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Basic concepts on the physics of the magnetic flux tubes formation near the Earth

In 1978 Christopher T. Russell and Richard C. Elphic detected magnetic flux tubes in magnetosphere boundary region through observational data obtained from the satellites ISEE-1 and −2, which were named flux transfer events (FTE). The solar wind together with the interplanetary magnetic field, both originated in the Sun, reach the earth magnetic field region, producing the magnetic reconnection and the flux tubes phenomena. This paper presents an introduction on the Sun-Earth connection and the magnetic reconnection process, and mainly the basic concepts on the tubes generation and formation. The models which describe the type of reconnection and the tubes signatures, for example, Russell-Elphic, Lee-Fu, Southwood-Scholer, and the FTE event characteristics, are presented in a clear and concise way. Finally, this paper brings an example of the tubes identification in computing simulation, performed in this work.

Keywords:
flux transfer events; space physics; solar wind; magnetic reconnection


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