MMS Observation of Secondary Magnetic Reconnection Beside Ion-Scale Flux Rope at the Magnetopause

被引：12

作者：

Dong, X-C ^{[1
]}

Dunlop, M. W. ^{[1
,2
,3
]}

Wang, T-Y ^{[1
]}

Trattner, K. J. ^{[4
]}

Russell, C. T. ^{[5
]}

Giles, B. ^{[6
]}

机构：

[1] STFC, RAL Space, Didcot, Oxon, England

[2] Beihang Univ, Sch Space & Environm, Beijing, Peoples R China

[3] Minist Ind & Informat Technol, Key Lab Space Environm Monitoring & Informat Proc, Beijing, Peoples R China

[4] Univ Colorado, LASP, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

[5] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Earth Planetary & Space Sci, Los Angeles, CA USA

[6] NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Greenbelt, MD USA

来源：

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS | 2020年 / 47卷 / 16期

基金：

英国自然环境研究理事会; 中国国家自然科学基金; 英国科学技术设施理事会; 美国国家航空航天局;

关键词：

DIFFUSION REGION; TRANSFER EVENTS; ELECTRIC-FIELD; X-LINE; DISSIPATION; PLASMA;

D O I：

10.1029/2020GL089075

中图分类号：

P [天文学、地球科学];

学科分类号：

07 ;

摘要：

Using high-resolution data from Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, we report an in situ observation of a secondary reconnection electron diffusion region (EDR) beside the leading edge of an ion-scale flux rope at the magnetopause. This reconnection EDR is characterized by strong electron current and electron jet reversal, a normal Hall electric field, unmagnetized electrons with nongyrotropic distributions, a large parallel electric field, and strong energy dissipation. The ion-scale flux rope beside the EDR consists of a force-free structure with diameter of only similar to 3 ion inertial lengths. Our observation of secondary reconnection beside the flux rope gives further evidence that flux ropes can be created and evolved in the reconnection exhaust region. Plain Language Summary Small-scale flux transfer events (FTEs), characterized by a helical flux rope structure, play a significant role in the macroscopic and microscopic physical process during magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause. Although they are widely observed at the magnetopause boundary layer, the mechanisms of generation and evolution remain an open question. In this letter, we report in situ observation of a secondary reconnection region beside the leading edge of a small-scale FTE, and thus, our work could contribute to understanding the relation between flux ropes and magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause.

引用

页数：7

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