信使号对水星磁层中磁重联的观测。
MESSENGER observations of magnetic reconnection in Mercury's magnetosphere.
作者信息
Slavin James A, Acuña Mario H, Anderson Brian J, Baker Daniel N, Benna Mehdi, Boardsen Scott A, Gloeckler George, Gold Robert E, Ho George C, Korth Haje, Krimigis Stamatios M, McNutt Ralph L, Raines Jim M, Sarantos Menelaos, Schriver David, Solomon Sean C, Trávnícek Pavel, Zurbuchen Thomas H
机构信息
Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
出版信息
Science. 2009 May 1;324(5927):606-10. doi: 10.1126/science.1172011.
Solar wind energy transfer to planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres is controlled by magnetic reconnection, a process that determines the degree of connectivity between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and a planet's magnetic field. During MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury, a steady southward IMF was observed and the magnetopause was threaded by a strong magnetic field, indicating a reconnection rate ~10 times that typical at Earth. Moreover, a large flux transfer event was observed in the magnetosheath, and a plasmoid and multiple traveling compression regions were observed in Mercury's magnetotail, all products of reconnection. These observations indicate that Mercury's magnetosphere is much more responsive to IMF direction and dominated by the effects of reconnection than that of Earth or the other magnetized planets.
太阳风能量向行星磁层和电离层的传输受磁重联控制，磁重联这一过程决定了行星际磁场（IMF）与行星磁场之间的连通程度。在信使号第二次飞越水星期间，观测到行星际磁场持续南向，磁层顶被强磁场贯穿，这表明重联率约为地球典型值的10倍。此外，在磁鞘中观测到一个大通量传输事件，在水星磁尾中观测到一个等离子体团和多个行进压缩区，这些都是重联的产物。这些观测结果表明，水星磁层对行星际磁场方向的响应比地球或其他磁化行星的磁层要强得多，且受重联效应的主导。
Zotero 插件