[IGPP Everyone] TODAY: Space Physics Seminar, Fri. 1/26 3:30pm: "The Finite Cross-Tail Extent of Dipolarizing Processes in the Magnetotail" (P. Pritchett, UCLA P&A)

[Emmanuel V. Masongsong]

SPACE PHYSICS SEMINAR 
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH, PLANETARY, AND SPACE SCIENCES 


DEPARTMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCES 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 



The Finite Cross-Tail Extent of Dipolarizing Processes in the Magnetotail 



Philip Pritchett 
UCLA Physics & Astronomy 



While a permanent feature of the Earth’s magnetosphere, the magnetotail is highly dynamic. There are long periods in which the magnetic field is stretched to form a thinner current sheet at the center of the tail; in between there are more rapid processes in which the magnetic structure is made more dipolar by the formation of dipolarizing flux bundles, dipolarization fronts, and the onset of substorms. The most popular mechanism for explaining these dipolarizing processes is magnetic reconnection. However, since it is an inherently 2D (x,z) process, reconnection cannot account directly for the characteristic cross-tail size of a few R_E inferred for these dipolarizing processes. Large-scale 3D particle-in-cell simulations using a realistic magnetotail configuration including a magnetic dipole region are used to investigate the cross-tail extent of ballooning/interchange (BICI) modes and the behavior of reconnection in forced finite regions. The results suggest that a combination of BICI and reconnection may be required to explain the finite cross-tail observations. 






Friday, January 26, 2018 

Room 6704 Geology 

3:30 - 5:00 PM 



In Charge: 

V. Angelopoulos 

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