| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- Nakamura, Rumi, et al.
(författare)
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Structure of the Current Sheet in the 11 July 2017 Electron Diffusion Region Event
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 124:2, s. 1173-1186
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The structure of the current sheet along the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) orbit is examined during the 11 July 2017 Electron Diffusion Region (EDR) event. The location of MMS relative to the X-line is deduced and used to obtain the spatial changes in the electron parameters. The electron velocity gradient values are used to estimate the reconnection electric field sustained by nongyrotropic pressure. It is shown that the observations are consistent with theoretical expectations for an inner EDR in 2-D reconnection. That is, the magnetic field gradient scale, where the electric field due to electron nongyrotropic pressure dominates, is comparable to the gyroscale of the thermal electrons at the edge of the inner EDR. Our approximation of the MMS observations using a steady state, quasi-2-D, tailward retreating X-line was valid only for about 1.4 s. This suggests that the inner EDR is localized; that is, electron outflow jet braking takes place within an ion inertia scale from the X-line. The existence of multiple events or current sheet processes outside the EDR may play an important role in the geometry of reconnection in the near-Earth magnetotail. Plain Language Summary Magnetic reconnection is the process by which magnetic field lines coming from one region are broken and reconnected with magnetic field lines coming from another region. The simplest descriptions of magnetic reconnection are two dimensional, and a number of theoretical predictions have been made using the two-dimensional assumption. We study a magnetic reconnection event observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft on 11 July 2017 and find approximate agreement between the observations and the predictions of a two-dimensional model. The agreement includes the scale size of the reconnection region, details of the particle orbits, and the rate of reconnection.
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