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Effects of anomalous transport on the potentials of discrete auroral arcs
Author(s) -
Smith Robert A.
Publication year - 1986
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/gl013i009p00889
Subject(s) - equipotential , flux (metallurgy) , arc (geometry) , current (fluid) , physics , geophysics , magnetohydrodynamics , equipotential surface , mechanics , magnetic field , field (mathematics) , computational physics , geometry , mathematics , materials science , pure mathematics , metallurgy , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
The evolution of U‐shaped double layers in discrete auroral arcs occurs much faster than the global current in the arc flux tube can be redistributed. For asymptotic stality of the arc on MHD time scales, this implies that local transport mechanisms are required to charge the nearly field‐aligned flanks of the equipotential structure over an extended region along the magnetic field. The diversion of the uniform upstream current provides a constraint which limits the double‐layer potential.