AGS-PRF: Study of Dayside Reconnection Through Cusp Ion Structures

这是一项大气和地球空间科学博士后研究金，旨在支持一位刚刚开始科学生涯的年轻女科学家，该项目解决了磁层物理学中一个长期存在的问题，即在向阳面磁层顶的何处发生磁重联。特别是，它将解决的问题的相对重要性的反平行重联被认为是发生时，磁鞘磁场和磁层磁场是相反的方向和组件重联，其中一个组件的两个领域是相反的方向。尖点磁场线描绘了磁层顶。关于向阳面磁场重联的信息包含在尖点区域的粒子特征中。方法是对太阳风、磁层和电离层系统进行全球磁流体动力学模拟，然后将离子发射到模拟场中。测试离子在尖点区域的分布将被用来模拟尖点离子谱图作为重联的位置和性质的函数。模拟将改变太阳风条件，包括行星际磁场（IMF）时钟角，IMF的径向分量和太阳风压力。理论光谱图将与星团航天器的观测结果进行比较。本研究将有助于了解尖点离子特征与昼侧重联之间的关系。

This is an Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) Post-doctoral Research Fellowship grant to support a young woman scientist just beginning her scientific career.The project addresses a longstanding question in magnetospheric physics about where magnetic reconnection occurs on the dayside magnetopause. In particular it will address the question of the relative importance of antiparallel reconnection which is thought to occur when the magnetosheath magnetic field and the magnetospheric magnetic field are oppositely directed and component reconnection in which one component of the two fields is oppositely directed. Cusp magnetic field lines map the magnetopause. Information about dayside magnetic reconnection is contained in particle signatures in the cusp region. The approach is to run a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere system and then to launch ions into the fields from the simulation. The distribution of test ions in the cusp region will be used to model cusp ion spectrograms as a function of the location and nature of the reconnection. The simulations will vary solar wind conditions including the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle, the radial component of the IMF and the solar wind pressure. The theoretical spectrograms will be compared with Cluster spacecraft observations. This study will contribute to an understanding of relationship between the cusp ion signatures and dayside reconnection.