太空電漿環境中之磁重連與電漿不穩定的觀測與理論研究(3/3)

Space plasma environments may support various spatial scales of nonlinear phenomena and plasma instabilities such as the magnetic reconnection (MR), mirror instability, etc. MR is the most effective dynamic process of converting the magnetic field energy into the kinetic and thermal energies of plasmas which may occur on the Sun, planetary magnetospheres, etc. The Earth’s magnetopause separating the magnetosphere from the solar wind is one of the most likely places for the occurrence of MR in the solar system which can be accessed by the spacecraft observations. The study of magnetopause structures is crucial to the understanding of solar terrestrial interactions. Under the support of MOST projects we have made substantial and original contributions to the physics of magnetopause structures and dynamics. In particular, we have developed the various innovative plasma models which may give rise to the self-consistent plasma and magnetic field distributions in two dimensions from the spacecraft measurements. Our studies have revealed the direct evidences of MR at the magnetopause currents. Recently we have identified for the first time the mirror waves in the vicinity of magnetic reconnection from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft data and the anisotropic MHD reconstruction models. By analyzing the high resolution spacecraft data, we have also made important progress in the study of plasma instabilities occurring in the solar wind, magnetosphere, etc. In particular, we have examined the mirror instability from the fluid and kinetic aspects and compared with the mirror structures observed in the solar wind which show high agreements. The proposed project will continue and extend these frontier studies of magnetic reconnection and plasma instabilities occurring in space and magnetospheric environments based on the plasma fluid and kinetic models along with the high-resolution spacecraft observations.