Magnetotail origins of auroral Alfvénic power

The generation of Alfvénic Poynting flux in the central plasma sheet and its polar distribution at low altitude are studied using three dimensional global simulations of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction. A 24-hour event simulation (4-5 Feb 2004) driven by solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field data reproduces the global morphology of Alfvénic Poynting flux measured by the Polar satellite, including its dawn-dusk asymmetry. Controlled simulations show that the dawn-dusk asymmetry is regulated by the spatial variation in ionospheric conductance. The asymmetry disappears when the conductance is taken to be spatially uniform. The simulated Alfvénic Poynting flux is generated in the magnetotail by time-variable, fast flows emerging from nightside reconnection. The simulated fast flows are more intense in the premidnight sector as observed; this asymmetry also disappears when the ionospheric conductance is spatially uniform. Analysis of the wave propagation in the plasma sheet source region, near x_GSM ≈ -15 R_E, shows that as the fast flow brakes, a portion of its kinetic energy is transformed into the electromagnetic energy of intermediate and fast magnetohydrodynamic waves. The wave power is dominantly compressional in the source region and becomes increasingly Alfvénic as it propagates along magnetic field lines toward the ionosphere.