The energy-based scaling of a thin current sheet: Case study

Yu L Sasunov; M L Khodachenko; I I Alexeev; E S Belenkaya; E I Gordeev; I V Kubyshkin

doi:10.1002/2015GL066189

The energy-based scaling of a thin current sheet: Case study

Geophys Res Lett. 2015 Nov 28;42(22):9609-9616. doi: 10.1002/2015GL066189. Epub 2015 Nov 19.

Authors

Yu L Sasunov¹, M L Khodachenko², I I Alexeev³, E S Belenkaya³, E I Gordeev⁴, I V Kubyshkin⁴

Affiliations

¹ Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria.
² Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria; Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow Russia.
³ Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow Russia.
⁴ Earth Physics Department Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg Russia.

Abstract

The influence of average plasma energy E~ on the half thickness ℓ of a thin current sheet (TCS) is investigated for three cases of TCSs crossings. The value of ℓ was estimated from the magnetic field data by means of Cluster observations. The obtained scaling values for TCSs, Z~=ℓ/ρT, where ρ_T is the thermal Larmor radius, were compared with the scaling Zμ=22E~/T, where E~ and T are the average plasma energy and the temperature of plasma, which assumes a specific dynamics (conservation of magnetic flux through the trajectory segment) of the current carriers. The comparison of Z~ and Z_μ shows a good agreement.

Keywords: Cluster observation; adiabatic invariant; current sheet.