SGER: Study of Plasma Transfer Across the Magnetopause

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The plasma physics of the magnetopause is the central problem of magnetospheric research and our proposed impulsive penetration process is truly innovative in the sense that it (i) provides solar wind plasma onto closed field lines in the boundary layer in sufficient quantities to drive magnetospheric and auroral processes, and (ii) changes the state of interconnection between interplanetary and geomagnetic field lines. We intend to proceed along three approaches in our research effort: (i) Particle simulation. We plan to cooperate with others on computer simulation, notably Dr. H. Okuda from Princeton University. He is doing state-of-the-art computer simulation of the physics of the magnetopause. (ii) A test particle approach. Starting from M. Gorton's model, perturbations of the magnetopause will allow us to calculate the inductive electric field and the magnetopause currents. (iii) Analysis of Experimental Data. Finally, we plan to take the September 6, 1981 event as a primary test case for the theory and modeling. On that unique occasion, DE-1 went outside the magnetopause during a period of very high magnetospheric compression while DE-2 traversed the foot of the field line on several orbits. Either a clear disconfirmation of the impulsive penetration process or a clear confirmation of it would be very important for advancing magnetopause physics.