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.
Highlights
The thin current sheet (TCS) play an important role in space plasma physics
The two TCS scalings, ZI and Zμ, could be distinguished for different dynamic regimes of the TCS-forming protons, which correspond to Iz = const and μ = const conditions, respectively
In this paper we present the study of three TCS crossings observed by Cluster in 2001
Summary
The TCSs play an important role in space plasma physics. In particular, they are crucial building blocks of various astrophysical phenomena, such as magnetospheres of planets, current systems of solar and stellar flares, and heliospheric and astrospheric large-scale current layers. Within the frames of the so far proposed models, a strong condition on the proton’s motion was imposed, namely the approximate conservation of adiabatic invariant Iz = ∮ Vzdz ≈ const, where z axis is codirected with the normal to the TCS This condition leads to the fact that the TCS theoretical thickness l∗ has a range of 0 < l∗ ≤ ρT [Sitnov et al, 2000], and the corresponding scaling of the TCS is a function of the ratio of particle thermal VT to the incoming flow VD velocities: ZI = l∗∕ρT = F(VT ∕VD)Zelenyi et al [2000].
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