LASP Magnetosphere Seminars

Abstract

The Earth’s magnetosphere acts as a protective magnetic shield against the solar wind, operating across an extraordinary range of scales – from electron and ion motions to global magnetic structures spanning over five orders of magnitude. Bridging these vastly different scales requires combining fluid-like magnetohydrodynamic models that capture large-scale phenomena with kinetic physics that governs plasma behavior at particle scales.

In this talk, I will demonstrate how large-scale Alfvén waves drive energy transfer across these scales by cascading into kinetic-scale acoustic waves, resulting in significant plasma heating at the magnetopause boundary layer. Through theoretical analysis and advanced hybrid-kinetic simulations, I will reveal the detailed mechanism behind this multiscale energy cascade. High-resolution, multi-point measurements from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission provide direct observational validation of these theoretical predictions, capturing the cross-scale energy transfer process in action. I will conclude by exploring future research directions for studying kinetic processes in magnetospheric plasma boundary layers and their coupling to larger scales, with implications for improving our understanding of space weather effects on Earth.