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Two‐dimensional quiet time equilibrium for the inner plasma sheet protons and magnetic field
Author(s) -
Wang ChihPing,
Lyons Larry R.,
Chen Margaret W.,
Wolf Richard A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013984
Subject(s) - plasma sheet , magnetic field , physics , plasma , computational physics , mechanics , magnetosphere , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
In order to study the quiet time proton flow and magnetic field in the inner plasma sheet resulting from electric and magnetic drifts, we incorporate a modified version of the Magnetospheric Specification Model with a modified Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model to self‐consistently simulate plasma sheet protons and magnetic fields with two‐dimensional force balance maintained along the midnight meridian. The resulting equatorial proton flows and pressures agree very well with observations quantitatively. Because of this agreement, the simulated force‐balanced magnetic field configuration should give more realistic plasma sheet magnetic field variations for quiet times than does the original T96 model. This 2‐D self‐consistent simulation reproduces the observed flows and pressures better than our previous 1‐D self‐consistent simulation. The improvement results from a more accurate modeling of the coupling between plasma and magnetic field in the 2‐D self‐consistent simulation.