In a laboratory simulation experiment of the earth's magnetosphere, an evidence of the existence of an earthward electric field is shown in the equatorial current sheet. The earthward electric field may be generated as a result of Hall electric field generation in the current sheet. A simple theoretical model for the existence of an earthward electric field is presented. The ions in the current sheet are accelerated by this earthward electric field, which then penetrate into the near earth dipole magnetic field. At the end of the current sheet near the earth, these ions are accumulated due to the difference of the inertia between ions and electrons. The polarization of charges reverses the electric field from earthward to tailward at this region. The experimental results have shown two directional electric fields along x‐axis in the current sheet. The earthward direction of the electric field is due to the dawn‐dusk current sheet carried by electrons. These experimental results prove the theoretical prediction. A discussion of the application of this result to the real magnetotail physics is also presented.
The energy of a solar flare can be accumulated as the magnetic energy of the current sheet created in the vicinity of a magnetic field singular line by the focusing of disturbances. Conditions which define the singular line in general were obtained using the properties of a singular line as it focuses disturbances. Numerical simulations and an analytical model show the possibility of the creation of a stable current sheet which becomes unstable after a quasistationary evolution. The nonlinear development of the instability leads to a fast reconstruction of the magnetic field with the release of a substantial part of the magnetic energy. The longitudinal magnetic field in our experiment increases the sheet thickness by at most a factoring of ten.
Abstract. The purpose of the Fluxus-1 and-2 active experiments is to study plasma jets injected parallel to the magnetic field and to study the interaction of these jets with the magnetic field. The experiments were conducted using a shaped-charge device, known as an explosive type generator (ETG), that produced an artificial aluminum plasma jet. In Fluxus -1 and-2 the jet was injected nearly parallel to the geomagnetic field at an altitude of 140 km toward an instrumented diagnostic payload located about 100 m away from the ETG. A -•50% reduction in the magnetic field was observed as the plasma jet passed by the diagnostic payload. Comparisons of 3-dimensional simulation results with the observed magnetic field perturbations suggest that the Fluxus-1 plasma jet was -•30 ø from the magnetic field direction while the Fluxus-2 plasma jet was directed nearly parallel to the magnetic field.
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