Different Transient Phenomena at the Edges of Traveling Foreshocks

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Kajdic, Primoz, Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl, Rojas-Castllo, Diana, Omidi, Nojan
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Kajdic, Primoz
Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl
Rojas-Castllo, Diana
Omidi, Nojan
author_facet Kajdic, Primoz
Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl
Rojas-Castllo, Diana
Omidi, Nojan
contents Past kinetic simulations and spacecraft observations have shown that traveling foreshocks (TFs) are bounded by either foreshock compressional boundaries (FCBs) or foreshock bubbles (FBs). Here we present four TFs with a different kind of structure appearing at one of their edges. Two of them, observed by the Cluster mission, are bounded by a hot flow anomaly (HFA). In one case, the HFA was observed only by the spacecraft closest to the bow shock, while the other three probes observed an FCB. In addition, two other TFs were observed by the MMS spacecraft to be delimited by a structure that we call HFA-like FCB. In the spacecraft data, these structures present signatures similar to those of HFAs: dips in magnetic field magnitude and solar wind density, decelerated and deflected plasma flow and increased temperature. However, a detailed inspection of these events reveals the absence of heating of the SW beam. Instead, the beam almost disappears inside these events and the plasma moments are strongly influenced by the suprathermal particles. We suggest that HFA-like FCBs are related to the evolution and structure of the directional discontinuities of the interplanetary magnetic field whose thickness is larger than the gyroradious of suprathermal ions. We also show that individual TFs may appear together with several different types of transient upstream mesoscale structures, which brings up a question about their combined effect on regions downstream of the bow shock.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_18553
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Different Transient Phenomena at the Edges of Traveling Foreshocks
Kajdic, Primoz
Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl
Rojas-Castllo, Diana
Omidi, Nojan
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Space Physics
Past kinetic simulations and spacecraft observations have shown that traveling foreshocks (TFs) are bounded by either foreshock compressional boundaries (FCBs) or foreshock bubbles (FBs). Here we present four TFs with a different kind of structure appearing at one of their edges. Two of them, observed by the Cluster mission, are bounded by a hot flow anomaly (HFA). In one case, the HFA was observed only by the spacecraft closest to the bow shock, while the other three probes observed an FCB. In addition, two other TFs were observed by the MMS spacecraft to be delimited by a structure that we call HFA-like FCB. In the spacecraft data, these structures present signatures similar to those of HFAs: dips in magnetic field magnitude and solar wind density, decelerated and deflected plasma flow and increased temperature. However, a detailed inspection of these events reveals the absence of heating of the SW beam. Instead, the beam almost disappears inside these events and the plasma moments are strongly influenced by the suprathermal particles. We suggest that HFA-like FCBs are related to the evolution and structure of the directional discontinuities of the interplanetary magnetic field whose thickness is larger than the gyroradious of suprathermal ions. We also show that individual TFs may appear together with several different types of transient upstream mesoscale structures, which brings up a question about their combined effect on regions downstream of the bow shock.
title Different Transient Phenomena at the Edges of Traveling Foreshocks
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18553