The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)spacecraft will be able to view the Earth’s magnetosheath in soft X-rays.Simulated images of the X-ray emission visible f...The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)spacecraft will be able to view the Earth’s magnetosheath in soft X-rays.Simulated images of the X-ray emission visible from the position of SMILE are created for a range of solar wind densities by using 3 years of the SMILE mission orbit,together with models of the expected X-ray emissivity from the Earth’s magnetosheath.Results from global magnetohydrodynamic simulations and a simple model for exospheric neutral densities are used to compare the locations of the lines of sight along which integrated soft X-ray intensities peak with the lines of sight lying tangent to surfaces(defined here to be the magnetopause)along which local soft X-ray intensities peak or exhibit their strongest gradients,or both,for strongly southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions when no depletion or low-latitude boundary layers are expected.Where,in the parameter space of the various times and seasons,orbital phases,solar wind conditions,and magnetopause models,the alignment of the X-ray emission peak with the magnetopause tangent is good,or is not,is presented.The main results are as follows.The spacecraft needs to be positioned well outside the magnetopause;low-altitude times near perigee are not good.In addition,there are seasonal aspects:dayside-apogee orbits are generally very good because the spacecraft travels out sunward at high altitude,but nightside-apogee orbits,behind the Earth,are bad because the spacecraft only rarely leaves the magnetopause.Dusk-apogee and dawnapogee orbits are intermediate.Dayside-apogee orbits worsen slightly over the first three mission years,whereas nightside-apogee orbits improve slightly.Additionally,many more times of good agreement with the peak-to-tangent hypothesis occur when the solar wind is in a high-density state,as opposed to a low-density state.In a high-density state,the magnetopause is compressed,and the spacecraft is more often a good distance outside the magnetopause.展开更多
The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective l...The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective launches in the near future,to specify glo bal magnetic reconnection modes for varying solar wind conditions.To suppo rt the success of these scientific missions,it is critical to develop techniques that extract the magnetopause locations from the observed soft X-ray images.In this research,we introduce a new geometric equation that calculates the subsolar magnetopause position(RS)from a satellite position,the look direction of the instrument,and the angle at which the X-ray emission is maximized.Two assumptions are used in this method:(1)The look direction where soft X-ray emissions are maximized lies tangent to the magnetopause,and(2)the magnetopause surface near the subsolar point is almost spherical and thus RSis nea rly equal to the radius of the magneto pause curvature.We create synthetic soft X-ray images by using the Open Geospace General Circulation Model(OpenGGCM)global magnetohydrodynamic model,the galactic background,the instrument point spread function,and Poisson noise.We then apply the fast Fourier transform and Gaussian low-pass filte rs to the synthetic images to re move noise and obtain accurate look angles for the soft X-ray pea ks.From the filte red images,we calculate RS and its accuracy for different LEXI locations,look directions,and solar wind densities by using the OpenGGCM subsolar magnetopause location as ground truth.Our method estimates RS with an accuracy of<0.3 RE when the solar wind density exceeds>10 cm-3.The accuracy improves for greater solar wind densities and during southward interplanetary magnetic fields.The method ca ptures the magnetopause motion during southwa rd interplaneta ry magnetic field turnings.Consequently,the technique will enable quantitative analysis of the magnetopause motion and help reveal the dayside reconnection modes for dynamic solar wind conditions.This technique will suppo rt the LEXI and SMILE missions in achieving their scientific o bjectives.展开更多
We derived the properties of the terrestrial magnetopause(MP)from two modeling approaches,one global–fluid,the other local–kinetic,and compared the results with data collected in situ by the Magnetospheric Multiscal...We derived the properties of the terrestrial magnetopause(MP)from two modeling approaches,one global–fluid,the other local–kinetic,and compared the results with data collected in situ by the Magnetospheric Multiscale 2(MMS2)spacecraft.We used global magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)simulations of the Earth’s magnetosphere(publicly available from the NASA-CCMC[National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Community Coordinated Modeling Center])and local Vlasov equilibrium models(based on kinetic models for tangential discontinuities)to extract spatial profiles of the plasma and field variables at the Earth’s MP.The global MHD simulations used initial solar wind conditions extracted from the OMNI database at the time epoch when the MMS2 observes the MP.The kinetic Vlasov model used asymptotic boundary conditions derived from the same in situ MMS measurements upstream or downstream of the MP.The global MHD simulations provide a three-dimensional image of the magnetosphere at the time when the MMS2 crosses the MP.The Vlasov model provides a one-dimensional local view of the MP derived from first principles of kinetic theory.The MMS2 experimental data also serve as a reference for comparing and validating the numerical simulations and modeling.We found that the MP transition layer formed in global MHD simulations was generally localized closer to the Earth(roughly by one Earth radius)from the position of the real MP observed by the MMS.We also found that the global MHD simulations overestimated the thickness of the MP transition by one order of magnitude for three analyzed variables:magnetic field,density,and tangential speed.The MP thickness derived from the local Vlasov equilibrium was consistent with observations for all three of these variables.The overestimation of density in the Vlasov equilibrium was reduced compared with the global MHD solutions.We discuss our results in the context of future SMILE(Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer)campaigns for observing the Earth’s MP.展开更多
Astronomical imaging technologies are basic tools for the exploration of the universe,providing basic data for the research of astronomy and space physics.The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)carried by the Solar wind Magnetosph...Astronomical imaging technologies are basic tools for the exploration of the universe,providing basic data for the research of astronomy and space physics.The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)carried by the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)aims to capture two-dimensional(2-D)images of the Earth’s magnetosheath by using soft X-ray imaging.However,the observed 2-D images are affected by many noise factors,destroying the contained information,which is not conducive to the subsequent reconstruction of the three-dimensional(3-D)structure of the magnetopause.The analysis of SXI-simulated observation images shows that such damage cannot be evaluated with traditional restoration models.This makes it difficult to establish the mapping relationship between SXIsimulated observation images and target images by using mathematical models.We propose an image restoration algorithm for SXIsimulated observation images that can recover large-scale structure information on the magnetosphere.The idea is to train a patch estimator by selecting noise–clean patch pairs with the same distribution through the Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm to achieve the restoration estimation of the SXI-simulated observation image,whose mapping relationship with the target image is established by the patch estimator.The Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm is used to select multiple patch clusters with the same distribution and then train different patch estimators so as to improve the accuracy of the estimator.Experimental results showed that our image restoration algorithm is superior to other classical image restoration algorithms in the SXI-simulated observation image restoration task,according to the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity.The restoration results of SXI-simulated observation images are used in the tangent fitting approach and the computed tomography approach toward magnetospheric reconstruction techniques,significantly improving the reconstruction results.Hence,the proposed technology may be feasible for processing SXI-simulated observation images.展开更多
Variability in the location and shape of the dayside magnetopause is attributed to magnetic reconnection,a fundamental process that enables the transfer of mass,energy,and momentum from the solar wind into the magneto...Variability in the location and shape of the dayside magnetopause is attributed to magnetic reconnection,a fundamental process that enables the transfer of mass,energy,and momentum from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.The spatial and temporal properties of the magnetopause,under varying solar and magnetospheric conditions,remain largely unknown because empirical studies using in-situ observations are challenging to interpret.Global wide field-of-view(FOV)imaging is the only means to simultaneously observe the spatial distribution of the plasma properties over the vast dayside magnetospheric region and,subsequently,quantify the energy transport from the interplanetary medium into the terrestrial magnetosphere.Two upcoming missions,ESA/CAS SMILE and NASA’s LEXI will provide wide-field imagery of the dayside magnetosheath in soft X-rays,an emission generated by charge exchange interactions between high charge-state heavy ions of solar wind origin and exospheric neutral atoms.High-cadence two-dimensional observations of the magnetosheath will allow the estimation of dynamic properties of its inner boundary,the magnetopause,and enable studies of its response to changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure and interplanetary magnetic field orientation.This work introduces a statistically-based estimation approach based on inverse theory to estimate the spatial distribution of magnetosheath soft X-ray emissivities and,with this,identify the location of the magnetopause over the Sun−Earth line.To do so,we simulate the magnetosheath structure using the MHD-based OpenGGCM model and generate synthetic soft X-ray images using LEXI’s orbit and attitude information.Our results show that 3-D estimations using the described statistically-based technique are robust against Poisson-distributed shot noise inherent to soft X-ray images.Also,our proposed methodology shows that the accuracy of both three-dimensional(3-D)estimation and the magnetopause standoff distance calculation highly depends on the observational point.展开更多
Magnetic reconnection is the most fundamental energy-transfer mechanism in the universe that converts magnetic energy into heat and kinetic energy of charged particles.For reconnection to occur,the frozen-in condition...Magnetic reconnection is the most fundamental energy-transfer mechanism in the universe that converts magnetic energy into heat and kinetic energy of charged particles.For reconnection to occur,the frozen-in condition must break down in a localized region,commonly called the ‘diffusion region'.In Earth's magnetosphere,ion diffusion regions have already been observed,while electron diffusion regions have not been detected due to their small scales(of the order of a few km)(Paschmann,2008).In this paper we report,for the first time,in situ observations of an active electron diffusion region by the four Cluster spacecraft at the Earth's highlatitude magnetopause.The electron diffusion region is characterized by nongyrotropic electron distribution,strong field-aligned currents carried by electrons and bi-directional super-Alfvénic electron jets.Also observed were multiple micro-scale flux ropes,with a scale size of about 5 c/ω_(pe)(12 km,with c/ωpe the electron inertial length),that are crucial for electron acceleration in the guide-field reconnection process(Drake et al.,2006 a).The data demonstrate the existence of the electron diffusion region in collisionless guide-field reconnection at the magnetopause.展开更多
Kelvin-Helmholtz(K-H) waves are formed from the triggering of the K-H instability on the magnetopause,which is a candidate mechanism for solar wind entry into the magnetosphere,especially under northward interplanetar...Kelvin-Helmholtz(K-H) waves are formed from the triggering of the K-H instability on the magnetopause,which is a candidate mechanism for solar wind entry into the magnetosphere,especially under northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions.In this study,a K-H wave event was identified from the observation of probe B of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms(THEMIS) mission on 15 May 2008.A new method to determine the wave parameters of the K-H waves in single-spacecraft observations is proposed.The dominant wave period is determined by three kinds of spectrograms for three key parameters,namely the ion density,the ion temperature,and the z component of magnetic field.The phase velocity is estimated by calculating the center-of-mass velocity of the detected K-H vortex region.This approximation is validated by comparison with other alternative methods.The method to determine the wave parameters is a first step to further study K-H wave properties and their relationship with interplanetary conditions.展开更多
The north-south component B_z of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF) and solar wind dynamic pressure P_d are generally treated as the two main factors in the solar wind that determine the geometry of the magnetosph...The north-south component B_z of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF) and solar wind dynamic pressure P_d are generally treated as the two main factors in the solar wind that determine the geometry of the magnetosphere.By using the 3D global MHD simulations,we investigate the effect of the Interplanetary Electric Field(IEF) on the size and shape of magnetopause quantitatively. Our numerical experiments confirm that the geometry of the magnetopause are mainly determined by P_d and B_z,as expected.However,the dawn-dusk IEFs have great impact on the magnetopause erosion because of the magnetic reconnection,thus affecting the size and shape of the magnetopause.Higher solar wind speed with the same B_z will lead to bigger dawn-dusk IEFs,which means the higher reconnection rate,and then results in more magnetic flux removal from the dayside. Consequently,the dayside magnetopause moves inward and flank magnetopause moves outward.展开更多
Earth’s magnetopause is a thin boundary separating the shocked solar wind plasma from the magnetospheric plasmas,and it is also the boundary of the solar wind energy transport to the magnetosphere.Soft X-ray imaging ...Earth’s magnetopause is a thin boundary separating the shocked solar wind plasma from the magnetospheric plasmas,and it is also the boundary of the solar wind energy transport to the magnetosphere.Soft X-ray imaging allows investigation of the large-scale magnetopause by providing a two-dimensional(2-D)global view from a satellite.By performing 3-D global hybrid-particle-in-cell(hybrid-PIC)simulations,we obtain soft X-ray images of Earth’s magnetopause under different solar wind conditions,such as different plasma densities and directions of the southward interplanetary magnetic field.In all cases,magnetic reconnection occurs at low latitude magnetopause.The soft X-ray images observed by a hypothetical satellite are shown,with all of the following identified:the boundary of the magnetopause,the cusps,and the magnetosheath.Local X-ray emissivity in the magnetosheath is characterized by large amplitude fluctuations(up to 160%);however,the maximum line-of-sight-integrated X-ray intensity matches the tangent directions of the magnetopause well,indicating that these fluctuations have limited impact on identifying the magnetopause boundary in the X-ray images.Moreover,the magnetopause boundary can be identified using multiple viewing geometries.We also find that solar wind conditions have little effect on the magnetopause identification.The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission will provide X-ray images of the magnetopause for the first time,and our global hybrid-PIC simulation results can help better understand the 2-D X-ray images of the magnetopause from a 3-D perspective,with particle kinetic effects considered.展开更多
The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)will shine a spotlight on magnetopause dynamics during magnetic reconnection.We simulate an event with a southward interplanetary magne...The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)will shine a spotlight on magnetopause dynamics during magnetic reconnection.We simulate an event with a southward interplanetary magnetic field turning and produce SXI count maps with a 5-minute integration time.By making assumptions about the magnetopause shape,we find the magnetopause standoff distance from the count maps and compare it with the one obtained directly from the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)simulation.The root mean square deviations between the reconstructed and MHD standoff distances do not exceed 0.2 RE(Earth radius)and the maximal difference equals 0.24 RE during the 25-minute interval around the southward turning.展开更多
Frequently observed throat auroras have been suggested to be correspondent to indentations on the subsolar magnetopause,but how these indentations can be generated is unknown yet.Based on analyzing the detailed observ...Frequently observed throat auroras have been suggested to be correspondent to indentations on the subsolar magnetopause,but how these indentations can be generated is unknown yet.Based on analyzing the detailed observational features of throat aurora,a conceptual model for generation of throat aurora is proposed.This model suggests that precipitation of a north-south aligned stripy diffuse aurora can lead to an ionospheric conductivity enhancement and thus produce a polarization electric field in dusk-to-dawn direction in the ionosphere.After mapping to the magnetosphere along closed field lines,this electric field can guide a magnetopause reconnection to develop inward the magnetosphere and result in a throat aurora.Because this model can comprehensively explain all the observational results that have been presented up to now,we argue that the assumption of ionospheric polarization electric field affecting magnetopause reconnection should be true and be worthy of further investigations.展开更多
Cold ions of plasmaspheric origin have been observed to abundantly appear in the magnetospheric side of the Earth's magnetopause. These cold ions could affect the magnetic reconnection processes at the magnetopaus...Cold ions of plasmaspheric origin have been observed to abundantly appear in the magnetospheric side of the Earth's magnetopause. These cold ions could affect the magnetic reconnection processes at the magnetopause by changing the Alfvén velocity and the reconnection rate, while they could also be heated in the reconnection layer during the ongoing reconnections. We report in situ observations from a partially crossing of a reconnection layer near the subsolar magnetopause. During this crossing, step-like accelerating processes of the cold ions were clearly observed, suggesting that the inflow cold ions may be separately accelerated by the rotation discontinuity and slow shock inside the reconnection layer.展开更多
A new magnetopause model is proposed based on observation results, in which the magnetic-field includes one constant component and one monotomcally increasing component, so that magnetic field shear exists during the ...A new magnetopause model is proposed based on observation results, in which the magnetic-field includes one constant component and one monotomcally increasing component, so that magnetic field shear exists during the intervals when the interplanetary magnetic field has a northward component. Under this model, a completely analytical self-consistent equilibrium distribution function is derived based on the Vlasov-Maxwell equations. Through the analysis of this distribution function and its moments, the following can be concluded: (i) The equilibrium distribution function consists of a homogeneous Maxwellian distribution and two inhomogeneous shifted-Maxwellian distributions. There are "hole" and "bump" structures which have different cross-field drift velocities in the velocity distribution, (ii) The density decreases monotonously from the outside of the magneto-pause to the inside, (iii) The electrical current distribution is a typical current sheet structure, (iv) Under a certain condition of展开更多
A two-dimensional compressible MHD code has been used to numerically study the asymmetric driven reconnection processes in the vicinity of the magnetopause. The initial magnetic field configuration is assumed to be in...A two-dimensional compressible MHD code has been used to numerically study the asymmetric driven reconnection processes in the vicinity of the magnetopause. The initial magnetic field configuration is assumed to be in a mechanical equilibrium state. The cases with identical temperatures ( Tm0/ Ts0 = 1 .0) and four different ratios of magnetic field strength ( Q = Bm0/Bs0 = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5), and the case with Tm0/ Ts0 = 2.0 and O = 1.5 are investigated ( Bm0, Tm0 and B, Ts0 are the initial magnetic strength and temperature outside the current sheet on the magnetosphere and the mag-netosheath, respectively ). When the magnetic field on the magnetosheath side is set as southward, a recurrent formation of multiple magnetic bubbles with various scales occurs under the action of the inward plasma flow imposed at the left and right boundaries. In the simulation, some bubbles coalesce into a bigger one and then it is convected out of the simulation domain; the others are convected through the top boundary展开更多
The minimum variance and tangential discontinuity analyses are used to find the normal directions of the magnetopause using 550 crossings from ISEE 1 and 2, AMPTE/IRM, and IMP 8 satellites. Then, the average shape of ...The minimum variance and tangential discontinuity analyses are used to find the normal directions of the magnetopause using 550 crossings from ISEE 1 and 2, AMPTE/IRM, and IMP 8 satellites. Then, the average shape of the magnetopause is studied by using two\|region fit procedure. These studies show: (i) most of the crossings are reasonably characterized as tangential discontinuity; (ii) there does appear to be east\|west and north\|south asymmetry in the shape of the magnetopause; (iii) the magnetopause in the equatorial region is swept back from the vacuum location for both northward and southward IMF, which means that the simple single conic section used in previous fits may not be appropriate to the entire shape of the magnetopause, especially at the nightside.展开更多
We have simulated the processes of transient reconnection at the nightside magnetopause by using a two-dimensional compressible MHD model.According to the simulation results,three types of global reconnection configur...We have simulated the processes of transient reconnection at the nightside magnetopause by using a two-dimensional compressible MHD model.According to the simulation results,three types of global reconnection configuration at the magnetopause are proposed.The main results are summarized as follows.展开更多
The subsolar magnetopause is the boundary between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere,where reduced solar wind dynamic pressure is equal to the magnetic pressure of the Earth's outer magnetosphere.We ...The subsolar magnetopause is the boundary between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere,where reduced solar wind dynamic pressure is equal to the magnetic pressure of the Earth's outer magnetosphere.We use a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)model to estimate the ratio f of the compressed magnetic field just inside the subsolar magnetopause to the purely dipolar magnetic field.We also compare our numerical results to a similar work by Shue,which used Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms(THEMIS)data.Our results show that the ratio f is linearly proportional to the subsolar magnetopause standoff distance(r0)for both the northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field,properties consistent with Shue but with a smaller proportionality constant.However,previous theoretical studies show that f is nearly independent of the subsolar standoff distance.The global model results also show that f is smaller for the southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF)under the same r0,and that the proportionality constant for the southward IMF is larger than that for the northward IMF.Both conclusions agree with statistical results from observations by Shue.展开更多
In this study, the advantages and the limitations of previous low-latitude magnetopause empirical models are discussed. In order to overcome their limitations and inherit their advantages, a new continuous function fo...In this study, the advantages and the limitations of previous low-latitude magnetopause empirical models are discussed. In order to overcome their limitations and inherit their advantages, a new continuous function for the influence of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz on the magnetopause, the Shue model function and the 613 low-latitude magnetopause crossings are used to construct a new low-latitude magnetopause model parameterized by the solar wind dynamic pressure (Dp) and IMF Bz. In comparison with the previous low-latitude magnetopause models, it is found that the new model improves the prediction capability and has a large range of validity for the low-latitude magnetopause. In addition, it is also demonstrated that the new model and the previous low-latitude magnetopause models are not appropriate for predicting the high-latitude magnetopause.展开更多
The signatures of flux ropes with obvious core magnetic field are detected by ClusterⅡ at the dayside magnetopause during 11: 00-11: 15 UT on Mar. 2, 2001. The similar characteristics can be found from the magnetic f...The signatures of flux ropes with obvious core magnetic field are detected by ClusterⅡ at the dayside magnetopause during 11: 00-11: 15 UT on Mar. 2, 2001. The similar characteristics can be found from the magnetic field variations recorded by the four spacecrafts (Cluster Ⅱ C1-C4). All the three (-/+) bipolar signatures in the BN com-ponent are accompanied with enhancements of BM and mag-netic field strength B in the boundary normal coordinates (LMN coordinates). A MHD simulation with two dimensions and three components is performed to explore the reconnec-tion process driven by the incoming flow of solar wind at the dayside magnetopause. The numerical results can illustrate the recurrent formation of magnetic structures with a core magnetic field. The time history of the magnetic field B and three components Bx, By and Bz at a given point of the cur-rent sheet can reproduce the observational features of the events mentioned above.展开更多
Two-dimensional(2-D)and three-dimensional(3-D)hybrid simulations are carried out for mode conversion from fast mode compressional wave to kinetic Alfvn waves(KAWs)at the inhomogeneous magnetopause boundary.For cases i...Two-dimensional(2-D)and three-dimensional(3-D)hybrid simulations are carried out for mode conversion from fast mode compressional wave to kinetic Alfvn waves(KAWs)at the inhomogeneous magnetopause boundary.For cases in which the incident fast wave propagates in the xz plane,with the magnetopause normal along x and the background magnetic field pointing along z,the 2-D (xz)simulation shows that KAWs with large wave number kxρi～1 are generated near the Alfve′n resonance surface,whereρi is the ion Larmor radius.Several nonlinear wave properties are manifest in the mode conversion process.Harmonics of the driver frequency are generated.As a result of nonlinear wave interaction,the mode conversion region and its spectral width are broadened.In the 3-D simulation,after this first stage of the mode conversion to KAWs with large kx,a subsequent generation of KAW modes of finite ky is observed in the later stage,through a nonlinear parametric decay process.Since the nonlinear cascade to ky can lead to massive transport at the magnetopause,the simulation results provide an effective transport mechanism at the plasma boundaries in space as well as laboratory plasmas.展开更多
基金support from the United Kingdom Space Agency(UKSA)the Science and Technology Facilities Council(STFC)under Grant No.ST/T002085/1。
文摘The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)spacecraft will be able to view the Earth’s magnetosheath in soft X-rays.Simulated images of the X-ray emission visible from the position of SMILE are created for a range of solar wind densities by using 3 years of the SMILE mission orbit,together with models of the expected X-ray emissivity from the Earth’s magnetosheath.Results from global magnetohydrodynamic simulations and a simple model for exospheric neutral densities are used to compare the locations of the lines of sight along which integrated soft X-ray intensities peak with the lines of sight lying tangent to surfaces(defined here to be the magnetopause)along which local soft X-ray intensities peak or exhibit their strongest gradients,or both,for strongly southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions when no depletion or low-latitude boundary layers are expected.Where,in the parameter space of the various times and seasons,orbital phases,solar wind conditions,and magnetopause models,the alignment of the X-ray emission peak with the magnetopause tangent is good,or is not,is presented.The main results are as follows.The spacecraft needs to be positioned well outside the magnetopause;low-altitude times near perigee are not good.In addition,there are seasonal aspects:dayside-apogee orbits are generally very good because the spacecraft travels out sunward at high altitude,but nightside-apogee orbits,behind the Earth,are bad because the spacecraft only rarely leaves the magnetopause.Dusk-apogee and dawnapogee orbits are intermediate.Dayside-apogee orbits worsen slightly over the first three mission years,whereas nightside-apogee orbits improve slightly.Additionally,many more times of good agreement with the peak-to-tangent hypothesis occur when the solar wind is in a high-density state,as opposed to a low-density state.In a high-density state,the magnetopause is compressed,and the spacecraft is more often a good distance outside the magnetopause.
基金supported by NASA(Grant Nos.80NSSC19K0844,80NSSC20K1670,80MSFC20C0019,and 80GSFC21M0002)support from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center internal funding programs(HIF,Internal Scientist Funding Model,and Internal Research and Development)。
文摘The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective launches in the near future,to specify glo bal magnetic reconnection modes for varying solar wind conditions.To suppo rt the success of these scientific missions,it is critical to develop techniques that extract the magnetopause locations from the observed soft X-ray images.In this research,we introduce a new geometric equation that calculates the subsolar magnetopause position(RS)from a satellite position,the look direction of the instrument,and the angle at which the X-ray emission is maximized.Two assumptions are used in this method:(1)The look direction where soft X-ray emissions are maximized lies tangent to the magnetopause,and(2)the magnetopause surface near the subsolar point is almost spherical and thus RSis nea rly equal to the radius of the magneto pause curvature.We create synthetic soft X-ray images by using the Open Geospace General Circulation Model(OpenGGCM)global magnetohydrodynamic model,the galactic background,the instrument point spread function,and Poisson noise.We then apply the fast Fourier transform and Gaussian low-pass filte rs to the synthetic images to re move noise and obtain accurate look angles for the soft X-ray pea ks.From the filte red images,we calculate RS and its accuracy for different LEXI locations,look directions,and solar wind densities by using the OpenGGCM subsolar magnetopause location as ground truth.Our method estimates RS with an accuracy of<0.3 RE when the solar wind density exceeds>10 cm-3.The accuracy improves for greater solar wind densities and during southward interplanetary magnetic fields.The method ca ptures the magnetopause motion during southwa rd interplaneta ry magnetic field turnings.Consequently,the technique will enable quantitative analysis of the magnetopause motion and help reveal the dayside reconnection modes for dynamic solar wind conditions.This technique will suppo rt the LEXI and SMILE missions in achieving their scientific o bjectives.
基金support from the European Space Agency(ESA)PRODEX(PROgramme de Développement d’Expériences scientifiques)Project mission(No.PEA4000134960)Partial funding was provided by the Romanian Ministry of Research,Innovation and Digitalization under Romanian National Core Program LAPLAS VII(Contract No.30N/2023)+2 种基金the Belgian Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellencesupported by the project Belgian Research Action through Interdisciplinary Networks(BRAIN-BE)2.0(Grant No.B2/223/P1/PLATINUM)funded by the Belgian Office for Research(BELSPO)partially supported by a grant from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research(CNCS-UEFISCDI,Project No.PN-III-P1-1.1TE-2021-0102)。
文摘We derived the properties of the terrestrial magnetopause(MP)from two modeling approaches,one global–fluid,the other local–kinetic,and compared the results with data collected in situ by the Magnetospheric Multiscale 2(MMS2)spacecraft.We used global magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)simulations of the Earth’s magnetosphere(publicly available from the NASA-CCMC[National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Community Coordinated Modeling Center])and local Vlasov equilibrium models(based on kinetic models for tangential discontinuities)to extract spatial profiles of the plasma and field variables at the Earth’s MP.The global MHD simulations used initial solar wind conditions extracted from the OMNI database at the time epoch when the MMS2 observes the MP.The kinetic Vlasov model used asymptotic boundary conditions derived from the same in situ MMS measurements upstream or downstream of the MP.The global MHD simulations provide a three-dimensional image of the magnetosphere at the time when the MMS2 crosses the MP.The Vlasov model provides a one-dimensional local view of the MP derived from first principles of kinetic theory.The MMS2 experimental data also serve as a reference for comparing and validating the numerical simulations and modeling.We found that the MP transition layer formed in global MHD simulations was generally localized closer to the Earth(roughly by one Earth radius)from the position of the real MP observed by the MMS.We also found that the global MHD simulations overestimated the thickness of the MP transition by one order of magnitude for three analyzed variables:magnetic field,density,and tangential speed.The MP thickness derived from the local Vlasov equilibrium was consistent with observations for all three of these variables.The overestimation of density in the Vlasov equilibrium was reduced compared with the global MHD solutions.We discuss our results in the context of future SMILE(Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer)campaigns for observing the Earth’s MP.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42322408,42188101,41974211,and 42074202)the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.QYZDJ-SSW-JSC028)+1 种基金the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant Nos.XDA15052500,XDA15350201,and XDA15014800)supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.Y202045)。
文摘Astronomical imaging technologies are basic tools for the exploration of the universe,providing basic data for the research of astronomy and space physics.The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)carried by the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)aims to capture two-dimensional(2-D)images of the Earth’s magnetosheath by using soft X-ray imaging.However,the observed 2-D images are affected by many noise factors,destroying the contained information,which is not conducive to the subsequent reconstruction of the three-dimensional(3-D)structure of the magnetopause.The analysis of SXI-simulated observation images shows that such damage cannot be evaluated with traditional restoration models.This makes it difficult to establish the mapping relationship between SXIsimulated observation images and target images by using mathematical models.We propose an image restoration algorithm for SXIsimulated observation images that can recover large-scale structure information on the magnetosphere.The idea is to train a patch estimator by selecting noise–clean patch pairs with the same distribution through the Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm to achieve the restoration estimation of the SXI-simulated observation image,whose mapping relationship with the target image is established by the patch estimator.The Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm is used to select multiple patch clusters with the same distribution and then train different patch estimators so as to improve the accuracy of the estimator.Experimental results showed that our image restoration algorithm is superior to other classical image restoration algorithms in the SXI-simulated observation image restoration task,according to the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity.The restoration results of SXI-simulated observation images are used in the tangent fitting approach and the computed tomography approach toward magnetospheric reconstruction techniques,significantly improving the reconstruction results.Hence,the proposed technology may be feasible for processing SXI-simulated observation images.
基金supported by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center through Cooperative Agreement 80NSSC21M0180 to Catholic UniversityPartnership for Heliophysics and Space Environment Research(PHaSER)+2 种基金the NASA Heliophysics United States Participating Investigator Program under Grant WBS516741.01.24.01.03(DS)support from the NASA grants 80NSSC19K0844,80NSSC20K1670,and 80MSFC20C0019the NASA GSFC internal fundings(HIF,ISFM,and IRAD)。
文摘Variability in the location and shape of the dayside magnetopause is attributed to magnetic reconnection,a fundamental process that enables the transfer of mass,energy,and momentum from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.The spatial and temporal properties of the magnetopause,under varying solar and magnetospheric conditions,remain largely unknown because empirical studies using in-situ observations are challenging to interpret.Global wide field-of-view(FOV)imaging is the only means to simultaneously observe the spatial distribution of the plasma properties over the vast dayside magnetospheric region and,subsequently,quantify the energy transport from the interplanetary medium into the terrestrial magnetosphere.Two upcoming missions,ESA/CAS SMILE and NASA’s LEXI will provide wide-field imagery of the dayside magnetosheath in soft X-rays,an emission generated by charge exchange interactions between high charge-state heavy ions of solar wind origin and exospheric neutral atoms.High-cadence two-dimensional observations of the magnetosheath will allow the estimation of dynamic properties of its inner boundary,the magnetopause,and enable studies of its response to changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure and interplanetary magnetic field orientation.This work introduces a statistically-based estimation approach based on inverse theory to estimate the spatial distribution of magnetosheath soft X-ray emissivities and,with this,identify the location of the magnetopause over the Sun−Earth line.To do so,we simulate the magnetosheath structure using the MHD-based OpenGGCM model and generate synthetic soft X-ray images using LEXI’s orbit and attitude information.Our results show that 3-D estimations using the described statistically-based technique are robust against Poisson-distributed shot noise inherent to soft X-ray images.Also,our proposed methodology shows that the accuracy of both three-dimensional(3-D)estimation and the magnetopause standoff distance calculation highly depends on the observational point.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(41421003 and 41627805)
文摘Magnetic reconnection is the most fundamental energy-transfer mechanism in the universe that converts magnetic energy into heat and kinetic energy of charged particles.For reconnection to occur,the frozen-in condition must break down in a localized region,commonly called the ‘diffusion region'.In Earth's magnetosphere,ion diffusion regions have already been observed,while electron diffusion regions have not been detected due to their small scales(of the order of a few km)(Paschmann,2008).In this paper we report,for the first time,in situ observations of an active electron diffusion region by the four Cluster spacecraft at the Earth's highlatitude magnetopause.The electron diffusion region is characterized by nongyrotropic electron distribution,strong field-aligned currents carried by electrons and bi-directional super-Alfvénic electron jets.Also observed were multiple micro-scale flux ropes,with a scale size of about 5 c/ω_(pe)(12 km,with c/ωpe the electron inertial length),that are crucial for electron acceleration in the guide-field reconnection process(Drake et al.,2006 a).The data demonstrate the existence of the electron diffusion region in collisionless guide-field reconnection at the magnetopause.
基金Supported by the National Basic Research Program(2012CB825602)National Natural Science Foundation of China(41231067,41174143)the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories of China
文摘Kelvin-Helmholtz(K-H) waves are formed from the triggering of the K-H instability on the magnetopause,which is a candidate mechanism for solar wind entry into the magnetosphere,especially under northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions.In this study,a K-H wave event was identified from the observation of probe B of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms(THEMIS) mission on 15 May 2008.A new method to determine the wave parameters of the K-H waves in single-spacecraft observations is proposed.The dominant wave period is determined by three kinds of spectrograms for three key parameters,namely the ion density,the ion temperature,and the z component of magnetic field.The phase velocity is estimated by calculating the center-of-mass velocity of the detected K-H vortex region.This approximation is validated by comparison with other alternative methods.The method to determine the wave parameters is a first step to further study K-H wave properties and their relationship with interplanetary conditions.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40674082,40974106,40921063,40831060)the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories
文摘The north-south component B_z of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF) and solar wind dynamic pressure P_d are generally treated as the two main factors in the solar wind that determine the geometry of the magnetosphere.By using the 3D global MHD simulations,we investigate the effect of the Interplanetary Electric Field(IEF) on the size and shape of magnetopause quantitatively. Our numerical experiments confirm that the geometry of the magnetopause are mainly determined by P_d and B_z,as expected.However,the dawn-dusk IEFs have great impact on the magnetopause erosion because of the magnetic reconnection,thus affecting the size and shape of the magnetopause.Higher solar wind speed with the same B_z will lead to bigger dawn-dusk IEFs,which means the higher reconnection rate,and then results in more magnetic flux removal from the dayside. Consequently,the dayside magnetopause moves inward and flank magnetopause moves outward.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NNSFC)grants 42074202,42274196Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences grant XDB41000000ISSI-BJ International Team Interaction between magnetic reconnection and turbulence:From the Sun to the Earth。
文摘Earth’s magnetopause is a thin boundary separating the shocked solar wind plasma from the magnetospheric plasmas,and it is also the boundary of the solar wind energy transport to the magnetosphere.Soft X-ray imaging allows investigation of the large-scale magnetopause by providing a two-dimensional(2-D)global view from a satellite.By performing 3-D global hybrid-particle-in-cell(hybrid-PIC)simulations,we obtain soft X-ray images of Earth’s magnetopause under different solar wind conditions,such as different plasma densities and directions of the southward interplanetary magnetic field.In all cases,magnetic reconnection occurs at low latitude magnetopause.The soft X-ray images observed by a hypothetical satellite are shown,with all of the following identified:the boundary of the magnetopause,the cusps,and the magnetosheath.Local X-ray emissivity in the magnetosheath is characterized by large amplitude fluctuations(up to 160%);however,the maximum line-of-sight-integrated X-ray intensity matches the tangent directions of the magnetopause well,indicating that these fluctuations have limited impact on identifying the magnetopause boundary in the X-ray images.Moreover,the magnetopause boundary can be identified using multiple viewing geometries.We also find that solar wind conditions have little effect on the magnetopause identification.The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission will provide X-ray images of the magnetopause for the first time,and our global hybrid-PIC simulation results can help better understand the 2-D X-ray images of the magnetopause from a 3-D perspective,with particle kinetic effects considered.
基金support from the UK Space Agency under Grant Number ST/T002964/1partly supported by the International Space Science Institute(ISSI)in Bern,through ISSI International Team Project Number 523(“Imaging the Invisible:Unveiling the Global Structure of Earth’s Dynamic Magnetosphere”)。
文摘The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)will shine a spotlight on magnetopause dynamics during magnetic reconnection.We simulate an event with a southward interplanetary magnetic field turning and produce SXI count maps with a 5-minute integration time.By making assumptions about the magnetopause shape,we find the magnetopause standoff distance from the count maps and compare it with the one obtained directly from the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)simulation.The root mean square deviations between the reconstructed and MHD standoff distances do not exceed 0.2 RE(Earth radius)and the maximal difference equals 0.24 RE during the 25-minute interval around the southward turning.
基金supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1407303)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41774174, 41704159, 41831072 & 41431072)
文摘Frequently observed throat auroras have been suggested to be correspondent to indentations on the subsolar magnetopause,but how these indentations can be generated is unknown yet.Based on analyzing the detailed observational features of throat aurora,a conceptual model for generation of throat aurora is proposed.This model suggests that precipitation of a north-south aligned stripy diffuse aurora can lead to an ionospheric conductivity enhancement and thus produce a polarization electric field in dusk-to-dawn direction in the ionosphere.After mapping to the magnetosphere along closed field lines,this electric field can guide a magnetopause reconnection to develop inward the magnetosphere and result in a throat aurora.Because this model can comprehensively explain all the observational results that have been presented up to now,we argue that the assumption of ionospheric polarization electric field affecting magnetopause reconnection should be true and be worthy of further investigations.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41574138,41604139)the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation(JQ201412)+5 种基金the Chinese Meridian ProjectReading University was supported by STFC consolidated(ST/M000885/1)The Norwegian contribution was supported by the Research Council of Norway(230996.S.R.Z.)support from the U.S.NASA LWS Project(NNX15AB83G)the U.S.Do D MURI Project(ONR15-FOA-0011)supported by the U.S.NSF Geospace Facility program under an agreement AGS-1242204 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology
文摘Cold ions of plasmaspheric origin have been observed to abundantly appear in the magnetospheric side of the Earth's magnetopause. These cold ions could affect the magnetic reconnection processes at the magnetopause by changing the Alfvén velocity and the reconnection rate, while they could also be heated in the reconnection layer during the ongoing reconnections. We report in situ observations from a partially crossing of a reconnection layer near the subsolar magnetopause. During this crossing, step-like accelerating processes of the cold ions were clearly observed, suggesting that the inflow cold ions may be separately accelerated by the rotation discontinuity and slow shock inside the reconnection layer.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
文摘A new magnetopause model is proposed based on observation results, in which the magnetic-field includes one constant component and one monotomcally increasing component, so that magnetic field shear exists during the intervals when the interplanetary magnetic field has a northward component. Under this model, a completely analytical self-consistent equilibrium distribution function is derived based on the Vlasov-Maxwell equations. Through the analysis of this distribution function and its moments, the following can be concluded: (i) The equilibrium distribution function consists of a homogeneous Maxwellian distribution and two inhomogeneous shifted-Maxwellian distributions. There are "hole" and "bump" structures which have different cross-field drift velocities in the velocity distribution, (ii) The density decreases monotonously from the outside of the magneto-pause to the inside, (iii) The electrical current distribution is a typical current sheet structure, (iv) Under a certain condition of
文摘A two-dimensional compressible MHD code has been used to numerically study the asymmetric driven reconnection processes in the vicinity of the magnetopause. The initial magnetic field configuration is assumed to be in a mechanical equilibrium state. The cases with identical temperatures ( Tm0/ Ts0 = 1 .0) and four different ratios of magnetic field strength ( Q = Bm0/Bs0 = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5), and the case with Tm0/ Ts0 = 2.0 and O = 1.5 are investigated ( Bm0, Tm0 and B, Ts0 are the initial magnetic strength and temperature outside the current sheet on the magnetosphere and the mag-netosheath, respectively ). When the magnetic field on the magnetosheath side is set as southward, a recurrent formation of multiple magnetic bubbles with various scales occurs under the action of the inward plasma flow imposed at the left and right boundaries. In the simulation, some bubbles coalesce into a bigger one and then it is convected out of the simulation domain; the others are convected through the top boundary
文摘The minimum variance and tangential discontinuity analyses are used to find the normal directions of the magnetopause using 550 crossings from ISEE 1 and 2, AMPTE/IRM, and IMP 8 satellites. Then, the average shape of the magnetopause is studied by using two\|region fit procedure. These studies show: (i) most of the crossings are reasonably characterized as tangential discontinuity; (ii) there does appear to be east\|west and north\|south asymmetry in the shape of the magnetopause; (iii) the magnetopause in the equatorial region is swept back from the vacuum location for both northward and southward IMF, which means that the simple single conic section used in previous fits may not be appropriate to the entire shape of the magnetopause, especially at the nightside.
文摘We have simulated the processes of transient reconnection at the nightside magnetopause by using a two-dimensional compressible MHD model.According to the simulation results,three types of global reconnection configuration at the magnetopause are proposed.The main results are summarized as follows.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40874087 and 41031063)the China Meteorology Administration(GYHY201106011)the China Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean(201005017)
文摘The subsolar magnetopause is the boundary between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere,where reduced solar wind dynamic pressure is equal to the magnetic pressure of the Earth's outer magnetosphere.We use a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)model to estimate the ratio f of the compressed magnetic field just inside the subsolar magnetopause to the purely dipolar magnetic field.We also compare our numerical results to a similar work by Shue,which used Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms(THEMIS)data.Our results show that the ratio f is linearly proportional to the subsolar magnetopause standoff distance(r0)for both the northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field,properties consistent with Shue but with a smaller proportionality constant.However,previous theoretical studies show that f is nearly independent of the subsolar standoff distance.The global model results also show that f is smaller for the southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF)under the same r0,and that the proportionality constant for the southward IMF is larger than that for the northward IMF.Both conclusions agree with statistical results from observations by Shue.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. G2006CB806300)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40774079 and 40890160)+1 种基金National High-Tech Research & Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA12Z314)Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry (me-teorology:GYHY200806024)
文摘In this study, the advantages and the limitations of previous low-latitude magnetopause empirical models are discussed. In order to overcome their limitations and inherit their advantages, a new continuous function for the influence of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz on the magnetopause, the Shue model function and the 613 low-latitude magnetopause crossings are used to construct a new low-latitude magnetopause model parameterized by the solar wind dynamic pressure (Dp) and IMF Bz. In comparison with the previous low-latitude magnetopause models, it is found that the new model improves the prediction capability and has a large range of validity for the low-latitude magnetopause. In addition, it is also demonstrated that the new model and the previous low-latitude magnetopause models are not appropriate for predicting the high-latitude magnetopause.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40174042)the Major project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China,and partly by the Innovation Engineering Fund of USTC.
文摘The signatures of flux ropes with obvious core magnetic field are detected by ClusterⅡ at the dayside magnetopause during 11: 00-11: 15 UT on Mar. 2, 2001. The similar characteristics can be found from the magnetic field variations recorded by the four spacecrafts (Cluster Ⅱ C1-C4). All the three (-/+) bipolar signatures in the BN com-ponent are accompanied with enhancements of BM and mag-netic field strength B in the boundary normal coordinates (LMN coordinates). A MHD simulation with two dimensions and three components is performed to explore the reconnec-tion process driven by the incoming flow of solar wind at the dayside magnetopause. The numerical results can illustrate the recurrent formation of magnetic structures with a core magnetic field. The time history of the magnetic field B and three components Bx, By and Bz at a given point of the cur-rent sheet can reproduce the observational features of the events mentioned above.
基金supported by NSFC grants(41028003 and 40890163)NSF grants(ATM-0852682 and ATM-0646442)+3 种基金NSF grant ATM0902730NASA grant NNX10AK97G to Auburn Universityat PPPL by NASA grants(NNG07EK69I,NNH07AF37I,NNH09AM53I,NNH09AK63I,and NNH11AQ46I)DOE con-tract DE-AC02-09CH11466
文摘Two-dimensional(2-D)and three-dimensional(3-D)hybrid simulations are carried out for mode conversion from fast mode compressional wave to kinetic Alfvn waves(KAWs)at the inhomogeneous magnetopause boundary.For cases in which the incident fast wave propagates in the xz plane,with the magnetopause normal along x and the background magnetic field pointing along z,the 2-D (xz)simulation shows that KAWs with large wave number kxρi～1 are generated near the Alfve′n resonance surface,whereρi is the ion Larmor radius.Several nonlinear wave properties are manifest in the mode conversion process.Harmonics of the driver frequency are generated.As a result of nonlinear wave interaction,the mode conversion region and its spectral width are broadened.In the 3-D simulation,after this first stage of the mode conversion to KAWs with large kx,a subsequent generation of KAW modes of finite ky is observed in the later stage,through a nonlinear parametric decay process.Since the nonlinear cascade to ky can lead to massive transport at the magnetopause,the simulation results provide an effective transport mechanism at the plasma boundaries in space as well as laboratory plasmas.
