Analysis on magnetic field gradients in turbulent magnetosheath by using MMS data

Magnetic field gradients determine magnetic topological structure and current density in space plasma turbulence. This study uses multi-point method analyze high-quality field and plasma data measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the turbulent magnetosheath. The statistical properties of the curvature of the magnetic field line and the geometric invariant of the magnetic field gradient tensor are further investigated. The results show that the probability distribution function of curvature has two scaling laws. There is a correlation between large curvatures and pressure anisotropy, indicating the acceleration due to curvature drifts. During strong magnetic field, flux ropes and tubes are the most possible magnetic structures. Statistics in the plane formed by geometrical invariants show that about 23% are force free structures consist of 20.5% flux tubes and 79.5% flux ropes. The remaining actively evolved structures are comprised of 30% flux tubes and 70% flux ropes. Moreover, the conditional average of current density and Lorentz force decomposition in geometrical invariants plane are conducted. Results show that flux ropes carried more current density than flux tubes for same geometrical invariants, and flux ropes tend to associate with magnetic pressure force and flux tubes tend to associate with magnetic tension.