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Structure of Current Sheets with Quasi-Adiabatic Dynamics of Particles in the Solar Wind

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Abstract

Within the self-consistent hybrid model based on the quasi-adiabatic approximation of the proton dynamics, a fine structure of strong current sheets (SCSs) in the solar wind has been investigated, including the heliospheric current sheet. The motion of electrons is fast and considered in the Boltzmann approximation. The simulation results have been shown that the SCS profiles have a multiscale enclosed structure with a narrow central current sheet that is enclosed in a wider sheet, similar to the heliospheric current sheet surrounded by the plasma sheet. The features of the SCS structure are determined by the relative contributions of the current of demagnetized protons in serpentine orbits and drift currents of electrons. The model predicts and describes the properties of SCSs observed by spacecraft. It has been shown that the multiscale structure of current sheets is an inherent intrinsic property of current sheets in the solar wind.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 14-12-00824. O.V. Khabarova acknowledges the support of ISSI within the International Team 405 “Current Sheets, Turbulence, Structures, and Particle Acceleration in the Heliosphere”, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project nos. 16-02-00479, 17-02-01328, and 17-02-00300). E.E. Grigorenko acknowledges the support of the RFBR (project no. 16-52-16009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, 119992, Moscow, Russia

    Kh. V. Malova

  2. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    Kh. V. Malova, V. Yu. Popov, E. E. Grigorenko, A. A. Petrukovich & L. M. Zelenyi

  3. Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    V. Yu. Popov

  4. National Research University Higher School of Economics, 101000, Moscow, Russia

    V. Yu. Popov

  5. Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142092, Troitsk, Moscow oblast, Russia

    O. V. Khabarova

  6. St. Petersburg State University, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    E. E. Grigorenko

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  1. Kh. V. Malova
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Malova, K.V., Popov, V.Y., Khabarova, O.V. et al. Structure of Current Sheets with Quasi-Adiabatic Dynamics of Particles in the Solar Wind. Cosmic Res 56, 462–470 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952518060060

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