Spatial variation of the kappa index in the Earth’s plasma sheet: RCMI results

Abstract

<p>Astrophysical plasmas are collisionless and correlated systems in which particles are out of thermal equilibrium and can be characterized by non-Maxwellian distribution functions. Amongst those nonthermal distribution functions, the kappa distribution has been widely used and satisfactorily modeled numerous space plasma environments such as ring current and plasma sheet. The particles spectra observed by detector measurements onboard the satellites (e.g., Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS)) indicate that the energy fluxes of plasma sheet particles can be fitted well by the kappa distribution (or combinations thereof). Besides, many empirical models have also used such distributions to estimate fluxes at different energies. Statistically, in the RCM simulations, at all times, even geomagnetically quiet conditions, the initial plasma distribution is assumed to be a kappa function with κ≈6. However, based on the flux spectra constructed by THEMIS data, the kappa index has a significant dawn-dusk asymmetry and a clear dependency on the geocentric distance (R) and the magnetic local time (MLT). Using the averaged RCMI calculated energy fluxes in the equatorial plane we intend to analyze the spatial distribution of the spectral index both for ions (κ<sub>i</sub>) and electrons (κ<sub>e</sub>) in this region and compare the simulation results with observations.</p>