The energy‐based scaling of a thin current sheet: Case study

The influence of average plasma energy [Formula: see text] on the half thickness ℓ of a thin current sheet (TCS) is investigated for three cases of TCSs crossings. The value of ℓ was estimated from the magnetic field data by means of Cluster observations. The obtained scaling values for TCSs, [Formula: see text] , where ρ (T) is the thermal Larmor radius, were compared with the scaling [Formula: see text] , where [Formula: see text] and T are the average plasma energy and the temperature of plasma, which assumes a specific dynamics (conservation of magnetic flux through the trajectory segment) of the current carriers. The comparison of [Formula: see text] and Z (μ) shows a good agreement.