Tangential discontinuities in the solar wind |
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| Authors: | Leonard F Burlaga Norman F Ness |
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| Institution: | (1) Laboratory for Space Sciences, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | This paper considers six discontinuity surfaces which were observed by magnetometers on 3 spacecraft in the solar wind. It
is shown that the actual surface orientations, determined from the measured time delays and solar wind speed, are consistent
with the theoretical orientations which were computed from the relation
, where
is the normal to the surface of a hydromagnetic tangential discontinuity across which the magnetic field direction changes
from
to
. The plasma and magnetic field data for these discontinuities are consistent with the pressure balance condition, and the
magnetic field vectors in the associated current sheets are parallel to the discontinuity surface, as required theoretically.
The 6 discontinuity surfaces extended without much distortion over ∼ 0.002 AU. A seventh surface is discussed which satisfies
the condition
but which extended without much distortion over 0.01 AU. This latter is not a typical surface, however, and its curvature
is larger than average. Most of the surfaces tended to lie along the spiral direction, but one was nearly perpendicular to
the spiral direction. |
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| Keywords: | |
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