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Accueil > A propos du LPP > Communication > Actualités archivées > 2021 > Clément Moissard defended his PhD thesis "Interplanetary sheaths driven by magnetic clouds and their impact on Earth’s magnetosheath"

Clément Moissard defended his PhD thesis "Interplanetary sheaths driven by magnetic clouds and their impact on Earth’s magnetosheath"

On February 5, 2021, Clément Moissard defended his PhD thesis "Interplanetary sheaths driven by magnetic clouds and their impact on Earth’s magnetosheath".

Abstract
The Sun often ejects large quantities of magnetic field embedded plasma called magnetic clouds. These can impinge on the geomagnetic environment and sometimes perturb it to the point of causing dysfunctions in human technologies. When magnetic clouds travel fast enough, they can generate a shock, itself followed by a turbulent compressed stream named a sheath. Sheaths have recently been recognised as efficient drivers of geomagnetic activity. However, sheaths themselves and their interaction with the geomagnetic environment remain poorly known.

First, by making a statistical study on satellite data of 42 relatively well isolated sheaths, our work is the first to provide values of power and compressibility (which is an indication of the type of fluctuations). in sheaths. It also shows the main parameters on which these two quantities depend.

Second, we perform the first ever 3D hybrid PIC simulation to include both an interplanetary shock/sheath self-consistently formed and a model of the geomagnetic environment. From this simulation, we show : the “rebound” of the bow shock’s motion after its interaction with the interplanetary shock (a known phenomenon) can be explained by a counter streaming flow of subalfvénic particles bouncing back on the magnetopause ; the interplanetary shock can be accelerated on the flanks of the magnetopause in the plane perpendicular to the interplanetary magnetic field ; an important velocity component perpendicular to the interplanetary magnetic field rises in the sheath, leading to a strong asymmetry in the magnetosheath’s compression.

Jury
Pr. Caterina RICONDA, Directrice
Dr. Vincent GENOT, Rapporteur
Pr. Francesco CALIFANO, Rapporteur
Dr. Emilia KILPUA, Examinatrice
Dr. Ronan MODOLO, Examinateur
Pr. Philippe SAVOINI, Directeur de thèse
Dr. Dominique FONTAINE, Directrice de thèse

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CNRS Ecole Polytechnique Sorbonne Université Université Paris-Saclay Observatoire de Paris
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Directeur de la publication : Anne Bourdon (Directrice)