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Equilibrium configurations of the quiet geomagnetic tail are computed numerically, relaxing the condition of smooth variation along the tail axis. The results strongly suggest that the quiet plasma sheet will generally include magnetic islands, which substantiates recent observations of Lui and Meng (1979) on theoretical grounds. These islands constitute an equilibrium phenomenon and they are not directly related to dynamic processes such as the tearing instability. Their presence therefore does not impose any constraint on the role of tearing for geomagnetic activity.
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Zwingmann et al. (1980) studied this question.
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