index as a possible manifestation of self-organized criticality in the magnetosphere
Kinetic-scale magnetic turbulence and finite Larmor radius effects at Mercury
We use a nonstationary generalization of the higher-order structure function
technique to investigate statistical properties of the magnetic field
fluctuations recorded by MESSENGER spacecraft during its first flyby
(01/14/2008) through the near Mercury's space environment, with the emphasis on
key boundary regions participating in the solar wind -- magnetosphere
interaction. Our analysis shows, for the first time, that kinetic-scale
fluctuations play a significant role in the Mercury's magnetosphere up to the
largest resolvable time scale ~20 s imposed by the signal nonstationarity,
suggesting that turbulence at this planet is largely controlled by finite
Larmor radius effects. In particular, we report the presence of a highly
turbulent and extended foreshock system filled with packets of ULF
oscillations, broad-band intermittent fluctuations in the magnetosheath,
ion-kinetic turbulence in the central plasma sheet of Mercury's magnetotail,
and kinetic-scale fluctuations in the inner current sheet encountered at the
outbound (dawn-side) magnetopause. Overall, our measurements indicate that the
Hermean magnetosphere, as well as the surrounding region, are strongly affected
by non-MHD effects introduced by finite sizes of cyclotron orbits of the
constituting ion species. Physical mechanisms of these effects and their
potentially critical impact on the structure and dynamics of Mercury's magnetic
field remain to be understood.Comment: 46 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
Low Frequency Turbulence as the Source of High Frequency Waves in Multi-Component Space Plasmas
Space plasmas support a wide variety of waves, and wave-particle interactions as well as wavewave interactions are of crucial importance to magnetospheric and ionospheric plasma behavior. High frequency wave turbulence generation by the low frequency (LF) turbulence is restricted by two interconnected requirements: the turbulence should be strong enough and/or the coherent wave trains should have the appropriate length. These requirements are strongly relaxed in the multi-component plasmas, due to the heavy ions large drift velocity in the field of LF wave. The excitation of lower hybrid waves (LHWs), in particular, is a widely discussed mechanism of interaction between plasma species in space and is one of the unresolved questions of magnetospheric multi-ion plasmas. It is demonstrated that large-amplitude Alfven waves, in particular those associated with LF turbulence, may generate LHW s in the auroral zone and ring current region and in some cases (particularly in the inner magnetosphere) this serves as the Alfven wave saturation mechanism. We also argue that the described scenario can playa vital role in various parts of the outer magnetosphere featuring strong LF turbulence accompanied by LHW activity. Using the data from THEMIS spacecraft, we validate the conditions for such cross-scale coupling in the near-Earth "flow-braking" magnetotail region during the passage of sharp injection/dipolarization fronts, as well as in the turbulent outflow region of the midtail reconnection site
25 Years of Self-Organized Criticality: Solar and Astrophysics
Shortly after the seminal paper {\sl "Self-Organized Criticality: An
explanation of 1/f noise"} by Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld (1987), the idea has
been applied to solar physics, in {\sl "Avalanches and the Distribution of
Solar Flares"} by Lu and Hamilton (1991). In the following years, an inspiring
cross-fertilization from complexity theory to solar and astrophysics took
place, where the SOC concept was initially applied to solar flares, stellar
flares, and magnetospheric substorms, and later extended to the radiation belt,
the heliosphere, lunar craters, the asteroid belt, the Saturn ring, pulsar
glitches, soft X-ray repeaters, blazars, black-hole objects, cosmic rays, and
boson clouds. The application of SOC concepts has been performed by numerical
cellular automaton simulations, by analytical calculations of statistical
(powerlaw-like) distributions based on physical scaling laws, and by
observational tests of theoretically predicted size distributions and waiting
time distributions. Attempts have been undertaken to import physical models
into the numerical SOC toy models, such as the discretization of
magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) processes. The novel applications stimulated also
vigorous debates about the discrimination between SOC models, SOC-like, and
non-SOC processes, such as phase transitions, turbulence, random-walk
diffusion, percolation, branching processes, network theory, chaos theory,
fractality, multi-scale, and other complexity phenomena. We review SOC studies
from the last 25 years and highlight new trends, open questions, and future
challenges, as discussed during two recent ISSI workshops on this theme.Comment: 139 pages, 28 figures, Review based on ISSI workshops "Self-Organized
Criticality and Turbulence" (2012, 2013, Bern, Switzerland
Structures in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence: detection and scaling
We present a systematic analysis of statistical properties of turbulent
current and vorticity structures at a given time using cluster analysis. The
data stems from numerical simulations of decaying three-dimensional (3D)
magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the absence of an imposed uniform magnetic
field; the magnetic Prandtl number is taken equal to unity, and we use a
periodic box with grids of up to 1536^3 points, and with Taylor Reynolds
numbers up to 1100. The initial conditions are either an X-point configuration
embedded in 3D, the so-called Orszag-Tang vortex, or an
Arn'old-Beltrami-Childress configuration with a fully helical velocity and
magnetic field. In each case two snapshots are analyzed, separated by one
turn-over time, starting just after the peak of dissipation. We show that the
algorithm is able to select a large number of structures (in excess of 8,000)
for each snapshot and that the statistical properties of these clusters are
remarkably similar for the two snapshots as well as for the two flows under
study in terms of scaling laws for the cluster characteristics, with the
structures in the vorticity and in the current behaving in the same way. We
also study the effect of Reynolds number on cluster statistics, and we finally
analyze the properties of these clusters in terms of their velocity-magnetic
field correlation. Self-organized criticality features have been identified in
the dissipative range of scales. A different scaling arises in the inertial
range, which cannot be identified for the moment with a known self-organized
criticality class consistent with MHD. We suggest that this range can be
governed by turbulence dynamics as opposed to criticality, and propose an
interpretation of intermittency in terms of propagation of local instabilities.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 5 table
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