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The influence of kinetic effect on the MHD scalings of a thin current sheet
Author(s) -
Sasunov Yu. L.,
Khodachenko M. L.,
Alexeev I. I.,
Belenkaya E. S.,
Mingalev O. V.,
Melnik M. N.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2016ja023162
Subject(s) - physics , current sheet , kinetic energy , magnetohydrodynamics , proton , condensed matter physics , particle (ecology) , current (fluid) , critical current , plasma , moment (physics) , magnetic moment , thermodynamics , classical mechanics , nuclear physics , oceanography , geology , superconductivity
Assuming that magnetic moment μ is conserved on periodic segments of charged‐particle trajectories, it has been shown analytically that the half‐thickness of a stable thin current sheet (TCS) is practically independent on V T / V bulk , where V T and V bulk are thermal and bulk velocities of the TCS‐forming particles, respectively. This fact has been confirmed by the PIC modeling of the TCS without any special assumptions on the particle trajectory type. Such coincidence of analytical and numeric results indicates that an equilibrium TCS indeed is formed by counterstreaming proton flows with μ = constant. The weak dependence of the TCS half‐thickness on V T / V bulk also results in a reverse relation between the background plasma number density n 0 and V bulk , so that the increase of V bulk results in a decrease of n 0 .