Statistics and accuracy of magnetic null identification in multispacecraft data

Abstract

AbstractComplex magnetic topologies are ubiquitous in astrophysical plasmas. Analyzing magnetic nulls, regions of vanishing magnetic field, is one way to characterize 3‐D magnetic topologies. Magnetic nulls are believed to be important in 3‐D reconnection and turbulence. In the vicinity of a null, plasma particles become unmagnetized and can be accelerated to high energies by electric fields. We present the first statistical study of the occurrence of magnetic nulls and their types in the Earth's nightside magnetosphere. We are able to identify the nulls both in the tail and in the magnetopause current sheets. On average, we find one null for every few current sheet crossings. We show that the type identification of magnetic nulls may be sensitive to local fluctuations in the magnetic field. We develop and demonstrate a method to estimate the reliability of the magnetic null type identification.