Plasma sheet
In the magnetosphere, the plasma sheet is a sheet-like region of denser hot plasma and lower magnetic field located on the magnetotail and near the equatorial plane, between the magnetosphere's north and south lobes.[1] In the near-Earth magnetotail (roughly 7–20 RE), the central plasma sheet typically has ion number densities of about 0.1–0.5 cm−3, whereas the adjacent tail lobes contain much more tenuous plasma with densities of order 0.01–0.1 cm−3, i.e. roughly an order of magnitude lower.[2][3][4]
The origin of the plasma sheet is still a subject of discussion on magnetospheric physics[5] but it is thought that the region plays an important role on the transport of plasma around the Earth from the magnetotail towards the Sun. The plasma sheet is closely related to the convective motion of plasma on the magnetotail occurring as a result of magnetic field reconnection.
References
[edit]- ^ Tadanori Ondoh; Katsuhide Marubashi (2001). Science of Space Environment. IOS Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-4-274-90384-7. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Runov, A.; Angelopoulos, V.; Gabrielse, C.; Liu, J.; Turner, D. L.; Zhou, X.-Z. (2015). "Average thermodynamic and spectral properties of plasma in and around dipolarizing flux bundles". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 120 (6): 4369–4383. Bibcode:2015JGRA..120.4369R. doi:10.1002/2015JA021166.
- ^ Haaland, S.; Lybekk, B.; Svenes, K.; Pedersen, A.; Förster, M.; Vaith, H.; Torbert, R. (2009). "Plasma transport in the magnetotail lobes". Annales Geophysicae. 27 (9): 3577–3590. Bibcode:2009AnGeo..27.3577H. doi:10.5194/angeo-27-3577-2009.
- ^ Haaland, S.; Lybekk, B.; Maes, L.; Laundal, K. M.; Pedersen, A. I.; Tenfjord, P.; Ohma, A.; Østgaard, N.; Reistad, J.; Snekvik, K. (2017). "North–south asymmetries in cold plasma density in the Earth's magnetotail lobes: Cluster observations". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 122 (1): 136–149. doi:10.1002/2016JA023404.
- ^ Hill, T. W. (1974). "Origin of the plasma sheet". Reviews of Geophysics. 12 (3): 379–388. Bibcode:1974RvGSP..12..379H. doi:10.1029/RG012i003p00379. ISSN 8755-1209.
 | This geophysics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This electromagnetism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This plasma physics–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This astrophysics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |