Generalized magnetotail equilibria: Effects of the dipole field, thin current sheets, and magnetic flux accumulation

Abstract

AbstractGeneralizations of the class of quasi‐1‐D solutions of the 2‐D Grad‐Shafranov equation, first considered by Schindler in 1972, are investigated. It is shown that the effect of the dipole field, treated as a perturbation, can be included into the original 1972 class solution by modification of the boundary conditions. Some of the solutions imply the formation of singularly thin current sheets. Equilibrium solutions for such sheets resolving their singular current structure on the scales comparable to the thermal ion gyroradius can be obtained assuming anisotropic and nongyrotropic plasma distributions. It is shown that one class of such equilibria with the dipole‐like boundary perturbation describes bifurcation of the near‐Earth current sheet. Another class of weakly anisotropic equilibria with thin current sheets embedded into a thicker plasma sheet helps explain the formation of thin current sheets in a relatively distant tail, where such sheets can provide ion Landau dissipation for spontaneous magnetic reconnection. The free energy for spontaneous reconnection can be provided due to accumulation of the magnetic flux at the tailward end of the closed field line region. The corresponding hump in the normal magnetic field profile Bz(x,z = 0) creates a nonzero gradient along the tail. The resulting gradient of the equatorial magnetic field pressure is shown to be balanced by the pressure gradient and the magnetic tension force due to the higher‐order correction of the latter in the asymptotic expansion of the tail equilibrium in the ratio of the characteristic tail current sheet variations across and along the tail.