Impulsive magnetic pulsations and electrojets in the loop footpoint driven by the fast reconnection jet

摘要

It is well known that magnetic pulsations of long periods impulsively occur in accordance with the sudden onset of geomagnetic substorms and drastic enhancement of electrojets in the ionosphere. On the basis of the spontaneous fast reconnection model. the present paper examines the physical mechanism by which both magnetic pulsations and strong electrojets are impulsively driven by the fast (Alfvenic) reconnection jet. When a large-scale plasmoid [or traveling compression region (TCR)], directly caused by the fast reconnection jet, collides with the magnetic loop footpoint, strong electrojets are impulsively driven in a finite extent in the loop footpoint in accordance with the evolution of the current wedge and the generator current circuit. Simultaneously, magnetohydrodynamic (Alfven) waves, accompanied by the TCR, are reflected from the electrojet layer, leading to impulsive magnetic pulsations ahead of the loop footpoint because of the interaction (or resonance) between the reflected waves and the waves traveling toward the footpoint. The pulsations propagate outward in all directions from the source region of the wave reflection, and the pulsation periods are typically estimated to be of several tens of seconds.