| 1. |
- Alqeeq, S. W., et al.
(författare)
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Investigation of the homogeneity of energy conversion processes at dipolarization fronts from MMS measurements
- 2022
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Ingår i: Physics of Plasmas. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 29:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on six dipolarization fronts (DFs) embedded in fast earthward flows detected by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission during a substorm event on 23 July 2017. We analyzed Ohm's law for each event and found that ions are mostly decoupled from the magnetic field by Hall fields. However, the electron pressure gradient term is also contributing to the ion decoupling and likely responsible for an electron decoupling at DF. We also analyzed the energy conversion process and found that the energy in the spacecraft frame is transferred from the electromagnetic field to the plasma (J & BULL; E > 0) ahead or at the DF, whereas it is the opposite (J & BULL; E < 0) behind the front. This reversal is mainly due to a local reversal of the cross-tail current indicating a substructure of the DF. In the fluid frame, we found that the energy is mostly transferred from the plasma to the electromagnetic field (J & BULL; E & PRIME; < 0) and should contribute to the deceleration of the fast flow. However, we show that the energy conversion process is not homogeneous at the electron scales due to electric field fluctuations likely related to lower-hybrid drift waves. Our results suggest that the role of DF in the global energy cycle of the magnetosphere still deserves more investigation. In particular, statistical studies on DF are required to be carried out with caution due to these electron scale substructures.
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| 2. |
- Alqeeq, S. W., et al.
(författare)
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Two Classes of Equatorial Magnetotail Dipolarization Fronts Observed by Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission : A Statistical Overview
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 128:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We carried out a statistical study of equatorial dipolarization fronts (DFs) detected by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission during the full 2017 Earth's magnetotail season. We found that two DF classes are distinguished: class I (74.4%) corresponds to the standard DF properties and energy dissipation and a new class II (25.6%). This new class includes the six DF discussed in Alqeeq et al. (2022, ) and corresponds to a bump of the magnetic field associated with a minimum in the ion and electron pressures and a reversal of the energy conversion process. The possible origin of this second class is discussed. Both DF classes show that the energy conversion process in the spacecraft frame is driven by the diamagnetic current dominated by the ion pressure gradient. In the fluid frame, it is driven by the electron pressure gradient. In addition, we have shown that the energy conversion processes are not homogeneous at the electron scale mostly due to the variations of the electric fields for both DF classes.
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| 3. |
- Amano, T., et al.
(författare)
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Observational Evidence for Stochastic Shock Drift Acceleration of Electrons at the Earth's Bow Shock
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 124:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The first-order Fermi acceleration of electrons requires an injection of electrons into a mildly relativistic energy range. However, the mechanism of injection has remained a puzzle both in theory and observation. We present direct evidence for a novel stochastic shock drift acceleration theory for the injection obtained with Magnetospheric Multiscale observations at the Earth's bow shock. The theoretical model can explain electron acceleration to mildly relativistic energies at high-speed astrophysical shocks, which may provide a solution to the long-standing issue of electron injection.
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| 4. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 5. |
- Chen, L-J, et al.
(författare)
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Lower-Hybrid Drift Waves Driving Electron Nongyrotropic Heating and Vortical Flows in a Magnetic Reconnection Layer
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society (APS). - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 125:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report measurements of lower-hybrid drift waves driving electron heating and vortical flows in an electron-scale reconnection layer under a guide field. Electrons accelerated by the electrostatic potential of the waves exhibit perpendicular and nongyrotropic heating. The vortical flows generate magnetic field perturbations comparable to the guide field magnitude. The measurements reveal a new regime of electron-wave interaction and how this interaction modifies the electron dynamics in the reconnection layer.
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| 6. |
- Cozzani, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
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Structure of a Perturbed Magnetic Reconnection Electron Diffusion Region in the Earth's Magnetotail
- 2021
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society (APS). - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 127:21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report in situ observations of an electron diffusion region (EDR) and adjacent separatrix region in the Earth's magnetotail. We observe significant magnetic field oscillations near the lower hybrid frequency which propagate perpendicularly to the reconnection plane. We also find that the strong electron-scale gradients close to the EDR exhibit significant oscillations at a similar frequency. Such oscillations are not expected for a crossing of a steady 2D EDR, and can be explained by a complex motion of the reconnection plane induced by current sheet kinking propagating in the out-of-reconnection-plane direction. Thus, all three spatial dimensions have to be taken into account to explain the observed perturbed EDR crossing. These results shed light on the interplay between magnetic reconnection and current sheet drift instabilities in electron-scale current sheets and highlight the need for adopting a 3D description of the EDR, going beyond the two-dimensional and steady-state conception of reconnection.
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| 7. |
- Dong, X. C., et al.
(författare)
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Observation of Nonuniform Energy Dissipation in the Electron Diffusion Region of Magnetopause Reconnection
- 2021
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 48:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) data to investigate the energy dissipation in a magnetopause reconnection electron diffusion region (EDR) event with moderate guide field. The four MMS spacecraft were separated by about 10 km so that comparative study among spacecraft within the EDR can be implemented. Similar magnetic field and electric current properties at each spacecraft indicate the formation of a quasi-homogeneous magnetic and current structure in the diffusion region. However, we find that the energy dissipations detected by each spacecraft are still different due to the temporal or spatial effect of the out-of-plane reconnection electric field (EM) within the dissipation region. Our study suggests that the nonuniform or unsteady energy dissipation in the reconnection EDR may be a universal process.
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| 8. |
- Eastwood, J. P., et al.
(författare)
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Energy Flux Densities near the Electron Dissipation Region in Asymmetric Magnetopause Reconnection
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society (APS). - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 125:26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetic reconnection is of fundamental importance to plasmas because of its role in releasing and repartitioning stored magnetic energy. Previous results suggest that this energy is predominantly released as ion enthalpy flux along the reconnection outflow. Using Magnetospheric Multiscale data we find the existence of very significant electron energy flux densities in the vicinity of the magnetopause electron dissipation region, orthogonal to the ion energy outflow. These may significantly impact models of electron transport, wave generation, and particle acceleration.
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| 9. |
- Gao, C. -H, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of the Electric Field on the Agyrotropic Electron Distributions
- 2021
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 48:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate agyrotropic electron distributions from two magnetopause events observed by magnetospheric multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. Agyrotropic electron distributions can be generated by the finite electron gyration at an electron-scale boundary, and the electric field normal to this boundary usually contributes to the electron acceleration to make the agyrotropic distributions more apparent. The effect of the electric field becomes important only when it is sufficiently strong and local, meaning its electrostatic potential is comparable to or larger than the electron temperature, and its width is smaller than the electron thermal gyroradius, so that this electric field can directly accelerate part of the electrons out of the original core to form agyrotropic electron distributions. Also, we reproduce the measured electron "finger" structures from test particle simulations, which can be effectively suppressed by increasing the sampling rate of the electron measurement. Plain Language Summary Agyrotropic electron distributions reveal valuable information of electron dynamics at electron scales, and the generation of these distributions have been extensively studied. In this study, we provide a new possibility to generate agyrotropic electron distributions with a strong localized electric field, which can accelerate part of electrons out of the original electron core to form agyrotropic distributions. As such large-amplitude small-scale electric field fluctuations are frequently observed in turbulent plasma environments, we suggest that more agyrotropic electron distributions can be observed with high temporal resolution measurements.
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| 10. |
- Gingell, I., et al.
(författare)
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Statistics of Reconnecting Current Sheets in the Transition Region of Earth's Bow Shock
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 125:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have conducted a comprehensive survey of burst mode observations of Earth's bow shock by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission to identify and characterize current sheets associated with collisionless shocks, with a focus on those containing fast electron outflows, a likely signature of magnetic reconnection. The survey demonstrates that these thin current sheets are observed within the transition region of approximately 40% of shocks within the burst mode data set of Magnetospheric Multiscale. With only small apparent bias toward quasi-parallel shock orientations and high Alfven Mach numbers, the results suggest that reconnection at shocks is a universal process, occurring across all shock orientations and Mach numbers. On examining the distributions of current sheet properties, we find no correlation between distance from the shock, sheet width, or electron jet speed, though the relationship between electron and ion jet speed supports expectations of electron-only reconnection in the region. Furthermore, we find that robust heating statistics are not separable from background fluctuations, and thus, the primary consequence of reconnection at shocks is in relaxing the topology of the disordered magnetic field in the transition region.
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