Magnetosheath ion field-aligned anisotropy and implications for ion leakage to the foreshock

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Hauptverfasser: Liu, Terry Zixu, Angelopoulos, Vassilis, Zhang, Hui, Vu, Andrew, Raeder, Joachim
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Liu, Terry Zixu
Angelopoulos, Vassilis
Zhang, Hui
Vu, Andrew
Raeder, Joachim
author_facet Liu, Terry Zixu
Angelopoulos, Vassilis
Zhang, Hui
Vu, Andrew
Raeder, Joachim
contents The ion foreshock is highly dynamic, disturbing the bow shock and the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. To forecast foreshock-driven space weather effects, it is necessary to model foreshock ions as a function of upstream shock parameters. Case studies in the accompanying paper show that magnetosheath ions sometimes exhibit strong field-aligned anisotropy towards the upstream direction, which may be responsible for enhancing magnetosheath leakage and therefore foreshock ion density. To understand the conditions leading to such an anisotropy and the potential for enhanced leakage, we perform case studies and a statistical study of magnetosheath and foreshock region data surrounding ~500 THEMIS bow shock crossings. We quantify the anisotropy using the heat flux along the field-aligned direction. We show that the strong field-aligned heat flux persists across the entire magnetosheath from the magnetopause to the bow shock. Ion distribution functions reveal that the strong heat flux is caused by a secondary thermal population. We find that stronger anisotropy events exhibit heat flux preferentially towards the upstream direction near the bow shock and occur under larger IMF strength and larger solar wind dynamic pressure and/or energy flux. Additionally, we show that near the bow shock, magnetosheath leakage is a significant contributor to foreshock ions, and through enhancing the leakage the magnetosheath ion anisotropy can modulate the foreshock ion velocity and density. Our results imply that likely due to field line draping and compression against the magnetopause that leads to a directional mirror force, modeling the foreshock ions necessitates a more global accounting of downstream conditions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_01978
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetosheath ion field-aligned anisotropy and implications for ion leakage to the foreshock
Liu, Terry Zixu
Angelopoulos, Vassilis
Zhang, Hui
Vu, Andrew
Raeder, Joachim
Space Physics
The ion foreshock is highly dynamic, disturbing the bow shock and the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. To forecast foreshock-driven space weather effects, it is necessary to model foreshock ions as a function of upstream shock parameters. Case studies in the accompanying paper show that magnetosheath ions sometimes exhibit strong field-aligned anisotropy towards the upstream direction, which may be responsible for enhancing magnetosheath leakage and therefore foreshock ion density. To understand the conditions leading to such an anisotropy and the potential for enhanced leakage, we perform case studies and a statistical study of magnetosheath and foreshock region data surrounding ~500 THEMIS bow shock crossings. We quantify the anisotropy using the heat flux along the field-aligned direction. We show that the strong field-aligned heat flux persists across the entire magnetosheath from the magnetopause to the bow shock. Ion distribution functions reveal that the strong heat flux is caused by a secondary thermal population. We find that stronger anisotropy events exhibit heat flux preferentially towards the upstream direction near the bow shock and occur under larger IMF strength and larger solar wind dynamic pressure and/or energy flux. Additionally, we show that near the bow shock, magnetosheath leakage is a significant contributor to foreshock ions, and through enhancing the leakage the magnetosheath ion anisotropy can modulate the foreshock ion velocity and density. Our results imply that likely due to field line draping and compression against the magnetopause that leads to a directional mirror force, modeling the foreshock ions necessitates a more global accounting of downstream conditions.
title Magnetosheath ion field-aligned anisotropy and implications for ion leakage to the foreshock
topic Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.01978