A Comparative Analysis of Quasi-Periodic Processes in the Magnetospheric Current Sheet and the Current Sheets of the Solar Corona

Cosmic Research. 2022. Vol. 60. No. 6. P. 420–436.

Zimovets I., Lukin A., Artemyev A.

Reconnection of magnetic lines of force represents a universal process of releasing the stored energy of the magnetic field and its transformation into the thermal energy of plasma and the energy of accelerated charged particles. The initialization and proceeding of the magnetic reconnection process are essentially related with the dynamics of a spatially localized region of strong plasma currents—the current sheet. The two most studied cosmic magnetoplasma systems containing current sheets are the tail region of the Earth’s magnetosphere and the regions with closely spaced, elongated magnetic-field lines of force of opposite polarity in the solar corona (in particular, the rays of coronal streamers and the eruptive flares). However, whereas the main source of information for the Earth’s magnetosphere about the structure and dynamics of current sheets are numerous direct measurements of satellite missions, then, for the solar corona, some characteristics of the current sheet can be restored on the basis of remote observations of quasi-periodic oscillations. As a consequence, to clarify the possible mechanisms responsible for these oscillations, it seems relevant to compare the properties of oscillations of the current sheet of the Earth’s magnetosphere and current sheets of the solar corona. This work is devoted to such a comparative analysis; it contains a brief overview of the available information about the quasi-periodic dynamics of the magnetospheric current sheet and discusses the probable interpretation of this dynamics in terms and parameters of observations of quasi-periodic processes in current sheets of the solar corona.

Keywords: solar corona, солнечная корона, current sheet, Earth's magnetosphere, токовые слои, магнитосфера Земли