Numerical simulations of plasma equilibrium in a one-dimensional current sheet with a nonzero normal magnetic field component

Abstract

The force balance in a thin collisionless current sheet in the Earth’s magnetotail with a given constant magnetic field component B _z across the sheet is numerically studied for the first time in a self-consistent formulation of the problem. The current sheet is produced by oppositely directed plasma flows propagating from the periphery of the sheet toward the neutral plane. A substantially improved version of a macroparticle numerical model is used that makes it possible to simulate on the order of 10⁷ macroparticles even with a personal computer and to calculate equilibrium configurations with a sufficiently low discrete noise level in the first-and second-order moments of the distribution function, which determine the stress tensor elements. Quasisteady configurations were calculated numerically for several sets of plasma parameters in some parts of the magnetotail. The force balance in the sheet was checked by calculating the longitudinal and transverse pressures as well as the elements of the full stress tensor. The stress tensor in the current sheet is found to be nondiagonal and to differ appreciably from the gyrotropic stress tensor in the Chew-Goldberger-Low model, although the Chew-Goldberger-Low theory and numerical calculations yield close results for large distances from the region of reversed magnetic field.