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Kinetic Structure of Current Sheets in the Earth Magnetotail

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Abstract

In this paper we present a short review of kinetic models of the thin current sheet and corresponding Cluster observations in the Earth magnetotail. We concentrate mainly on manifestations of non-fluid ion kinetic effects. We discuss the different approaches to model description of the proton component and show that current sheets observed by Cluster contain population of particles with transient trajectories, which, in fact, are main carriers of the transverse current in the Earth magnetotail. We describe the influence of the electron temperature anisotropy on the current sheet structure. We demonstrate that the decoupling of proton and electron motions in thin current sheets results in appearance of the earthward electrostatic field, which redistributes currents due to the cross-field drift. This effect can describe small or negative proton currents often observed by Cluster.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to A. Petrukovich for fruitful discussions, and to D. Vainshtein for valuable comments and suggestions. The work was supported by RFBR (Nos. 10-02-9311, 12-02-91158), by grants of Leading Schools NIII-623.2012.2, and by the Program (OFN-15) of the Division of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors thank the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) and the organizing committee for support and the opportunity to participate in the ISSI Workshop on Microphysics of cosmic plasmas.

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  1. Space Research Institute, RAS, 84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    Anton Artemyev & Lev Zelenyi

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  1. Anton Artemyev
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  2. Lev Zelenyi
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Correspondence to Anton Artemyev.

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Artemyev, A., Zelenyi, L. Kinetic Structure of Current Sheets in the Earth Magnetotail. Space Sci Rev 178, 419–440 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9954-5

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