A study of the electric field induced by magnetic clouds

Abstract

Starting from our magnetic field model for magnetic clouds (MCs), which topologically considers them as cylinders with elliptical cross sections, we present a first attempt in the study of the electric field induced by the movements of magnetic clouds in the interplanetary medium and the expansions of their cross sections. These expansions are included in the model assuming linear time dependence in all the components of the plasma current density. In a previous paper we already determined the magnetic field and current density of our MCs model, and in its development we established that to get it physically consistent, the induced electric field has to be independent of time. In the present work we calculate the expressions for the components of this electric field and fit them to the corresponding experimental data determined from the measurements of the plasma velocity and magnetic field components through the expression E→ = - v→SW × B →. To test the model, we have selected three intense and well-defined magnetic clouds observed in July 2000, November 2003, and May 2005. Until now we think it is one of the first attempts to incorporate this induced electric field in the context of analytical models for the study of MCs. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.