Formation of a Plasma Layer During the Passage of the Moon through the Magnetic Ropes of the Solar Wind

A. S. Nabatov; Набатов А. С.; A. I. Zakharov; Захаров А. И.; A. I. Efimov; Ефимов А. И.

doi:10.31857/S0320930X22060056

Formation of a Plasma Layer During the Passage of the Moon through the Magnetic Ropes of the Solar Wind

Authors: Nabatov A.S.¹, Zakharov A.I.¹, Efimov A.I.¹
Affiliations:
1. Kotelnikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics (IRE), Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Issue: Vol 57, No 1 (2023)
Pages: 45-54
Section: Articles
URL: https://ruspoj.com/0320-930X/article/view/648456
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0320930X22060056
EDN: https://elibrary.ru/EKWFQR
ID: 648456

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Abstract

In the absence of a dense atmosphere and a general magnetic field around the Moon, solar wind particles reach the lunar surface and are almost completely absorbed. When the Moon passes through the plasma medium of the solar wind magnetic ropes, the electric currents of the rope can strongly change the electric potential of the lunar surface on the day and night surfaces, and in the case when the current density vectors of the rope and the direction to the Sun are close to colinear, there is the possibility of sufficiently strong ring currents, the magnetic field of which tends to displace the magnetic field of the rope and lead to the formation of a plasma layer with a height of the order of the electron Larmor radius.

Keywords

Moon, plasma sheet, solar wind, magnetic rope, force-free structure

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