The mirror mode: A "superconducting'' space plasma analogue

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the magnetic mirror mode in space plasmas behaves analogously to a superconducting effect, revealing a new understanding of plasma turbulence and magnetic structures.

Contribution

It introduces a superconducting analogue for the mirror mode in space plasmas, linking plasma physics to condensed matter phenomena through length scale analysis.

Findings

Mirror mode equilibrium resembles type II superconductor behavior.

Formation of magnetic bubbles explains observed plasma structures.

Two key length scales govern the mirror mode evolution.

Abstract

We examine the physics of the magnetic mirror mode in its final state of saturation, the thermodynamic equilibrium, to demonstrate that the mirror mode is the analogue of a superconducting effect in a classical anisotropic-pressure space plasma. Two different spatial scales are identified which control the behaviour of its evolution. These are the ion inertial scale $\lambda_{im}(\tau)$ based on the excess density $N_m(\tau)$ generated in the mirror mode, and a correlation length. This can be either the Debye length, the ion gyro-radius, or a turbulent correlation length. The mirror mode equilibrium structure under saturation is determined by the Landau-Ginzburg ratio of these two length scales. Mirror modes then behave like type II superconductors, naturally giving rise to chains of local depletions of the magnetic field of the kind observed in the mirror mode, providing the plasma a short scale magnetic bubble texture. This might be important in the study of magnetic turbulence in plasmas.