INTERSECTIONS ON MAGNETIC HIGHWAYS:
A SUN EARTH CONNECTION

J.D. Scudder
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Iowa
Iowa City IA
319-335-0804
jds@hydra.physics.uiowa.edu
Home Page

in collaboration with
F.S. Mozer, UC Berkeley
N.C. Maynard, Mission Research, NH
P. Puhl-Quinn and Z.W. Ma, University of Iowa
and
C.T. Russell, UCLA

ORDINARILY MAGNETIC HIGHWAYS DO NOT INTERSECT

CHARGED PARTICLES: TRACERS OF MAGNETIC HIGHWAYS

FIGURE 1:

ELECTRONS (DOTS) RIDING ON MAGNETIC FIELDS ARE GOOD LABELS- PROVIDED THEY CAN STAY "ATTACHED"

MAGNETIC RECONNECTION THEORETICALLY ENABLES INTERCHANGES, ``X'', OF MAGNETIC HIGHWAYS

FIGURE 2:

POLAR SCIENCE TEAM HAS MAPPED A NATURALLY OCCURRING ``X'' FOR THE FIRST TIME

``X'' IS A TEAR IN THE MAGNETIC COCOON THAT ENVELOPES EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE WHERE MAGNETIC FIELDS ARE VERY WEAK

FIGURE 3:

TEAR HAS BEEN SHOWN TO OCCUR WHEN COCOON LAYER THINS TO PRECISELY THE 1km SPATIAL SCALES FORESEEN BY PROF V.M. VASYLIUNAS IN 1975.

FIGURE 4:

TEAR SUSTAINED BY BEING SO THIN THAT EVEN THE ELECTRONS CANNOT HOLD "ON" TO THE FIELDS ON WHICH THEY CAME INTO THE ``X''

FIGURE 5:

PARTICLES MINGLE AND RECONSTITUTE MAGNETIC FIELDS LEAVING THE ``X'' WITH A MIXTURE OF (RED AND BLUE) PARTICLES, CREATING A NEW HIGHWAY FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SOLAR (RED) AND MAGNETOSPHERIC (BLUE) PARTICLES THAT WAS NOT THERE BEFORE.

FIGURE 2: Execute Animation

SUMMARY:

ELUSIVE, ISOLATED, AND SMALL INTERCHANGES ON MAGNETIC HIGHWAYS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO OCCUR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A NATURALLY OCCURRING LOW DENSITY SPACE PLASMA

SUCH LOCAL INTERCHANGES ARE INVOKED TO EXPLAIN GLOBAL RECONFIGURATIONS OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN OTHER ASTROPHYSICAL CONTEXTS SUCH AS FLARES ON THE SUN OR APERIODIC X-RAY BURSTS FROM BINARY STARS

LOCAL INTERCHANGES ENABLE GLOBAL RECONFIGURATIONS OF GEOSPACE WITH WIDESPREAD CONSEQUENCES, EVENTUALLY INCLUDING THE AURORA AND STORMS OF SOLAR WEATHER.