AUTHOR=Burkholder Brandon L. , Chen Li-Jen , Sorathia Kareem , Sciola Anthony , Merkin Slava , Trattner Karlheinz J. , Gershman Daniel , Ma Xuanye , Connor Hyunju 

TITLE=The complexity of the day-side X-line during southward interplanetary magnetic field

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/astronomy-and-space-sciences/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1175697

DOI=10.3389/fspas.2023.1175697

ISSN=2296-987X

ABSTRACT=<p>High-resolution global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations include both meso- and global-scale processes occurring at the magnetopause, which interact to determine the time-dependent orientation of the day-side x-line (DXL). This study demonstrates that the global orientation of the DXL in GAMERA global MHD simulations varies on a time scale of minutes during steady southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions. This behavior manifests in observational data when reconnection outflows indicate that the direction to the x-line is opposite to the prediction from a steady-state model of the reconnection location. Because steady-state models of the DXL do not capture dynamics that are independent of solar wind variations, particularly surface waves and flux transfer events, they represent a time-averaged state of the system. </p>