Transient Foreshock Structures Upstream of Mars: Implications of the Small Martian Bow Shock
Abstract
We characterize the nature of magnetic structures in the foreshock region of Mars associated with discontinuities in the solar wind. The structures form at the upstream edge of moving foreshocks caused by slow rotations in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The solar wind plasma density and the IMF strength noticeably decrease inside the structures' core, and a compressional shock layer is present at their sunward side, making them consistent with foreshock bubbles (FBs). Ion populations responsible for these structures include backstreaming ions that only appear within the moving foreshock, and accelerated reflected ions from the quasi-perpendicular bow shock. Both ion populations accumulate near the upstream edge of the moving foreshock which facilitates FB formation. Reflected ions with hybrid trajectories that straddle between the quasi-perpendicular and quasi-parallel bow shocks during slow IMF rotations contribute to formation of foreshock transients.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2301.11452,
title = {Transient Foreshock Structures Upstream of Mars: Implications of the Small Martian Bow Shock},
author = {H. Madanian and N. Omidi and D. G. Sibeck and L. Andersson and R. Ramstad and S. Xu and J. R. Gruesbeck and S. J. Schwartz and R. A. Frahm and D. A. Brain and P. Kajdic and F. G. Eparvier and D. L. Mitchell and S. M. Curry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.11452},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
Submitted to Geophysical Research Letters