| 1. |
- Li, Wenya, et al.
(författare)
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Kinetic evidence of magnetic reconnection due to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5635-5643
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability at the Earth's magnetopause is predominantly excited during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Magnetic reconnection due to KH waves has been suggested as one of the mechanisms to transfer solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere. We investigate KH waves observed at the magnetopause by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission; in particular, we study the trailing edges of KH waves with Alfvenic ion jets. We observe gradual mixing of magnetospheric and magnetosheath ions at the boundary layer. The magnetospheric electrons with energy up to 80keV are observed on the magnetosheath side of the jets, which indicates that they escape into the magnetosheath through reconnected magnetic field lines. At the same time, the low-energy (below 100eV) magnetosheath electrons enter the magnetosphere and are heated in the field-aligned direction at the high-density edge of the jets. Our observations provide unambiguous kinetic evidence for ongoing reconnection due to KH waves.
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| 2. |
- Vernisse, Y., et al.
(författare)
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Signatures of complex magnetic topologies from multiple reconnection sites induced by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 121:10, s. 9926-9939
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission has demonstrated the frequent presence of reconnection exhausts at thin current sheets within Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the flank magnetopause. Motivated by these recent observations, we performed a statistical analysis of the boundary layers on the magnetosheath side of all KH current sheets on 8 September 2015. We show 86% consistency between the exhaust flows and particle leakage in the magnetosheath boundary layers but further highlight the very frequent presence of additional boundary layer signatures that do not come from the locally observed reconnection exhausts. These additional electron and ion boundary layers, of various durations and at various positions with respect to the leading and trailing boundaries of the KH waves, signal connections to reconnection sites at other locations. Based on the directionality and extent of these layers, we provide an interpretation whereby complex magnetic topologies can arise within KH waves from the combination of reconnection in the equatorial plane and at midlatitudes in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, where additional reconnection sites are expected to be triggered by the three-dimensional field lines interweaving induced by the KH waves at the flanks (owing to differential flow and magnetic field shear with latitude). The present event demonstrates that the three-dimensional development of KH waves can induce plasma entry (through reconnection at both midlatitude and equatorial regions) already sunward of the terminator where the instability remains in its linear stage.
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| 3. |
- Voros, Z., et al.
(författare)
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MMS Observation of Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Magnetosheath
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:11, s. 11442-11467
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we use the full armament of the MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath downstream of a quasi-parallel bow shock. Contrarily to the magnetopause and magnetotail cases, only a few observations of reconnection in the magnetosheath have been reported. The case study in this paper presents, for the first time, both fluid-scale and kinetic-scale signatures of an ongoing reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath. The spacecraft are crossing the reconnection inflow and outflow regions and the ion diffusion region (IDR). Inside the reconnection outflows D shape ion distributions are observed. Inside the IDR mixing of ion populations, crescent-like velocity distributions and ion accelerations are observed. One of the spacecraft skims the outer region of the electron diffusion region, where parallel electric fields, energy dissipation/conversion, electron pressure tensor agyrotropy, electron temperature anisotropy, and electron accelerations are observed. Some of the difficulties of the observations of magnetic reconnection in turbulent plasma are also outlined.
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| 4. |
- André, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Magnetic reconnection and modification of the Hall physics due to cold ions at the magnetopause
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:13, s. 6705-6712
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft are used to investigate the Hall physics of a magnetopause magnetic reconnection separatrix layer. Inside this layer of currents and strong normal electric fields, cold (eV) ions of ionospheric origin can remain frozen-in together with the electrons. The cold ions reduce the Hall current. Using a generalized Ohm's law, the electric field is balanced by the sum of the terms corresponding to the Hall current, the vxB drifting cold ions, and the divergence of the electron pressure tensor. A mixture of hot and cold ions is common at the subsolar magnetopause. A mixture of length scales caused by a mixture of ion temperatures has significant effects on the Hall physics of magnetic reconnection.
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| 5. |
- Khotyaintsev, Yuri V., et al.
(författare)
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Electron jet of asymmetric reconnection
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5571-5580
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of an electron-scale current sheet and electron outflow jet for asymmetric reconnection with guide field at the subsolar magnetopause. The electron jet observed within the reconnection region has an electron Mach number of 0.35 and is associated with electron agyrotropy. The jet is unstable to an electrostatic instability which generates intense waves with E-vertical bar amplitudes reaching up to 300mVm(-1) and potentials up to 20% of the electron thermal energy. We see evidence of interaction between the waves and the electron beam, leading to quick thermalization of the beam and stabilization of the instability. The wave phase speed is comparable to the ion thermal speed, suggesting that the instability is of Buneman type, and therefore introduces electron-ion drag and leads to braking of the electron flow. Our observations demonstrate that electrostatic turbulence plays an important role in the electron-scale physics of asymmetric reconnection.
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| 6. |
- Li, Wenya Y., et al.
(författare)
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Cold Ionospheric Ions in the Magnetic Reconnection Outflow Region
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:10, s. 10,194-10,202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetosheath plasma usually determines properties of asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the subsolar region of Earth's magnetopause. However, cold plasma that originated from the ionosphere can also reach the magnetopause and modify the kinetic physics of asymmetric reconnection. We present a magnetopause crossing with high-density (10–60 cm−3) cold ions and ongoing reconnection from the observation of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The magnetopause crossing is estimated to be 300 ion inertial lengths south of the X line. Two distinct ion populations are observed on the magnetosheath edge of the ion jet. One population with high parallel velocities (200–300 km/s) is identified to be cold ion beams, and the other population is the magnetosheath ions. In the deHoffman-Teller frame, the field-aligned magnetosheath ions are Alfvénic and move toward the jet region, while the field-aligned cold ion beams move toward the magnetosheath boundary layer, with much lower speeds. These cold ion beams are suggested to be from the cold ions entering the jet close to the X line. This is the first observation of the cold ionospheric ions in the reconnection outflow region, including the reconnection jet and the magnetosheath boundary layer.
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| 7. |
- Lu, S. W., et al.
(författare)
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Prolonged Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves at Dawn and Dusk Flank Magnetopause : Simultaneous Observations by MMS and THEMIS
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 875:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) waves predominantly excited at the Earth's low-latitude magnetopause were suggested to be dawn-dusk asymmetric. We report a prolonged simultaneous observations of the K-H waves on the dawn and dusk magnetopause by Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) and THEMIS-A (THA) spacecraft, respectively. The quasi-periodic K-H waves on both flanks have unambiguous low-density and high-speed patterns. The wave periods vary gradually on both flanks, with similar average periods (303 ± 107 s for MMS and 266 ± 102 s for THA). The lag time between the variations of the wave periods is close to the wave propagation time from THA to MMS, which suggests that the K-H waves generate and propagate quasi-symmetrically on both flanks. Larger local magnetic shear angles are observed on the trailing edges by MMS than by THA, which is probably due to the strong magnetic field distortion during the tailward propagation. The increased magnetic shear may excite magnetic reconnection, thus contributing to the formation of the low-latitude boundary layer.
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| 8. |
- Nakamura, T. K. M., et al.
(författare)
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Turbulent mass transfer caused by vortex induced reconnection in collisionless magnetospheric plasmas
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-1723. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetic reconnection is believed to be the main driver to transport solar wind into the Earth's magnetosphere when the magnetopause features a large magnetic shear. However, even when the magnetic shear is too small for spontaneous reconnection, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability driven by a super-Alfvenic velocity shear is expected to facilitate the transport. Although previous kinetic simulations have demonstrated that the non-linear vortex flows from the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability gives rise to vortex-induced reconnection and resulting plasma transport, the system sizes of these simulations were too small to allow the reconnection to evolve much beyond the electron scale as recently observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. Here, based on a large-scale kinetic simulation and its comparison with MMS observations, we show for the first time that ion-scale jets from vortex-induced reconnection rapidly decay through self-generated turbulence, leading to a mass transfer rate nearly one order higher than previous expectations for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.
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| 9. |
- Tang, B. -B, et al.
(författare)
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Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions at the Nonreconnecting Magnetopause : Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations
- 2019
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 46:6, s. 3024-3032
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Crescent‐shaped electron distributions perpendicular to the magnetic field are an important indicator of the electron diffusion region in magnetic reconnection. They can be formed by the electron finite gyroradius effect at plasma boundaries or by demagnetized electron motion. In this study, we present Magnetospheric Multiscale mission observations of electron crescents at the flank magnetopause on 20 September 2017, where reconnection signatures are not observed. These agyrotropic electron distributions are generated by electron gyromotion at the thin electron‐scale magnetic boundaries of a magnetic minimum after magnetic curvature scattering. The variation of their angular range in the perpendicular plane is in good agreement with predictions. Upper hybrid waves are observed to accompany the electron crescents at all four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft as a result of the beam‐plasma instability associated with these agyrotropic electron distributions. This study suggests electron crescents can be more frequently formed at the magnetopause.
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