Impact of Ponderomotive Forces on the Earth’s Magnetosphere

Abstract

The theory of plasma density redistribution and polar wind acceleration acceleration under the affect on the magnetosphere of the ponderomotive forces induced by the ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves is presented. Our attention is focused mainly on the important question about the necessity of experimental verification of fairly certain theoretical predictions. It is pointed out that experimental validation is not only necessary for the development of the theory but also for replenishing the knowledge about the structure and dynamics of the near-Earth space. An original method for indirect verification is presented. The idea of this method is based on the dependence of the foreshock locations on the orientation of the field lines of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in front of the magnetosphere relative to the plane of the geomagnetic equator.