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Zelenyi et al. 2006
Zelenyi, L.M., Grigorenko, E.E., Sauvaud, J.-A. and Maggiolo, R. (2006). Multiplet structure of acceleration processes in the distant magnetotail. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2005GL024901. issn: 0094-8276.

We have studied ion distributions measured in the Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer (PSBL) of the Earth's magnetotail by the Cluster spacecraft at X ~ -15Re. Field-aligned ion beams (beamlets) accelerated in the magnetotail to energies of ~30keV are typically observed within the interface region between the Plasma Sheet (PS) and the magnetotail lobes. PSBL beamlets are produced by non-adiabatic ion acceleration in the vicinity of X-line which is located, during quiet periods, in the distant parts of the tail. Earlier kinetic models attributed the filamentary and/or bursty nature of these processes to Current Sheet (CS) resonances and predicted the scaling law for the velocity of subsequent structures as VN ~ N2/3. Cluster-2 provides experimental evidence from the PSBL from of the existence of such resonant structures in ion velocity space and provides the first statistically proven identification of such a scaling law for quiet and moderately disturbed periods.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetotail, Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetotail boundary layers
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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