Global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of reconnection and turbulence in the plasma sheet

被引：27
作者：
El-Alaoui, Mostafa [1 ]
Ashour-Abdalla, Maha [1 ,2 ]
Richard, Robert L. [1 ]
Goldstein, Melvyn L. [3 ]
Weygand, James M. [1 ]
Walker, Raymond J. [1 ,4 ]
机构：
[1] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Inst Geophys & Planetary Phys, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
[2] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Phys & Astron, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
[3] NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Lab Geospace Sci, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
[4] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Earth & Space Sci, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
来源：
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS | 2010年 / 115卷
关键词：
KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY; SELF-ORGANIZED CRITICALITY; SOLAR-WIND; LOCALIZED RECONNECTION; SUBSTORM ONSET; MHD; FLUCTUATIONS; DISSIPATION; MAGNETOTAIL; TRANSPORT;
D O I：
10.1029/2010JA015653
中图分类号：
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号：
0704 ;
摘要：
Plasma sheet turbulence is examined by using a global MHD simulation. The simulation used idealized purely southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) driving conditions to eliminate the effect of solar wind and IMF variations. The results were compared with spacecraft observations of turbulence by computing power spectral densities and probability distribution functions. The fluctuations in the simulation were found to have properties characteristic of turbulence. The MHD simulation exhibited nested vortices on multiple scales, with the largest scales associated with reconnection outflows and the diversion of high-speed flows in the near-Earth region. The importance of strong localized reconnection regions in the simulation for driving the largest scale fluctuations supports the idea it is the main process driving turbulence in the plasma sheet. Interplay between turbulence and the reconnection process is probably present. Scaling arguments show that the scale at which turbulence is dissipated is consistent with the resistivity in the model.
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页数：13
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