Finite-Larmor-radius equilibrium and currents of the Earth's flank magnetopause

Abstract

We consider the one-dimensional equilibrium problem of a shear-flow boundary layer within an "extended Hall-MHD" (eHMHD) model of plasma that retains first-order finite Larmor radius (FLR) corrections to the ion dynamics. We provide a generalized version of the analytic expressions for the equilibrium configuration given in Cerri et al. (2013) [Cerri et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 112112 (2013)], highlighting their intrinsic asymmetry due to the relative orientation of the magnetic field $\mathbf{b}=\mathbf{B}/|\mathbf{B}|$ and the fluid vorticity $\omega =\nabla \times \mathbf{u}$ ("$\omega \mathbf{b}$ asymmetry"). Finally, we show that FLR effects can modify the Chapman--Ferraro current layer at the flank magnetopause in a way that is consistent with the observed structure reported by Haaland et al. (2014) [Haaland et al., J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 119, 9019-9037 (2014)]. In particular, we are able to qualitatively reproduce the following key features: (i) the dusk-dawn asymmetry of the current layer, (ii) a double-peak feature in the current profiles, and (iii) adjacent current sheets having thicknesses of several ion Larmor radii and with different current directions.

version accepted for publication in Journal of Plasma Physics

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Interplay between Kelvin-Helmholtz and Lower-Hybrid Drift instabilities