*************************** ** THE GEM MESSENGER ** *************************** Volume 14, Number 25 June 1, 2004 ------------------------------------------------- Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection Sessions at GEM ------------------------------------------------- From: John Dorelli Nick Omidi The GGCM and GI campaigns are organizing two joint GGCM/GI sessions for the 2004 GEM workshop (http://gem.rice.edu/~gem): GGCM/GI-1 -- Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection I: Theory and Modeling Efforts Chair: John Dorelli This session will focus on theory and modeling efforts which address global and local properties of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. At the global scale, the questions revolve around the three-dimensional nature of magnetic reconnection; specifically, we'd like to address problems related to the topology of the magnetic field: Where does magnetic reconnection occur on the magnetopause surface? To what extent is the reconnection physics constrained by the singular magnetic field structures (magnetic nulls and associated separatrix surfaces) which arise from simple vacuum superposition models of the magnetospheric magnetic field topology? Is magnetic reconnection confined to regions on the magnetopause surface where the magnetic fields on either side of the surface are anti-parallel? Is "component merging" possible at low latitudes (equatorward of the cusps) during northward IMF conditions? At the local scale, we'd like to address the coupling of physical processes occurring on widely separated spatial and temporal scales. Specifically, the session will focus on such questions as: To what extent does the topology of magnetic reconnection (e.g., the presence of a large guide field) influence the kinetic physics of magnetic reconnection? How does the kinetic structure of the magnetopause current layer influence its global structure? Is the rate of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause controlled primarily by the global geometry; or is the reconnection rate determined primarily by ion and electron scale terms in Ohm's law (e.g., Hall electric fields, electron pressure anisotropy, electron inertia)? GGCM/GI-2 -- Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection II: Spacecraft Observations Chair: Nick Omidi This session will compliment the theory and modeling session, focusing on such questions as: What can spacecraft observations tell us about the global geometry of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause? What are the observational signatures of separatrix crossings at the dayside magnetopause? How does the geometry of magnetopause reconnection depend on the IMF orienation? If component reconnection is possible at low latitudes under northward IMF conditions, how do the observational signatures of component reconnection depend on IMF orientation and other solar wind conditions? We would also like to address the possibility of using spacecraft instruments to observe kinetic scale signatures of magnetic reconnection (e.g., signatures of Hall electric fields on ion inertial scales) for arbitrary IMF orientation. If you would like to participate in either of these sessions (by giving a brief presentation), please contact either of the session chairs: John Dorelli or Nick Omidi +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |To subscribe GEM Messengers, send an e-mail to | | with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: | | subscribe gem | |To remove yourself from the mailing list, the command is: | | unsubscribe gem | | | |To broadcast a message to the GEM community, please contact Peter Chi at | | | |Please use plain text as the format of your submission. | | | |URL of GEM Home Page: http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/gem/Welcome.html | |Workshop Information: http://gem.rice.edu/~gem | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+