| 1. |
- Divin, A., et al.
(författare)
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Evolution of the lower hybrid drift instability at reconnection jet front
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 120:4, s. 2675-2690
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate current-driven modes developing at jet fronts during collisionless reconnection. Initial evolution of the reconnection is simulated using conventional 2-D setup starting from the Harris equilibrium. Three-dimensional PIC calculations are implemented at later stages, when fronts are fully formed. Intense currents and enhanced wave activity are generated at the fronts because of the interaction of the fast flow plasma and denser ambient current sheet plasma. The study reveals that the lower hybrid drift instability develops quickly in the 3-D simulation. The instability produces strong localized perpendicular electric fields, which are several times larger than the convective electric field at the front, in agreement with Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms observations. The instability generates waves, which escape the front edge and propagate into the undisturbed plasma ahead of the front. The parallel electron pressure is substantially larger in the 3-D simulation compared to that of the 2-D. In a time similar to Omega(-1)(ci), the instability forms a layer, which contains a mixture of the jet plasma and current sheet plasma. The results confirm that the lower hybrid drift instability is important for the front evolution and electron energization.
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| 2. |
- Graham, D. B., et al.
(författare)
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Direct observations of anomalous resistivity and diffusion in collisionless plasma
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coulomb collisions provide plasma resistivity and diffusion but in many low-density astrophysical plasmas such collisions between particles are extremely rare. Scattering of particles by electromagnetic waves can lower the plasma conductivity. Such anomalous resistivity due to wave-particle interactions could be crucial to many processes, including magnetic reconnection. It has been suggested that waves provide both diffusion and resistivity, which can support the reconnection electric field, but this requires direct observation to confirm. Here, we directly quantify anomalous resistivity, viscosity, and cross-field electron diffusion associated with lower hybrid waves using measurements from the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. We show that anomalous resistivity is approximately balanced by anomalous viscosity, and thus the waves do not contribute to the reconnection electric field. However, the waves do produce an anomalous electron drift and diffusion across the current layer associated with magnetic reconnection. This leads to relaxation of density gradients at timescales of order the ion cyclotron period, and hence modifies the reconnection process. It is suggested that waves can provide both diffusion and resistivity that can potentially support the reconnection electric field in low-density astrophysical plasmas. Here, the authors show, using direct spacecraft measurements, that the waves contribute to anomalous diffusion but do not contribute to the reconnection electric field.
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| 3. |
- Khotyaintsev, Yu, V, et al.
(författare)
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Electron Heating by Debye-Scale Turbulence in Guide-Field Reconnection
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 124:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report electrostatic Debye-scale turbulence developing within the diffusion region of asymmetric magnetopause reconnection with amoderate guide field using observations by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. We show that Buneman waves and beam modes cause efficient and fast thermalization of the reconnection electron jet by irreversible phase mixing, during which the jet kinetic energy is transferred into thermal energy. Our results show that the reconnection diffusion region in the presence of a moderate guide field is highly turbulent, and that electrostatic turbulence plays an important role in electron heating.
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| 4. |
- Korovinskiy, D. B., et al.
(författare)
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The double-gradient magnetic instability : Stabilizing effect of the guide field
- 2015
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AIP Publishing. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 22:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The role of the dawn-dusk magnetic field component in stabilizing of the magnetotail flapping oscillations is investigated in the double-gradient model framework (Erkaev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 235003 (2007)), extended for the magnetotail-like configurations with non-zero guide field By. Contribution of the guide field is examined both analytically and by means of linearized 2-dimensional (2D) and non-linear 3-dimensional (3D) MHD modeling. All three approaches demonstrate the same properties of the instability: stabilization of current sheet oscillations for short wavelength modes, appearing of the typical (fastest growing) wavelength lambda(peak) of the order of the current sheet width, decrease of the peak growth rate with increasing B-y value, and total decay of the mode for B-y similar to 0: 5 in the lobe magnetic field units. Analytical solution and 2D numerical simulations claim also the shift of lambda(peak) toward the longer wavelengths with increasing guide field. This result is barely visible in 3D simulations. It may be accounted for the specific background magnetic configuration, the pattern of tail-like equilibrium provided by approximated solution of the conventional Grad-Shafranov equation. The configuration demonstrates drastically changing radius of curvature of magnetic field lines, R-c. This, in turn, favors the "double-gradient" mode (lambda > R-c) in one part of the sheet and classical "ballooning" instability (lambda < R-c) in another part, which may result in generation of a "combined" unstable mode. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.
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| 5. |
- Korovinskiy, D. B., et al.
(författare)
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The transition from "double-gradient" to ballooning unstable mode in bent magnetotail-like current sheet
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AMER INST PHYSICS. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 26:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The magnetotail-like magnetoplasma configuration is examined for the stability to the transversal mode by means of linear 2.5- and nonlinear 3-dimensional MHD simulations. The exact two-dimensional Kan-like solution of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations is utilized for background equilibrium bent current sheets. Both linear and nonlinear simulations reveal the same features: the bent current sheet is unstable to perturbations with the wave vector pointing in the out-of-plane direction; the unstable mode is localized in the summer hemisphere; in-plane plasma flow is rotating from the earthward/tailward direction in the near-Earth region to the vertical direction in the tail. Rotation of the plasma velocity and variation of the background plasma parameters in longitudinal (Earth-Sun) direction allow considering the observed plasma motions as a transient mode from the so-called double-gradient (in distant tail) to the conventional ballooning (close to the Earth) instability. It is found that the mode localization is controlled by second derivatives of the total pressure in longitudinal and normal (north-south) directions. This feature is rendered by a newly developed quasi-two-dimensional analytical model of the transversal mode in the bent current sheet. Published under license by AIP Publishing.
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| 6. |
- Mihnev, M. T., et al.
(författare)
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Microscopic origins of the terahertz carrier relaxation and cooling dynamics in graphene
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723 .- 2041-1723. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ultrafast dynamics of hot carriers in graphene are key to both understanding of fundamental carrier-carrier interactions and carrier-phonon relaxation processes in two-dimensional materials, and understanding of the physics underlying novel high-speed electronic and optoelectronic devices. Many recent experiments on hot carriers using terahertz spectroscopy and related techniques have interpreted the variety of observed signals within phenomenological frameworks, and sometimes invoke extrinsic effects such as disorder. Here, we present an integrated experimental and theoretical programme, using ultrafast timeresolved terahertz spectroscopy combined with microscopic modelling, to systematically investigate the hot-carrier dynamics in a wide array of graphene samples having varying amounts of disorder and with either high or low doping levels. The theory reproduces the observed dynamics quantitatively without the need to invoke any fitting parameters, phenomenological models or extrinsic effects such as disorder. We demonstrate that the dynamics are dominated by the combined effect of efficient carrier-carrier scattering, which maintains a thermalized carrier distribution, and carrier-optical-phonon scattering, which removes energy from the carrier liquid.
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| 7. |
- Divin, A., et al.
(författare)
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A new model for the electron pressure nongyrotropy in the outer electron diffusion region
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:20, s. 10565-10573
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a new model to describe the electron pressure nongyrotropy inside the electron diffusion region (EDR) in an antiparallel magnetic reconnection scenario. A combination of particle-in-cell simulations and analytical estimates is used to identify such a component of the electron pressure tensor in the rotated coordinates, which is nearly invariant along the outflow direction between the X line and the electron remagnetization points in the outer EDR. It is shown that the EDR two-scale structure (inner and outer parts) is formed due to superposition of the nongyrotropic meandering electron population and gyrotropic electron population with large anisotropy parallel to the magnetic field upstream of the EDR. Inside the inner EDR the influence of the pressure anisotropy can largely be ignored. In the outer EDR, a thin electron layer with electron flow speed exceeding the E x B drift velocity is supported by large-momentum flux produced by the electron pressure anisotropy upstream of the EDR. We find that this fast electron exhaust flow with |V(e)xB|>|E| is in fact a constituent part of the EDR, a finding which will steer the interpretation of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) data.
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| 8. |
- Divin, A., et al.
(författare)
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Inner and outer electron diffusion region of antiparallel collisionless reconnection : Density dependence
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AMER INST PHYSICS. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 26:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study inflow density dependence of substructures within electron diffusion region (EDR) of collisionless symmetric magnetic reconnection. We perform a set of 2.5D particle-in-cell simulations which start from a Harris current layer with a uniform background density n(b). A scan of n(b) ranging from 0:02 n(0) to 2 n(0) of the peak current layer density (n(0)) is studied keeping other plasma parameters the same. Various quantities measuring reconnection rate, EDR spatial scales, and characteristic velocities are introduced. We analyze EDR properties during quasisteady stage when the EDR length measures saturate. Consistent with past kinetic simulations, electrons are heated parallel to the B field in the inflow region. The presence of the strong parallel anisotropy acts twofold: (1) electron pressure anisotropy drift gets important at the EDR upstream edge in addition to the E x B drift speed and (2) the pressure anisotropy term -del.P-(e)/(ne) modifies the force balance there. We find that the width of the EDR demagnetization region and EDR current are proportional to the electron inertial length similar to d(e) and similar to d(e)n(b)(0.22), respectively. Magnetic reconnection is fast with a rate of similar to 0.1 but depends weakly on density as similar to n(b)(-1/8). Such reconnection rate proxies as EDR geometrical aspect or the inflow-to-outflow electron velocity ratio are shown to have different density trends, making electric field the only reliable measure of the reconnection rate. Published under license by AIP Publishing.
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| 9. |
- Divin, A., et al.
(författare)
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Numerical simulations of separatrix instabilities in collisionless magnetic reconnection
- 2012
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AIP Publishing. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 19:4, s. 042110-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Electron scale dynamics of magnetic reconnection separatrix jets is studied in this paper. Instabilities developing in directions both parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field are investigated. Implicit particle-in-cell simulations with realistic electron-to-ion mass ratio are complemented by a set of small scale high resolution runs having the separatrix force balance as the initial condition. A special numerical procedure is developed to introduce the force balance into the small scale runs. Simulations show the development of streaming instabilities and consequent formation of electron holes in the parallel direction. A new electron jet instability develops in the perpendicular direction. The instability is closely related to the electron MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz mode and is destabilized by a flow, perpendicular to magnetic field at the separatrix. Tearing instability of the separatrix electron jet is modulated strongly by the electron MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz mode.
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| 10. |
- Divin, A., et al.
(författare)
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Scaling of the inner electron diffusion region in collisionless magnetic reconnection
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 117, s. A06217-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Sweet-Parker analysis of the inner electron diffusion region of collisionless magnetic reconnection is presented. The study includes charged particles motion near the X-line and an appropriate approximation of the off-diagonal term for the electron pressure tensor. The obtained scaling shows that the width of the inner electron diffusion region is equal to the electron inertial length, and that electrons are accelerated up to the electron Alfven velocity in X-line direction. The estimated effective plasma conductivity is based on the electron gyrofrequency rather than the binary collision frequency, and gives the extreme (minimal) value of the plasma conductivity similar to Bohm diffusion. The scaling properties are verified by means of Particle-in-Cell simulations. An ad hoc parameter needs to be introduced to the scaling relations in order to better match the theory and simulations.
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| 11. |
- Markidis, Stefano, et al.
(författare)
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Collisionless magnetic reconnection in a plasmoid chain
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nonlinear processes in geophysics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1023-5809 .- 1607-7946. ; 19:1, s. 145-153
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The kinetic features of plasmoid chain formation and evolution are investigated by two dimensional Particlein-Cell simulations. Magnetic reconnection is initiated in multiple X points by the tearing instability. Plasmoids form and grow in size by continuously coalescing. Each chain plasmoid exhibits a strong out-of plane core magnetic field and an out-of-plane electron current that drives the coalescing process. The disappearance of the X points in the coalescence process are due to anti-reconnection, a magnetic reconnection where the plasma inflow and outflow are reversed with respect to the original reconnection flow pattern. Anti-reconnection is characterized by the Hall magnetic field quadrupole signature. Two new kinetic features, not reported by previous studies of plasmoid chain evolution, are here revealed. First, intense electric fields develop in-plane normally to the separatrices and drive the ion dynamics in the plasmoids. Second, several bipolar electric field structures are localized in proximity of the plasmoid chain. The analysis of the electron distribution function and phase space reveals the presence of counter-streaming electron beams, unstable to the two stream instability, and phase space electron holes along the reconnection separatrices.
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| 12. |
- Markidis, Stefano, et al.
(författare)
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Three dimensional density cavities in guide field collisionless magnetic reconnection
- 2012
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AIP Publishing. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 19:3, s. 032119-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection with a guide field reveal for the first time the three dimensional features of the low density regions along the magnetic reconnection separatrices, the so-called cavities. It is found that structures with further lower density develop within the cavities. Because their appearance is similar to the rib shape, these formations are here called low density ribs. Their location remains approximately fixed in time and their density progressively decreases, as electron currents along the cavities evacuate them. They develop along the magnetic field lines and are supported by a strong perpendicular electric field that oscillates in space. In addition, bipolar parallel electric field structures form as isolated spheres between the cavities and the outflow plasma, along the direction of the low density ribs and of magnetic field lines.
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| 13. |
- Peng, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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The formation of a magnetosphere with implicit Particle-in-Cell simulations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Procedia Computer Science. - : Elsevier. - 1877-0509. ; , s. 1178-1187, s. 1178-1187
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate the improvements to an implicit Particle-in-Cell code, iPic3D, on the example of dipolar magnetic field immersed in the flow of the plasma and show the formation of a magnetosphere. We address the problem of modelling multi-scale phenomena during the formation of a magnetosphere by implementing an adaptive sub-cycling technique to resolve the motion of particles located close to the magnetic dipole centre, where the magnetic field intensity is maximum. In addition, we implemented new open boundary conditions to model the inflow and outflow of plasma. We present the results of a global three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulation and discuss the performance improvements from the adaptive sub-cycling technique.
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| 14. |
- Toledo-Redondo, Sergio, et al.
(författare)
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Cold ion heating at the dayside magnetopause during magnetic reconnection
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:1, s. 58-66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cold ions of ionospheric origin are known to be present in the magnetospheric side of the Earth's magnetopause. They can be very abundant, with densities up to 100cm(-3). These cold ions can mass load the magnetosphere, changing global parameters of magnetic reconnection, like the Alfven speed or the reconnection rate. In addition they introduce a new length scale related to their gyroradius and kinetic effects which must be accounted for. We report in situ observations of cold ion heating in the separatrix owing to time and space fluctuations of the electric field. When this occurs, the cold ions are preheated before crossing the Hall electric field barrier. However, when this mechanism is not present cold ions can be observed well inside the reconnection exhaust. Our observations suggest that the perpendicular cold ion heating is stronger close to the X line owing to waves and electric field gradients linked to the reconnection process.
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| 15. |
- Vapirev, A. E., et al.
(författare)
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Formation of a transient front structure near reconnection point in 3-D PIC simulations
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202 .- 2169-9380. ; 118:4, s. 1435-1449
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Massively parallel numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection are presented in this study. Electromagnetic full-particle implicit code iPIC3D is used to study the dynamics and 3-D evolution of reconnection outflows. Such features as Hall magnetic field, inflow and outflow, and diffusion region formation are very similar to 2-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. In addition, it is well known that instabilities develop in the current flow direction or oblique directions. These modes could provide for anomalous resistivity and diffusive drag and can serve as additional proxies for magnetic reconnection. In our work, the unstable evolution of reconnection transient front structures is studied. Reconnection configuration in the absence of guide field is considered, and it is initialized with a localized perturbation aligned in the cross-tail direction. Our study suggests that the instabilities lead to the development of finger-like density structures on ion-electron hybrid scales. These structures are characterized by a rapid increase of the magnetic field, normal to the current sheet (Bz). A small decrease in the magnetic field component parallel to the reconnection X line and the component perpendicular to the current sheet is observed in the region ahead of the front. The instabilities form due to fact that the density gradient inside the front region is opposite to the direction of the acceleration Lorentz force. Such density structures may possibly further develop into larger-scale earthward flux transfer events during magnetotail reconnection. In addition, oscillations mainly in the magnetic and electric fields and the electron density are observed shortly before the arrival of the main front structure which is consistent with recent THEMIS observations. Key PointsThree dimensional particle-in-cell simulation of reconnection in the magnetotailEvolution of dipolarization front at reconnection and associated plasma flowDevelopment of instabilities in the plasma population
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| 16. |
- Zaitsev, I., et al.
(författare)
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Cold ion energization at separatrices during magnetic reconnection
- 2021
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : AIP Publishing. - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 28:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Separatrices of magnetic reconnection host intense perpendicular Hall electric fields. The fields are produced by the decoupling of the ion and electron components and are associated with the in-plane electrostatic potential drop between the inflow and outflow regions. The width of these structures is typically less than the ion inertial length, which is small enough to demagnetize ions as they cross the layer. We investigate ion acceleration at separatrices by means of 2D particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection for two limiting cases: (1) a "GEM-like" setup (here GEM stands for geospace environmental modeling reconnection challenge) with the lobe ion thermal velocity equal to the thermal velocity of the initial current sheet ions, which is comparable to the Alfven velocity and (2) a "cold" ion setup, in which the temperature of the background lobe ions is 1/100 of the initial current sheet temperature. The separatrix Hall electric field is balanced by the ion inertia term in the cold background simulations. The effect is indicative of the quasi-steady local perpendicular acceleration. The electric field introduces a cross field beam of unmagnetized particles, which makes the ion distribution function strongly non-gyrotropic and susceptible to sub-ion scale instabilities. This acceleration mechanism nearly vanishes in the hot ion background simulations. Our particle-in-cell simulations are complemented by one-dimensional test particle calculations. They show that the hot ion particles experience energy-scattering after crossing the accelerating layer, whereas cold ions are uniformly energized up to the energies comparable to the electrostatic potential drop between the inflow and outflow regions.
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