| 1. |
- Catapano, Filomena, et al.
(författare)
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In Situ Evidence of Ion Acceleration between Consecutive Reconnection Jet Fronts
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 908:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Processes driven by unsteady reconnection can efficiently accelerate particles in many astrophysical plasmas. An example is the reconnection jet fronts in an outflow region. We present evidence of suprathermal ion acceleration between two consecutive reconnection jet fronts observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the terrestrial magnetotail. An earthward propagating jet is approached by a second faster jet. Between the jets, the thermal ions are mostly perpendicular to magnetic field, are trapped, and are gradually accelerated in the parallel direction up to 150 keV. Observations suggest that ions are predominantly accelerated by a Fermi-like mechanism in the contracting magnetic bottle formed between the two jet fronts. The ion acceleration mechanism is presumably efficient in other environments where jet fronts produced by variable rates of reconnection are common and where the interaction of multiple jet fronts can also develop a turbulent environment, e.g., in stellar and solar eruptions.
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| 2. |
- Cattell, C., et al.
(författare)
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Dayside response of the magnetosphere to a small shock compression : Van Allen Probes, Magnetospheric MultiScale, and GOES-13
- 2017
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 44:17, s. 8712-8720
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations from Magnetospheric MultiScale (similar to 8 Re) and Van Allen Probes (similar to 5 and 4 Re) show that the initial dayside response to a small interplanetary shock is a double-peaked dawnward electric field, which is distinctly different from the usual bipolar (dawnward and then duskward) signature reported for large shocks. The associated ExB flow is radially inward. The shock compressed the magnetopause to inside 8 Re, as observed by Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS), with a speed that is comparable to the ExB flow. The magnetopause speed and the ExB speeds were significantly less than the propagation speed of the pulse from MMS to the Van Allen Probes and GOES-13, which is consistent with the MHD fast mode. There were increased fluxes of energetic electrons up to several MeV. Signatures of drift echoes and response to ULF waves also were seen. These observations demonstrate that even very weak shocks can have significant impact on the radiation belts. Plain Language Summary Very fast moving clouds of charged particles are ejected from the Sun when it is active. Shock waves often develop at the cloud front as it plows through the solar wind. When the shock hits the Earth's magnetic field, it can push the Earth's magnetic shield inside the distance where many communication and weather satellites orbit. The energy associated with the shock can also very rapidly increase the energy of electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field in the Van Allen Radiation belts. These electrons can damage satellites. We have used four satellites arrayed at different locations on the dayside of the Earth's magnetic field to show, for the first time, that small shocks have a different effect than the large shocks that are usually studied but that even small shocks can produce relativistic electrons.
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| 3. |
- Chen, Li-Jen, et al.
(författare)
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Electron energization and mixing observed by MMS in the vicinity of an electron diffusion region during magnetopause reconnection
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:12, s. 6036-6043
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission are reported to show distinct features of electron energization and mixing in the diffusion region of the terrestrial magnetopause reconnection. At the ion jet and magnetic field reversals, distribution functions exhibiting signatures of accelerated meandering electrons are observed at an electron out-of-plane flow peak. The meandering signatures manifested as triangular and crescent structures are established features of the electron diffusion region (EDR). Effects of meandering electrons on the electric field normal to the reconnection layer are detected. Parallel acceleration and mixing of the inflowing electrons with exhaust electrons shape the exhaust flow pattern. In the EDR vicinity, the measured distribution functions indicate that locally, the electron energization and mixing physics is captured by two-dimensional reconnection, yet to account for the simultaneous four-point measurements, translational invariant in the third dimension must be violated on the ion-skin-depth scale.
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| 4. |
- Chen, Li-Jen, et al.
(författare)
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Multispacecraft observations of the electron current sheet, neighboring magnetic islands, and electron acceleration during magnetotail reconnection
- 2009
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AIP Publishing. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 16:5, s. 056501-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open questions concerning structures and dynamics of diffusion regions and electron acceleration in collisionless magnetic reconnection are addressed based on data from the four-spacecraft mission Cluster and particle-in-cell simulations. Using time series of electron distribution functions measured by the four spacecraft, distinct electron regions around a reconnection layer are mapped out to set the framework for studying diffusion regions. A spatially extended electron current sheet (ecs), a series of magnetic islands, and bursts of energetic electrons within islands are identified during magnetotail reconnection with no appreciable guide field. The ecs is collocated with a layer of electron-scale electric fields normal to the ecs and pointing toward the ecs center plane. Both the observed electron and ion densities vary by more than a factor of 2 within one ion skin depth north and south of the ecs, and from the ecs into magnetic islands. Within each of the identified islands, there is a burst of suprathermal electrons whose fluxes peak at density compression sites [L.-J. Chen , Nat. Phys. 4, 19 (2008)] and whose energy spectra exhibit power laws with indices ranging from 6 to 7.3. These results indicate that the in-plane electric field normal to the ecs can be of the electron scale at certain phases of reconnection, electrons and ions are highly compressible within the ion diffusion region, and for reconnection involving magnetic islands, primary electron acceleration occurs within the islands.
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| 5. |
- Engwall, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Earth’s ionospheric outflow dominated by hidden cold plasma
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1752-0894. ; 2:1, s. 24-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Earth constantly loses matter, mostly in the form of H+and O+ ions, through various outflow processes from the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Most of these ions are cold (below 1 eV in thermal energy), but can still escape and travel farther out along the magnetic field lines into the magnetospheric tail lobes. The outflow has previously beenmeasured close to the Earth. To understand what fraction does not return but instead escapes, the measurements should be conducted at larger geocentric distances. However, at high altitudes the cold ions are normally invisible to spacecraft measurements, because the potential of a sunlit spacecraft exceeds the equivalent energy of the ions. Here we show that cold ions dominate in both flux and density in the distant magnetotail lobes, using a new measurement technique on the Cluster spacecraft. The total loss of cold hydrogen ions from the planet is inferred to be of the order of 1026 s−1, which is larger than the previously observed more energetic outflow. Quantification and insight of the loss processes of the Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere are also important for understanding the evolution of atmospheres on other celestial bodies.
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| 6. |
- Engwall, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Survey of cold ionospheric outflows in the magnetotail
- 2009
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Ingår i: Annales Geophysicae. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 27:8, s. 3185-3201
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Low-energy ions escape from the ionosphere and constitute a large part of the magnetospheric content, especially in the geomagnetic tail lobes. However, they are normally invisible to spacecraft measurements, since the potential of a sunlit spacecraft in a tenuous plasma in many cases exceeds the energy-per-charge of the ions, and little is therefore known about their outflow properties far from the Earth. Here we present an extensive statistical study of cold ion outflows (0-60 eV) in the geomagnetic tail at geocentric distances from 5 to 19 R-E using the Cluster spacecraft during the period from 2001 to 2005. Our results were obtained by a new method, relying on the detection of a wake behind the spacecraft. We show that the cold ions dominate in both flux and density in large regions of the magnetosphere. Most of the cold ions are found to escape from the Earth, which improves previous estimates of the global outflow. The local outflow in the magnetotail corresponds to a global outflow of the order of 10(26) ions s(-1). The size of the outflow depends on different solar and magnetic activity levels.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Eriksson, Elin, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Electron Energization at a Reconnecting Magnetosheath Current Sheet
- 2018
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 45:16, s. 8081-8090
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present observations of electron energization within a sub-ion-scale magnetosheath current sheet (CS). A number of signatures indicate ongoing reconnection, including the thickness of the CS (similar to 0.7 ion inertial length), nonzero normal magnetic field, Hall magnetic fields with electrons carrying the Hall currents, and electron heating. We observe localized electron acceleration and heating parallel to the magnetic field at the edges of the CS. Electrostatic waves observed in these regions have low phase velocity and small wave potentials and thus cannot provide the observed acceleration and heating. Instead, we find that the electrons are accelerated by a parallel potential within the separatrix regions. Similar acceleration has been reported based on magnetopause and magnetotail observations. Thus, despite the different plasma conditions in magnetosheath, magnetopause, and magnetotail, the acceleration mechanism and corresponding heating of electrons is similar. Plain Language Summary Magnetic reconnection is an important physical energy conversion process in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. The easiest place to analyze magnetic reconnection is in near-Earth space. Due to lack of sufficient electron resolution of previous spacecraft missions, there are many unanswered questions regarding electron heating and acceleration processes at small scales. In particular, the regime where thermal pressure dominates over magnetic pressure, the most common state of plasmas in the Universe, is little explored. In this letter we study such a regime using the four-spacecraft Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. We analyze a reconnecting current sheet in the magnetosheath. We show that electrons are energized by a parallel potential, similar to what has been observed in the different plasma regimes the magnetopause and magnetotail. Thus, despite different plasma conditions, a similar acceleration mechanism and corresponding heating of electrons is occurring in all these regions.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Gingell, Imogen, et al.
(författare)
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MMS Observations and Hybrid Simulations of Surface Ripples at a Marginally Quasi-Parallel Shock
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:11, s. 11003-11017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Simulations and observations of collisionless shocks have shown that deviations of the nominal local shock normal orientation, that is, surface waves or ripples, are expected to propagate in the ramp and overshoot of quasi-perpendicular shocks. Here we identify signatures of a surface ripple propagating during a crossing of Earth's marginally quasi-parallel (theta(Bn) similar to 45 degrees) or quasi-parallel bow shock on 27 November 2015 06: 01: 44 UTC by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission and determine the ripple's properties using multispacecraft methods. Using two-dimensional hybrid simulations, we confirm that surface ripples are a feature of marginally quasi-parallel and quasi-parallel shocks under the observed solar wind conditions. In addition, since these marginally quasi-parallel and quasi-parallel shocks are expected to undergo a cyclic reformation of the shock front, we discuss the impact of multiple sources of nonstationarity on shock structure. Importantly, ripples are shown to be transient phenomena, developing faster than an ion gyroperiod and only during the period of the reformation cycle when a newly developed shock ramp is unaffected by turbulence in the foot. We conclude that the change in properties of the ripple observed by MMS is consistent with the reformation of the shock front over a time scale of an ion gyroperiod.
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