title: Characteristic parameters of drift vortices coupled to Alfvén waves in an inhomogeneous space plasma.
abstract: We present detailed measurements of ion scale vortices of drift type coupled to Alfvén waves in an inhomogeneous and collisionless space magnetoplasma. The two free parameters of a dipolar vortex, intensity and spatial radius, are measured. The vortices are driven by a strong density gradient on a boundary layer with scale size of the same order as the vortex diameter. Observations of vortices off the gradient show that symmetry-breaking conditions in a real inhomogeneous plasma can lead not only to cross-field but also to cross-boundary anomalous transport of particles and energy.
authors.affiliation: Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. sundkvist@ssl.berkeley.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sundkvist
authors.forename: Stuart D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Bale