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A magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the formation of magnetic flux tubes at the Earth's dayside magnetopause
Author(s) -
Ogino Tatsuki,
Walker Raymond J.,
AshourAbdalla Maha
Publication year - 1989
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/gl016i002p00155
Subject(s) - magnetopause , magnetosphere , physics , magnetic flux , flux (metallurgy) , interplanetary magnetic field , magnetic reconnection , geophysics , magnetohydrodynamic drive , solar wind , flux tube , magnetic field , magnetohydrodynamics , astrophysics , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We have studied dayside magnetic reconnection by using a three‐dimensional global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. We found two different mechanisms for the formation of magnetic flux tubes at the dayside magnetopause which depend on the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The dayside magnetic flux tubes occur only when the IMF has a southward component. A strongly twisted and localized magnetic flux tube similar to magnetic flux ropes appears at the subsolar magnetopause when the IMF has a large B y component. When the B y component is small, twin flux tubes appear at the dayside magnetopause. Both types of magnetic flux tube are consistent with several observational features of flux transfer events and are generated by antiparallel magnetic reconnection.