Controlling factors of Region 2 field-aligned current and its relationship to the ring current: Model results

One essential component of magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling is the closure of the ring current through Region 2 field-aligned current (FAC). Using the Comprehensive Ring Current Model (CRCM), which includes magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling by solving the kinetic equation of ring current particles and the closure of the electric currents between the two regions, we have investigated the effects of high latitude potential, ionospheric conductivity, plasma sheet density and different magnetic field models on the development of Region 2 field-aligned currents, and the relationship between R2 FACs and the ring current. It is shown that an increase in high latitude potential, ionospheric conductivity or plasma sheet density generally results in an increase in Region 2 FACs’ intensity, but R2 FACs display different local time and latitudinal distributions for changes in each parameter due to the different mechanisms involved. Our simulation results show that the magnetic field configuration of the inner magnetosphere is also an important factor in the development of Region 2 field-aligned current. More numerical experiments and observational results are needed in further our understanding of the complex relationship of the two current systems.     

Ionospheric and field-aligned current systems in the auroral zone: a concise review

During the last few years our knowledge about the real three-dimensional current flow in the auroral zone has been significantly increased due to new improved measurements, especially those made by ground-based magnetometer networks, coherent and incoherent auroral radars, sounding rockets and low-altitude satellites. Combination of two or even more of those data sets (e.g. electron densities and electric and magnetic fields) allowed for a rather accurate determination of the distribution of Hall, Pedersen and Birkeland currents in the auroral zone. In this review an attempt is made to summarize the present knowledge about the distribution of conductivity, electric field and current flow in the auroral zone as well for the large-scale electrojet systems as for the comparatively smaller current systems associated with quiet and active aurora, i.e. discrete arcs, auroral break-ups, westward travelling surges and omega bands.     

The generator system of field-aligned currents during the April 06, 2000, superstorm

Using ground-based magnetometer data of the April 6–7, 2000, superstorm, we obtained maps of ionospheric and field-aligned currents (FACs). Based on these, we deduced the electrical circuit of the disturbed magnetosphere/ionosphere and a conceptual model of its magnetospheric generators, which supply both hemispheres. This model implies that the generator system creates primarily the Region-1 FACs of Iijima and Potemra at both hemispheres, while the Region-2 and Region-0 FACs form by spreading of the Region-1 currents through the ionosphere. This conclusion is supported by observations.     

ISEE-1 and 2 observations of field-aligned currents in the distant midnight magnetosphere

Magnetic field measurements obtained in the nightside magnetosphere by the co-orbiting ISEE-1 and 2 spacecraft have been examined for signatures of field-aligned currents (FAC). Such currents are found on the boundary of the plasma sheet both when the plasma sheet is expanding and when it is thinning. Plasma sheet boundary layer current structure and substorm associated dynamics can be determined using the two spacecraft, although for slow traversals of the FAC sheet the spatial/temporal ambiguity is still an issue. We often find evidence for the existence of waves on the plasma sheet boundary, leading to multiple crossings of the FAC sheet. At times the boundary layer FAC sheet orientation is nearly parallel to the X-Z GSM plane, suggesting ‘protrusions’ of plasma sheet into the lobes. The boundary layer current polarity is, as expected, into the ionosphere in the midnight to dawn local time sector, and outward near dusk. Current sheet thicknesses and velocities are essentially independent of plasma sheet expansion or thinning, having typical values of 1500 km and 20–40 km/s respectively. Characteristic boundary layer current densities are about 10 nanoamps per square meter.     

Low-altitude field-aligned currents used to diagnose plasma distribution and magnetic topology in the outer magnetosphere

Field-aligned currents (FAC) can be used to determine changes in the total plasma content (TPC) of convecting flux tubes. The observed steady-state FAC system is combined with the observed equipotential pattern to determine contours of TPC as mapped to the ionosphere. Criteria for a qualitative mapping of the FAC, equipotentials and TCP contours along magnetic field lines to the equatorial plane are set up and the result is shown in figure 3. Some interesting features are: (1) There is a considerable distortion, which is most obvious near midnight, due to the existence of FAC; (2) There is a dusk to dawn component of convection across the tail; (3) The reversal of this component in the pre-midnight quadrant produces the Harang discontinuity. A discussion of time-dependent flows suggests that both plasma depletion associated with FAC and neutral lines may be necessary in a substorm expansion. Between substorm expansions, convection is faster than FAC-produced collapse of flux tubes. Finally it is pointed out that the current and electric field are probably not parallel in the tail, requiring a rethinking of tail models.     

First evidence of anisotropy of GPS phase slips caused by the mid-latitude field-aligned ionospheric irregularities

The mid-latitude field-aligned irregularity (FAI) along the magnetic field line is a common phenomenon in the ionosphere. However, few data reveal the field-aligned ionospheric irregularities. They are insufficient to identify FAIs effects so far, particularly effect on global positioning system (GPS) signals. In this paper, the mid-latitude FAIs by line-of-sight angular scanning relative to the local magnetic field vector are investigated using the denser GPS network observations in Japan. It has been the first found that total GPS L2 phase slips over Japan, during the recovery phase of the 12 Feb 2000 geomagnetic storm were caused by GPS signal scattering on FAIs both for the lines-of-sight aligned to the magnetic field line (the field of aligned scattering, FALS) and across the magnetic field line (the field of across scattering, FACS). The FALS results are also in a good agreement with the data of the magnetic field orientation control of GPS occultation observations of equatorial scintillation during thorough low earth orbit (LEO) satellites measurements, e.g. Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) and Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C (SAC-C). The role of large-angle scattering almost along the normal to the magnetic field line in GPS scintillation is determined by attenuation of the irregularity anisotropy factor as compared with the other factors.     

Mercury’s Birkeland current system

A consideration is given to the generation of field-aligned currents under different solar wind conditions. The preliminary results from a set of resistive MHD calculations indicate that the field-aligned current system could be significantly changed by the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. For most of the cases studied, the total current is less than or on the order of 10⁵ A. Even though this current is at least a factor of 10 smaller than its counter part at Earth, it might still produce some important dynamical effects with interesting consequence on the sporadic behavior of Mercury’s atomic sodium emission.     

100 A直流大电流标准及检定系统

介绍了一种新建立的直流大电流标准及检定系统。该系统由直流标准电压源、跨导放大器、零磁通电流互感器、分流器、标准电阻和数字电压表组成 ;直流电流输出范围为 0～10 0A ,不确定度为 5× 10 - 4,直流电流测量范围为 0～ 12 0A ,不确定度为 5× 10 - 5。分析了常用的直流大电流测量方法 ,介绍了系统的硬件设备组成 ,简述了关键设备的基本原理和校准测试方法 ,并给出了测试结果 ,该标准的建立将满足 10 0A以下直流大电流源、直流大电流表。     

齿轮测量中心测头数据采集系统

提出了齿轮测量中心电感测头的新型数据采集系统,包括以集成开关构成的新型相敏检波器和以单片机为核心的数据采集系统,可以应用于各种电感信号的处理,具有较强的通用性。     

交流电流校准方法的研究

介绍了用精密交流电阻器、放大器、电流互感器、交流数字电压表组成的交流电流校准装置及其校准方法,校准电流的范围：１０μＡ～１００Ａ,频率范围：５０Ｈｚ～５ｋＨｚ,校准不确定度：５×１０－４～５×１０－５。     

光电自准直仪现状与展望

介绍了国际和国内光电自准直仪技术发展的现状,着重介绍国内外几种有代表性的光电自准直仪的情况,并对光电自准直仪今后的发展作出展望     

Gamma-ray bursts — the current status

The field of gamma ray burst astronomy is reviewed with emphasis on the results obtained since 1978 by numerous spacecraft experiments. Burst energy spectra are now known to display complex and rapidly varying shapes; however, the detection of line emission poses both experimental and theoretical problems. The log N-log S curves, when properly corrected for instrumental effects, are substantially in agreement at high intensities, although the shape of the curves is inconsistent with the observed spatial distribution of the bursts. Precise localizations using the method of arrival time analysis between widely separated spacecraft have given small error boxes which have in many cases been searched down to magnitude 23.5 and beyond. The results of these searches, as well as those of archibal and real-time optical searches, are reviewed.     

Kinetic theory of the current sheath. I. On polarization of an equilibrium current sheath

The basic theme of this paper is the investigation of the polarizing electric fields caused by anisotropy of thermal plasma of a current sheath. The paper provides a generalization of the equilibrium distribution function of the current sheath (Harris function) to the case of temperature anisotropy of plasma along and across the sheath. It appears that solution of the electroneutral equilibrium represents a narrow class of solutions and is true only for certain relations between the parameters of the problem. In the general case, the plasma of a stationary current sheath is polarized. The structure of the current sheath of a magnetosphere tail is investigated with regard to the effect of polarization, and profiles of the polarization electric fields are obtained. This field should be taken into account in the study of current sheath stability.     

Kinetic theory of the current sheath. II. Effect of polarization on the stability of a current sheath

A procedure for investigating the stability of a current sheath, taking into account the effect of plasma polarization, is offered. The kinetic equation with a self-consistent electromagnetic field for perturbation of the distribution function is solved. On the basis of this solution, the tensor of dielectric permeability for a non-electroneutral current sheath plasma is calculated, and the dispersion equation for the study of possible instability modes of this current sheath is obtained. The instability of the current sheath of the magnetospheric tail with respect to tearing perturbations, and the influence of the effect of plasma polarization on the development of tearing instability, are investigated.     

脉冲功率放大链相位噪声检定系统中的信号处理系统

详细介绍了在脉冲功率放大链相位噪声检定系统中的信号处理系统的设计方案、工作原理及功能。本系统是整个检定系统的重要组成部分，在整个系统中担负着将放大器链的噪声信号进行转换、采集、存储、传输、处理和显示等任务，它由硬件电路和系统软件两大部分组成。硬件电路主要由采集单元、存储单元、控制单元、时钟单元及计算机接口等几个模块组成，其功能是：将模拟信号转换为数字信号，暂存采集到的信号数据，并将数据送人计算机内存中。电路中设有自检功能，从而增加了调试的透明度，也提高了系统工作的可靠性。系统软件由控制软件和分析处理软件组成，前者负责控制硬件进行自检，以及谐调各部件间按一定的时序工作；后者负责将噪声数据进行各种数据处理（时域、频域分析），并根据检定系统的测试指标要求（噪底、起伏特性等）给出正确的测量结果。软件设计采用多层菜单式动态显示技术，图文并茂，显示醒目直观。整个检定系统经多次联试试验后，结果表明，本信号处理系统方案设计合理，工作稳定可靠，功能强，维护方便。将本系统的设计思想应用于雷达发射机稳定性测试系统中也取得了很好的效果。     

Current sheets in the solar atmosphere

The 2D and 3D numerical simulation is used for the investigation of current sheet (CS) creation above the active region. The current sheet in the solar corona can be created either in vicinity of a magnetic field singular line by focusing disturbances or at the interaction of the super-Alfvenic plasma flow with the perpendicular magnetic field.     

Geomagnetic activity indicators for geomagnetically induced current studies in South Africa

Intense geomagnetic activity is known to give rise to large geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in power transmission grids. Recordings of geomagnetic activity provide an efficient and economical way for power transmission system operators to assess GIC risks in retrospective studies. This study investigates local geomagnetic indicators (i.e., hourly peak value, hourly range indicator and hourly standard deviation) in order to determine their usefulness for understanding the drivers of GICs in the South African power network. Results show that the GICs have a higher correlation with the geomagnetic indicators derived from the East–West component of the horizontal geomagnetic field, than the indicators derived from the North–South component of the horizontal field. This directional dependence corresponds very well with the North–South orientation of the power lines feeding the power transformers at the South African Grassridge electrical substation GIC site. It therefore follows that, the geoelectric field driving the GICs at Grassridge is North–South oriented. Further, it is shown that the hourly range indicator has a higher correlation with the GICs than the hourly standard deviation for this particular network configuration.     

精密离心机半径值动态测试系统

精密离心机半径值动态测试系统采用量块法测量其静态半径值，与动态下利用线位移传感器组件测量其微位移量之和的方法相比较，其工作半径值测量的相对误差达３．３×１０￣（－６）。对静态半径测量所采用的量块法及动态下采用线位移传感器组件测量补偿量的原理、方法、数据处理及误差分析进行了详细论述。此法可推广应用到其他类似的大量程动态测试系统中。     

About the equilibrium and stability of non-electroneutral current sheaths

In this paper, we prove the necessity of using the Cauchy problem, i.e., initial value problem, for solving the equilibrium (steady state) current sheet. In this connection, it appears that equilibrium current sheaths exhibit structural instability.