Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review (Jul 2015)
Anatomy of the Pulsating Double Layer Source in the Earth's Magnetotail
Abstract
This investigation is composed of an observational part, plus a new theoretical model interpreting the related exhibited satellite datasets through an entirely new approach concerning the substorm's ultimate excitation mechanism. First, we present a few representative case studies showing the Bz component of the magnetic field to develop quasi-periodic negative deflections with periodicities ranging from T=15 to 60s in the central plasma sheet (CPS) with persistent tailward plasma flows. The wave activity of Bz is much lower outside the CPS, while occasionally almost a monochromatic response is identified. In certain cases, a profound change of frequency is evident and happens most probably due to the Doppler-effect; there is a relation between the plasma velocity enhancement and the increase of frequency. When comparing the amplitude of Bz deflections to the lobe magnetic field, one plausibly may infer that the deflections reflect the very dynamics of the source itself. Therefore, we put forward the concept about "a pulsating source", and more specifically, we adopt the pulsating "twin Double Layer (DL) structure" as the ultimate mechanism converting magnetic energy to kinetic. The DL acts either as a resistor or a capacitor and the twin-DL structure approximately behaves in a way similar to the cardiac cycle with repeated, rhythmic contractions and expansions. The contraction phase represents the abrupt local thinning of the plasma sheet (PS) that terminates explosively, heating the plasma and accelerating energetic particles. The expansion phase corresponds to a local distention of the source, which also terminates explosively. The DLs are oppositely polarized depending on the range of Rc whether it fulfills the condition rgi ≤ Rc < 9 rgi or rge < Rc < rgi, where rgi (rge) and Rc are the ion (electron) gyro-radius and the curvature radius of the local magnetic field, respectively. In more detail, the "akis structure", as it was earlier introduced by Sarafopoulos [1, 2] and further elaborated in this work, repetitively forms DLs that undergo a transition from depolarization to repolarization in each of the consecutive cycles. The collapse of the dissipation region (leading to local dipolarization) seems to occur when rge < Rc < 9rge. Large scale Boström's type II field aligned currents (FACs) flow and neutralize the net charges produced by "charge separation processes" within the twin-DL structure; thus the whole structure principally operates (under favorable conditions) like a huge resonant RLC-type circuit. Actually the pulsating source is an integral part of that huge (resonating) circuit, wherein even the ionosphere obviously plays its vital role imposing a positive feedback. The author of this study believes that Faraday's law can be experimentally validated with his suggested model more reliably than with the alternative X-type magnetic reconnection model incorporating the concept of "magnetic diffusion". The presently proposed "akis structure" embedded in the whole magnetotail's current system is presumably a precious structure with novel features. The source will probably be triggered at that place in which the condition for resonance is satisfied, while the resonance dramatically increases the rate of energy conversion, that is the efficiency of the source.
