INVESTIGADORES
BERTUCCI Cesar
artículos
Título:
Structure of the magnetic pileup boundary at Mars and Venus, Journal of Geophysical Research
Autor/es:
BERTUCCI, C., MAZELLE, C., ACUÑA, M.H., RUSSELL, C.T., SLAVIN, J.A.
Revista:
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH
Editorial:
American Geophysical Union
Referencias:
Lugar: Washington; Año: 2005 vol. 110 p. 1 - 9
ISSN:
0148-0227
Resumen:
The magnetic pileup boundary (MPB) is a sharp, thin, and well-defined
plasma boundary located between the bow shock and the inner ionospheric
boundary at comets, Mars, and Venus. This boundary separates the
magnetosheath, a region of low magnetic fields with a conspicuous wave
activity, from the magnetic pileup region dominated by strong, highly
organized magnetic fields as a result of the pileup and draping of the
interplanetary magnetic field. In the present paper we study the
magnetic structure of the magnetic pileup boundary at Mars and Venus by
means of the technique of minimum variance of the magnetic field. For
each one of the crossings analyzed, we obtain a very well defined
minimum variance vector. At Mars the direction of this vector agrees
with the normal to the MPB fit obtained from Mars Global Surveyor
crossings. The results confirm that the MPB is a well-defined plasma
boundary. According to empirical criteria based on minimum variance
analysis results, the Martian and Venusian MPB crossings would resemble
an MHD tangential discontinuity rather than a rotational discontinuity.
However, spacecraft observations suggest that the nature of the MPB
could be far more complex. We compare our results with similar studies
at the MPB of comets and the magnetic tail boundary of Titan, and we
discuss the nature of the boundary from a general perspective.