Magnetic Field Reconstruction for a Realistic Multi-Point, Multi-Scale Spacecraft Observatory

Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Astronomy and Space Sciences

T. Broeren¹  J. M. TenBarge²  K. G. Klein³  D. Verscharen⁴  Ivan Dors⁵  O. W. Roberts⁵ 

[1] Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States;Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States;Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States;Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey, United Kingdom;Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States;Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria;

关键词: plasma physics;    magnetic fields;    spacecraft;    vector field reconstruction;    space physics;    curlometer;    space mission analysis;    multi-spacecraft analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fspas.2021.727076

 received in 2021-06-18, accepted in 2021-08-13,  发布年份 2021

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Future in situ space plasma investigations will likely involve spatially distributed observatories comprised of multiple spacecraft, beyond the four and five spacecraft configurations currently in operation. Inferring the magnetic field structure across the observatory, and not simply at the observation points, is a necessary step towards characterizing fundamental plasma processes using these unique multi-point, multi-scale data sets. We propose improvements upon the classic first-order reconstruction method, as well as a second-order method, utilizing magnetometer measurements from a realistic nine-spacecraft observatory. The improved first-order method, which averages over select ensembles of four spacecraft, reconstructs the magnetic field associated with simple current sheets and numerical simulations of turbulence accurately over larger volumes compared to second-order methods or first-order methods using a single regular tetrahedron. Using this averaging method on data sets with fewer than nine measurement points, the volume of accurate reconstruction compared to a known magnetic vector field improves approximately linearly with the number of measurement points.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2021 Broeren, Klein, TenBarge, Dors, Roberts and Verscharen.