Lect-8-Mpause-Shock.ppt.pptVIP

Configuration of magnetic field lines for fast and slow shocks. The lines are closer together for a fast shock, indicating that the field strength increases. [From Burgess, 1995]. Bow Shock and Magnetopause Crossings Bow Shock Crossings with Location Front Orientation Functions of Magnetosheath Diverts the solar wind flow and bends the IMF around the magnetopause Observations of Density Enhancements in the Sheath Internal Structure of the Magnetosheath Bow Shock Magnetopause Post-bow shock density Slow Shock in the Magnetosheath Particles can be accelerated in the shock (ions to 100’s of keV and electrons to 10’s of keV). Some can leak out and if they have sufficiently high energies they can out run the shock. (This is a unique property of collisionless shocks.) At Earth the interplanetary magnetic field has an angle to the Sun-Earth line of about 450. The first field line to touch the shock is the tangent field line. At the tangent line the angle between the shock normal and the IMF is 900. Lines further downstream have Particles have parallel motion along the field line ( ) and cross field drift motion ( ). All particles have the same The most energetic particles will move farther from the shock before they drift the same distance as less energetic particles The first particles observed behind the tangent line are electrons with the highest energy electrons closest to the tangent line – electron foreshock. A similar region for ions is found farther downstream – ion foreshock. Ion Foreshock Upstream Waves Summary of Foreshock:shock-field angle determines the features in the sheath and upstream The Magnetopause Back in 1930 Chapman and Ferraro foresaw that a planetary magnetic field could provide an effective obstacle to the solar-wind plasma. The solar-wind dynamic pressure presses on the outer reaches of the magnetic field confining it to a magnetospheric cavity that has a long tail consisting of two antiparallel bundles of magnetic