Cold Ion Populations And Cold Electron Populations In The Earth S Magnetosphere And Their Impact On The System 2nd Edition

Cold-ion populations and cold-electron populations are extremely difficult to measure in the Earth’s magnetosphere, and their properties, evolutions, and controlling factors are poorly understood. They are sometimes referred to as the “hidden populations”. But they are known to have multiple impacts on the behavior of the global magnetospheric system. These impacts include (a) the reduction of the dayside reconnection rate and consequently the reduction of solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling, (b) alteration of the growth rate and saturation amplitudes of plasma waves resulting in alterations of the energization rates of the radiation belts, (c) changes in plasma-wave properties resulting in changes in the loss rates of the ring current and radiation belts, (d) changes in the mass density of the magnetosphere resulting in changes in the radial diffusion of the radiation belts, (e) spatial and temporal structuring of the aurora, (f) altering magnetotail reconnection, (g) changing spacecraft charging, and (h) acting as sources for warm and hot magnetospheric populations. A recent workshop on the cold-particle populations of the magnetosphere inspired new work on the outstanding problems caused by a lack of understanding of those cold populations. This Research Topic will collect reports of that new work and will stimulate the formation of author teams to write review articles on what is known and what needs to be known. Commentaries assessing the present situation and guiding the research field into the future will be solicited from the community. Methods articles describing new measurement techniques and new spaceflight mission concepts will be welcomed.

All magnetized planets in our solar system (Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) interact strongly with the solar wind and possess well developed magnetotails. It is not only the strongly magnetized planets that have magnetotails. Mars and Venus have no global intrinsic magnetic field, yet they possess induced magnetotails. Comets have magnetotails that are formed by the draping of the interplanetary magnetic field. In the case of planetary satellites (moons), the magnetotail refers to the wake region behind the satellite in the flow of either the solar wind or the magnetosphere of its parent planet. The largest magnetotail of all in our solar system is the heliotail, the “magnetotail” of the heliosphere. The variety of solar wind conditions, planetary rotation rates, ionospheric conductivity, and physical dimensions provide an outstanding opportunity to extend our understanding of the influence of these factors on magnetotail processes and structures. Volume highlights include: Discussion on why a magnetotail is a fundamental problem of magnetospheric physics Unique collection of tutorials on a large range of magnetotails in our solar system In-depth reviews comparing magnetotail processes at Earth with other magnetotail structures found throughout the heliosphere Collectively, Magnetotails in the Solar System brings together for the first time in one book a collection of tutorials and current developments addressing different types of magnetotails. As a result, this book should appeal to a broad community of space scientists, and it should also be of interest to astronomers who are looking at tail-like structures beyond our solar system.