The expansion of magnetic clouds

Abstract

Magnetic clouds are a carefully defined subclass of all interplanetary signatures of coronal mass ejections whose geometry is thought to be that of a cylinder embedded in a plane. It has been found that the total magnetic pressure inside the clouds is higher than the ion pressure outside, and that the clouds are expanding at 1 AU at about half the local Alfven speed. The geometry of the clouds is such that even though the magnetic pressure inside is larger than the total pressure outside, expansion will not occur because the pressure is balanced by magnetic tension - the pinch effect. The evidence for expansion of clouds at 1 AU is nevertheless quite strong so another reason for its existence must be found. It is demonstrated that the observations can be reproduced by taking into account the effects of geometrical distortion of the low plasma beta clouds as they move away from the Sun