Magnetosheath and heliosheath mirror mode structures, interplanetary magnetic decreases, and linear magnetic decreases: Differences and distinguishing features

Abstract

There has been considerable confusion in the literature about what mirror mode (MM), magnetic decrease (MD), and linear magnetic decrease (LMD) structures are and are not. We will reexamine past spacecraft observations to demonstrate the observational similarities and differences between these magnetic and plasma structures. MM structures in planetary magnetosheaths, cometary sheaths, and the heliosheath have the following characteristics: (1) the structures have little or no changes in the magnetic field direction across the magnetic dips; (2) the structures have quasiperiodic spacings, varying from ∼20 proton gyroradii (rp) in the Earth's magnetosheath to ∼57 rp in the heliosheath; and (3) the magnetic dips have smooth edges. Magnetosheath MM structures are generated by the mirror instability where β ⊥/β∥ > 1 + 1/β⊥ (β is the plasma thermal pressure divided by the magnetic pressure). In general, the sources of free energy for the mirror instability are reasonably well understood: shock compression, field line draping, and, in the cases of comets and the heliosheath, also ion pickup. The observational properties of interplanetary MDs are as follows: (1) there is a broad range of magnetic field angular changes across them; (2) their thicknesses can range from as little as 2-3 rp to thousands of rp, with no " characteristic" size; and (3) they typically are bounded by discontinuities. The mechanism(s) for interplanetary MD generation is (are) currently unresolved, although at least five different mechanisms have been proposed in the literature. Tsurutani et al. (2009a) have argued against mirror instability for those MDs generated within interplanetary corotating interaction regions. Interplanetary LMDs are by definition a subset of MDs with small angular changes across them (θ < 10°). Are LMDs generated by the mirror instability or by another mechanism? Is it possible that there are several different types of LMDs involving different generation mechanisms? At the present time, no one knows the answers to these latter questions. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.