| 1. |
- Fu, Huishan, et al.
(author)
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Occurrence rate of earthward-propagating dipolarization fronts
- 2012
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 2000 Florida Ave NW Washington, DC 20009, USA : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 39, s. L10101-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The occurrence rate of earthward-propagating dipolarization fronts (DFs) is investigated in this paper based on the 9 years (2001-2009) of Cluster 1 data. For the first time, we select the DF events by fitting the characteristic increase in B-z using a hyperbolic tangent function. 303 earthward-propagating DFs are found; they have on average a duration of 4 s and a B-z increase of 8 nT. DFs have the maximum occurrence at Z(GSM) approximate to 0 and r approximate to 15 R-E with one event occurring every 3.9 hours, where r is the distance to the center of the Earth in the XYGSM plane. The maximum occurrence rate at Z(GSM) approximate to 0 can be explained by the steep and large increase of B-z near the central current sheet, which is consistent with previous simulations. Along the r direction, the occurrence rate increases gradually from r approximate to 20 to r approximate to 15 R-E but decreases rapidly from r approximate to 15 to r approximate to 10 R-E. This may be due to the increasing pileup of the magnetic flux from r approximate to 20 to r approximate to 15 R-E and the strong background magnetic field at r
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| 2. |
- Fu, Huishan S., et al.
(author)
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Electric structure of dipolarization front at sub-proton scale
- 2012
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 2000 Florida Ave NW Washington, DC 20009, USA : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 39, s. L06105-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using Cluster data, we investigate the electric structure of a dipolarization front (DF) - the ion inertial length (c/omega(pi)) scale boundary in the Earth's magnetotail formed at the front edge of an earthward propagating flow with reconnected magnetic flux. We estimate the current density and the electron pressure gradient throughout the DF by both single-spacecraft and multi-spacecraft methods. Comparison of the results from the two methods shows that the single-spacecraft analysis, which is capable of resolving the detailed structure of the boundary, can be applied for the DF we study. Based on this, we use the current density and the electron pressure gradient from the single-spacecraft method to investigate which terms in the generalized Ohm's law balance the electric field throughout the DF. We find that there is an electric field at ion inertia scale directed normal to the DF; it has a duskward component at the dusk flank of DF but a dawnward component at the dawn flank of DF. This electric field is balanced by the Hall (j x B/ne) and electron pressure gradient (del P-e/ne) terms at the DF, with the Hall term being dominant. Outside the narrow DF region, however, the electric field is balanced by the convection (V-i x B) term, meaning the frozen-in condition for ions is broken only at the DF itself. In the reference frame moving with the DF the tangential electric field is almost zero, indicating there is no flow of plasma across the DF and that the DF is a tangential discontinuity. The normal electric field at the DF constitutes a potential drop of similar to 1 keV, which may reflect and accelerate the surrounding ions.
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| 3. |
- Huang, S. Y., et al.
(author)
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Electron acceleration in the reconnection diffusion region : Cluster observations
- 2012
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 39:L11103
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present one case study of magnetic islands and energetic electrons in the reconnection diffusion region observed by the Cluster spacecraft. The cores of the islands are characterized by strong core magnetic fields and density depletion. Intense currents, with the dominant component parallel to the ambient magnetic field, are detected inside the magnetic islands. A thin current sheet is observed in the close vicinity of one magnetic island. Energetic electron fluxes increase at the location of the thin current sheet, and further increase inside the magnetic island, with the highest fluxes located at the core region of the island. We suggest that these energetic electrons are firstly accelerated in the thin current sheet, and then trapped and further accelerated in the magnetic island by betatron and Fermi acceleration.
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| 4. |
- Huang, S. Y., et al.
(author)
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Observations of turbulence within reconnection jet in the presence of guide field
- 2012
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In: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 39:L11104
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the first comprehensive observations of turbulence properties within high speed reconnection jet in the plasma sheet with moderate guide field. The power spectral density index is about -1.73 in the inertial range, and follows the value of -2.86 in the ion dissipation range. The turbulence is strongly anisotropic in the wave-vector space with the major power having its wave-vector highly oblique to the ambient magnetic field, suggesting that the turbulence is quasi-2D. The measured "dispersion relations" obtained using the k-filtering technique are compared with theory and are found to be consistent with the Alfven-Whistler mode. In addition, both Probability Distribution Functions and flatness results show that the turbulence in the reconnection jet is intermittent (multifractal) at scales less than the proton gyroradius/inertial lengths. The estimated electric field provided by anomalous resistivity caused by turbulence is about 3 mV/m, which is close to the typical reconnection electric field in the magnetotail.
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