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Ann. Geophys., 26, 1759-1765, 2008
www.ann-geophys.net/26/1759/2008/
© European Geosciences Union 2008
Bifurcation of the tail current sheet and ion temperature anisotropy
P. L. Israelevich and A. I. Ershkovich
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
Abstract. We investigated the relation between the geotail current sheet structure and
the anisotropy of the ion temperature in the plasma sheet. Current density
distribution in the geomagnetic tail is shown not to depend on the ratio
between the parallel and perpendicular ion temperature. The tail current
sheet bifurcation is controlled by non-gyrotropicity of plasma pressure:
double peaked current density distribution is observed when the ion
perpendicular temperature exhibits anisotropy, and the electric current
density is stronger for larger ratio · (T⊥max−T⊥min)/T⊥. The current sheet thinning is accompanied by the
perpendicular temperature anisotropy, and, generally, double-peaked current
sheets are thinner than single-peaked sheets.
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