Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Electrophysiological Recordings of Single-cell Ion Currents Under Well-defined Shear Stress
Published on: August 2, 2019
MMS Observations of a Compressed Current Sheet: Importance of the Ambipolar Electric Field
Ami M DuBois1, Chris Crabtree1, Gurudas Ganguli1
1U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Plasma Physics Division, Washington, D.C. 20375-5346, USA.
Abstract:
Spacecraft data reveal a nonuniform ambipolar electric field transverse to the magnetic field in a thin current sheet in Earth's magnetotail that leads to intense E×B velocity shear and nongyrotropic particle distributions. The E×B drift far exceeds the diamagnetic drift and thus drives observed lower hybrid waves. The shear-driven waves are localized to the magnetic field reversal region and are therefore ideally suited for the anomalous dissipation necessary for reconnection. It also reveals substructures embedded in the current density, indicating a compressed current sheet.
Related Concept Videos
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...
Ampere-Maxwell's Law: Problem-Solving
To solve the problem, we can use the equations from the analysis of an RC circuit and Maxwell's version of Ampère's law.
For the first part of...
Displacement Current
Magnetic Field Of A Current Loop
Significance of Displacement Current
Magnetic Force Between Two Parallel Currents
The force exerted by the magnetic field due to the first conductor over a finite length of the second conductor is given as the product of the current in the second conductor and the vector product of the length vector along the current element and the field due to the first conductor. According to the...

