Electron energization and structure of the diffusion region during asymmetric reconnection

被引：69

作者：

Chen, Li-Jen ^{[1
,2
]}

Hesse, Michael ^{[1
]}

Wang, Shan ^{[1
,2
]}

Bessho, Naoki ^{[1
,2
]}

Daughton, William ^{[3
]}

机构：

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

[2] Univ Maryland, Dept Astron, College Pk, MD 20742 USA

[3] Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM USA

来源：

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS | 2016年 / 43卷 / 06期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

magnetic reconnection; electron diffusion region; electron acceleration; electron heating; collisionless resistivity; collisionless dissipation; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; X-LINE; PHYSICS;

D O I：

10.1002/2016GL068243

中图分类号：

P [天文学、地球科学];

学科分类号：

07 ;

摘要：

Results from particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection with asymmetric upstream conditions are reported to elucidate electron energization and structure of the electron diffusion region (EDR). Acceleration of unmagnetized electrons results in discrete structures in the distribution functions and supports the intense current and perpendicular heating in the EDR. The accelerated electrons are cyclotron turned by the reconnected magnetic field to produce the outflow jets, and as such, the acceleration by the reconnection electric field is limited, leading to resistivity without particle-particle or particle-wave collisions. A map of electron distributions is constructed, and its spatial evolution is compared with quantities previously proposed to be EDR identifiers to enable effective identifications of the EDR in terrestrial magnetopause reconnection.

引用

页码：2405 / 2412

页数：8

共 28 条

[1] Electron nongyrotropy in the context of collisionless magnetic reconnection [J].

Aunai, Nicolas ;

Hesse, Michael ;

Kuznetsova, Maria .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2013, 20 (09)

[2] Electron distribution functions in the electron diffusion region of magnetic reconnection: Physics behind the fine structures [J].

Bessho, N. ;

Chen, L-J ;

Shuster, J. R. ;

Wang, S. .

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2014, 41 (24) :8688-8695

[3] MOMENTUM TRANSPORT NEAR A MAGNETIC X-LINE IN COLLISIONLESS RECONNECTION [J].

CAI, HJ ;

DING, DQ ;

LEE, LC .

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 1994, 99 (A1) :35-42

[4] Evidence of an extended electron current sheet and its neighboring magnetic island during magnetotail reconnection [J].

Chen, L. -J. ;

Bessho, N. ;

Lefebvre, B. ;

Vaith, H. ;

Fazakerley, A. ;

Bhattacharjee, A. ;

Puhl-Quinn, P. A. ;

Runov, A. ;

Khotyaintsev, Y. ;

Vaivads, A. ;

Georgescu, E. ;

Torbert, R. .

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 2008, 113 (A12)

[5] The inversion layer of electric fields and electron phase-space-hole structure during two-dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection [J].

Chen, Li-Jen ;

Daughton, William S. ;

Lefebvre, Bertrand ;

Torbert, Roy B. .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2011, 18 (01)

[6] Multispacecraft observations of the electron current sheet, neighboring magnetic islands, and electron acceleration during magnetotail reconnection [J].

Chen, Li-Jen ;

Bessho, Naoki ;

Lefebvre, Bertrand ;

Vaith, Hans ;

Asnes, Arne ;

Santolik, Ondrej ;

Fazakerley, Andrew ;

Puhl-Quinn, Pamela ;

Bhattacharjee, Amitava ;

Khotyaintsev, Yuri ;

Daly, Patrick ;

Torbert, Roy .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2009, 16 (05)

[7] Computing the reconnection rate in turbulent kinetic layers by using electron mixing to identify topology [J].

Daughton, W. ;

Nakamura, T. K. M. ;

Karimabadi, H. ;

Roytershteyn, V. ;

Loring, B. .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2014, 21 (05)

[8] Fully kinetic simulations of undriven magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions [J].

Daughton, William ;

Scudder, Jack ;

Karimabadi, Homa .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2006, 13 (07)

[9] Cluster observations of bidirectional beams caused by electron trapping during antiparallel reconnection [J].

Egedal, J. ;

Le, A. ;

Katz, N. ;

Chen, L. -J. ;

Lefebvre, B. ;

Daughton, W. ;

Fazakerley, A. .

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 2010, 115

[10] Electron dynamics in two-dimensional asymmetric anti-parallel reconnection [J].

Egedal, J. ;

Le, A. ;

Pritchett, P. L. ;

Daughton, W. .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2011, 18 (10)

← 1 2 3 →