Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-12-101-2005
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-12-101-2005
27 Jan 2005
27 Jan 2005

Quasiadiabatic description of nonlinear particle dynamics in typical magnetotail configurations

D. L. Vainchtein, J. Büchner, A. I. Neishtadt, and L. M. Zelenyi

Abstract. In the present paper we discuss the motion of charged particles in three different regions of the Earth magnetotail: in the region with magnetic field reversal and in the vicinities of neutral line of X- and O-types. The presence of small parameters (ratio of characteristic length scales in and perpendicular to the equatorial plane and the smallness of the electric field) allows us to introduce a hierarchy of motions and use methods of perturbation theory. We propose a parameter that plays the role of a measure of mixing in the system.