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- SM21E-2454: A New X-line Model: Comparison to MHD Magnetic Separator
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Board 2454‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)NOLA CC
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Bayane Michotte de Welle, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (First Author, Presenting Author)
Hyunju Connor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
David Sibeck, NASA/GSFC
Alex Glocer, NASA/GSFC
Stephen Fuselier, Southwest Research Institute
Karlheinz Trattner, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Steven Petrinec, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Austin Brenner, Catholic University of America
Fatemeh Bagheri, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Sang-Yun Lee, Catholic University of America
Predicting the location of magnetopause reconnection remains a major challenge. Current methods often fail to predict the location of the reconnection line seen in global MHD simulations, particularly for northward IMF orientations. This work presents a new X-line model, based on maximizing reconnection rates on both local and global scales. First, it identifies the magnetic field orientations at the magnetopause that locally maximize the rate and then finds the global path with the highest integrated rate. Across four global MHD simulations with diverse dipole tilts and IMF orientations, the new model was consistently more accurate than both the maximum magnetic shear and the global rate maximization models in predicting the location of the magnetic separator. Crucially, it succeeds for a challenging northward IMF case where previous models have failed. This suggests that the X-line's location is governed by the fundamental principle of maximizing energy conversion from magnetic fields to plasma.
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