Large-scale instabilities and dynamics of the magnetotail plasma sheet

Abstract

The stability properties of the magnetotail current sheet against large scale modes is reviewed in the framework of ideal MHD, resistive MHD, and collisionless Vlasov theory. It appears that the small deviations from a plane sheet pinch (in particular a magnetic field component normal to the sheet) are important to explain the transition of the tail from a quiet stable state to an unstable dynamic state. It is found that the tail is essentially stable in ideal MHD, but unstable in resistive MHD, while both stable and unstable configurations are found within collisionless theory. The results favor an interpretation where the onset of magnetotail dyanmics leading to a sudden thinning of the plasma sheet and the ejection of a plasmoid is caused by the onset of a collisionless instability that either directly leads to the growth of a collisionless tearing mode or via microscopic turbulence to the growth of a resistive mode. The actual onset conditions are not fully explored yet by rigorous methods. The onset may be triggered by local conditions as well as by boundary conditions at the ionosphere or at the magnetopause (resulting from solar wind conditions). 53 refs., 5 figs.