| 1. |
- André, Mats, et al.
(author)
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Magnetic reconnection and modification of the Hall physics due to cold ions at the magnetopause
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:13, s. 6705-6712
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 2. |
- Eastwood, J. P., et al.
(author)
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Ion-scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS
- 2016
-
In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:10, s. 4716-4724
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small-scale (similar to 7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 10 km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (similar to 22 kWb). The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. Intercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non-frozen-in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle-in-cell simulation. It is concluded that these small-scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection.
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| 3. |
- Graham, Daniel B., et al.
(author)
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Electron currents and heating in the ion diffusion region of asymmetric reconnection
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:10, s. 4691-4700
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this letter the structure of the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause is investigated using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The ion diffusion region is characterized by a strong DC electric field, approximately equal to the Hall electric field, intense currents, and electron heating parallel to the background magnetic field. Current structures well below ion spatial scales are resolved, and the electron motion associated with lower hybrid drift waves is shown to contribute significantly to the total current density. The electron heating is shown to be consistent with large-scale parallel electric fields trapping and accelerating electrons, rather than wave-particle interactions. These results show that sub-ion scale processes occur in the ion diffusion region and are important for understanding electron heating and acceleration.
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| 4. |
- Khotyaintsev, Yuri V., et al.
(author)
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Electron jet of asymmetric reconnection
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5571-5580
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 5. |
- Li, Wenya, et al.
(author)
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Kinetic evidence of magnetic reconnection due to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5635-5643
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 6. |
- Nakamura, R., et al.
(author)
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Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:10, s. 4841-4849
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on field-aligned current observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) during two major substorms on 23 June 2015. Small-scale field-aligned currents were found embedded in fluctuating PSBL flux tubes near the separatrix region. We resolve, for the first time, short-lived earthward (downward) intense field-aligned current sheets with thicknesses of a few tens of kilometers, which are well below the ion scale, on flux tubes moving equatorward/earthward during outward plasma sheet expansion. They coincide with upward field-aligned electron beams with energies of a few hundred eV. These electrons are most likely due to acceleration associated with a reconnection jet or high-energy ion beam-produced disturbances. The observations highlight coupling of multiscale processes in PSBL as a consequence of magnetotail reconnection.
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| 7. |
- Norgren, Cecilia, et al.
(author)
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Finite gyroradius effects in the electron outflow of asymmetric magnetic reconnection
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:13, s. 6724-6733
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present observations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection showing evidence of electron demagnetization in the electron outflow. The observations were made at the magnetopause by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, separated by approximate to 15km. The reconnecting current sheet has negligible guide field, and all four spacecraft likely pass close to the electron diffusion region just south of the X line. In the electron outflow near the X line, all four spacecraft observe highly structured electron distributions in a region comparable to a few electron gyroradii. The distributions consist of a core with T-vertical bar>T and a nongyrotropic crescent perpendicular to the magnetic field. The crescents are associated with finite gyroradius effects of partly demagnetized electrons. These observations clearly demonstrate the manifestation of finite gyroradius effects in an electron-scale reconnection current sheet.
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| 8. |
- Oieroset, M., et al.
(author)
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MMS observations of large guide field symmetric reconnection between colliding reconnection jets at the center of a magnetic flux rope at the magnetopause
- 2016
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5536-5544
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report evidence for reconnection between colliding reconnection jets in a compressed current sheet at the center of a magnetic flux rope at Earth's magnetopause. The reconnection involved nearly symmetric inflow boundary conditions with a strong guide field of two. The thin (2.5 ion-skin depth (d(i)) width) current sheet (at similar to 12 d(i) downstream of the X line) was well resolved by MMS, which revealed large asymmetries in plasma and field structures in the exhaust. Ion perpendicular heating, electron parallel heating, and density compression occurred on one side of the exhaust, while ion parallel heating and density depression were shifted to the other side. The normal electric field and double out-of-plane (bifurcated) currents spanned almost the entire exhaust. These observations are in good agreement with a kinetic simulation for similar boundary conditions, demonstrating in new detail that the structure of large guide field symmetric reconnection is distinctly different from antiparallel reconnection.
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| 9. |
- Oieroset, M., et al.
(author)
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Reconnection With Magnetic Flux Pileup at the Interface of Converging ts at the Magnetopause
- 2019
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 46:4, s. 1937-1946
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of reconnection in a in current sheet at the interface of interlinked flux tubes carried by nverging reconnection jets at Earth's magnetopause. The ion skin pth-scale width of the interface current sheet and the non-frozen-in ns indicate that Magnetospheric Multiscale crossed the reconnection yer near the X-line, through the ion diffusion region. Significant leup of the reconnecting component of the magnetic field in this and ree other events on approach to the interface current sheet was companied by an increase in magnetic shear and decrease in , leading conditions favorable for reconnection at the interface current sheet. e pileup also led to enhanced available magnetic energy per particle d strong electron heating. The observations shed light on the olution and energy release in 3-D systems with multiple reconnection tes. ain Language Summary The Earth and the solar wind magnetic fields terconnect through a process called magnetic reconnection. The newly connected magnetic field lines are strongly bent and accelerate rticles, similar to a rubber band in a slingshot. In this paper we ve used observations from NASA's Magnetospheric MultiScale spacecraft investigate what happens when two of these slingshot-like magnetic eld lines move toward each other and get tangled up. We found that the o bent magnetic field lines tend to orient themselves perpendicular to ch other as they become interlinked and stretched, similar to what bber bands would do. This reorientation allows the interlinked gnetic fields to reconnect again, releasing part of the built-up gnetic energy as strong electron heating. The results are important cause they show how interlinked magnetic fields, which occur in many lar and astrophysics contexts, reconnect and produce enhanced electron ating, something that was not understood before.
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| 10. |
- Phan, T. D., et al.
(author)
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MMS observations of electron-scale filamentary currents in the reconnection exhaust and near the X line
- 2016
-
In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:12, s. 6060-6069
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of macroscopic and electron-scale current layers in asymmetric reconnection. By intercomparing plasma, magnetic, and electric field data at multiple crossings of a reconnecting magnetopause on 22 October 2015, when the average interspacecraft separation was similar to 10 km, we demonstrate that the ion and electron moments are sufficiently accurate to provide reliable current density measurements at 30ms cadence. These measurements, which resolve current layers narrower than the interspacecraft separation, reveal electron-scale filamentary Hall currents and electron vorticity within the reconnection exhaust far downstream of the X line and even in the magnetosheath. Slightly downstream of the X line, intense (up to 3 mu A/m(2)) electron currents, a super-Alfvenic outflowing electron jet, and nongyrotropic crescent shape electron distributions were observed deep inside the ion-scale magnetopause current sheet and embedded in the ion diffusion region. These characteristics are similar to those attributed to the electron dissipation/diffusion region around the X line.
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