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Numerical study on ULF waves in a dipole field excited by sudden impulse

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Abstract

A three-dimensional numerical model is employed to investigate ULF waves excited by the sudden impulse (SI) of the solar wind dynamic pressure interacting with a dipole magnetosphere. We focus on the solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling through ULF waves, and the influences of the SI spectrum on the cavity mode structure and the energy deposition due to field line resonances (FLRs) in the magnetosphere. The numerical results show that for a given SI lasting for 1 min with amplitude of 50 mV/m impinging on the subsolar magnetopause, the total ULF energy transported from the solar wind to the magnetosphere is about the magnitude of 1014 J. The efficiency of the solar wind energy input is around 1%, which depends little on the location of the magnetopause in the model. It is also found that the energy of the cavity mode is confined in the region near the magnetopause, whereas, the energy of the toroidal mode may be distributed among a few specific L-shells. With a given size of the model magnetosphere and plasma density distribution, it is shown that the fundamental eigenfrequency of the cavity mode and the central locations of the FLRs do not vary noticeably with the power spectrum of the SI. It is worth noting that the spectrum of the SI affects the excitation of higher harmonics of the global cavity mode. The broader the bandwidth of the SI is, the higher harmonics of cavity mode could be excited. Meanwhile, the corresponding FLRs regions are broadened at the same time, which implies that the global cavity modes and toroidal modes can resonate on more magnetic L-shells when more harmonics of the global cavity modes appear.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Biao Yang, SuiYan Fu, QiuGang Zong, YongFu Wang, XuZhi Zhou, ZuYin Pu & Lun Xie

  2. Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854-3629, USA

    QiuGang Zong

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  1. Biao Yang
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  2. SuiYan Fu
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  7. Lun Xie
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Correspondence to SuiYan Fu.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40425004 and 40528005) and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2006CB806305)

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Yang, B., Fu, S., Zong, Q. et al. Numerical study on ULF waves in a dipole field excited by sudden impulse. Sci. China Ser. E-Technol. Sci. 51, 1665–1676 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-008-0251-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-008-0251-1

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