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Formation of accelerated ion flows in Alfvén disturbances of the magnetotail

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Abstract

This paper shows that there exists a mechanism of longitudinal plasma acceleration which is inherent in the process of the process of resonant conversion of a fast magnetosonic wave freely propagating along the magnetic field into an Alfvén wave. This mechanism is caused by the Ampere force arising due to the interaction between the poloidal component of the current of the compressible disturbance and the generated toroidal disturbance. It is shown that plasma acceleration takes place at the stage of increase in the Alfvén wave amplitude and that the accelerated flow retains its velocity when the process of resonant conversion is over. We describe spatiotemporal structures of plasma flows arising with the transformation of fast magnetosonic waves into Alfvén waves. An interpretation of the presence of fast ion flows in the magnetotail as a consequence of the action of the plasma acceleration mechanism considered in this work is proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Lermontova 126a, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia

    I. S. Dmitrienko

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  1. I. S. Dmitrienko
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Correspondence to I. S. Dmitrienko.

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Original Russian Text © I.S. Dmitrienko, 2011, published in Solnechno-Zemnaya Fizika, 2011, Vol. 18, pp. 100–103.

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Dmitrienko, I.S. Formation of accelerated ion flows in Alfvén disturbances of the magnetotail. Geomagn. Aeron. 51, 1160–1164 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793211080032

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793211080032

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