scholarly journals The heavy ion diffusion region in magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 3535-3551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. H. Liu ◽  
C. G. Mouikis ◽  
L. M. Kistler ◽  
S. Wang ◽  
V. Roytershteyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Heavy Ion ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Ion Diffusion

scholarly journals Electron pitch angle distribution during magnetic reconnection diffusion region observations in the Earth's magnetotail

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Borg ◽  
M. G. G. T. Taylor ◽  
J. P. Eastwood
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Electron Flux ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Angle Distribution ◽  
Ion Diffusion ◽  
Electron Field ◽  
Outflow Region ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Case Basis ◽  
Magnetotail Current Sheet

Abstract. The Earth's magnetosphere provides an excellent laboratory for magnetic reconnection research. In particular, the magnetotail current sheet that is formed between the interface of the similar Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the magnetotail provides a relatively stable symmetric reconnection configuration that can be used to study basic aspects of the reconnection process. Of particular importance is the manner in which electrons are processed by the reconnection. Simulations and satellite data analyses of the ion diffusion region have suggested that the fluxes of electrons in the inflow regions of reconnection are greater in the directions parallel and anti-parallel to the magnetic field (field-aligned) whereas the electron flux in the outflow region is distributed more isotropically. However, this has only been studied experimentally on a case-by-case basis. In this paper, we investigate this claim by analyzing the degree of bulk electron field alignment in the outflow and inflow regions during encounters of the magnetic reconnection ion diffusion region by the Cluster spacecraft in the years 2001–2006. We demonstrate that while the median electron flux in the inflow region is indeed more field aligned than in the outflow region during some ion diffusion region encounters, the variation of the signature across events is so large that it cannot be said to be a general feature of magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail.

Effect of inflow density on ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection: Particle-in-cell simulations

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 111204 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Wu ◽  
M. A. Shay ◽  
T. D. Phan ◽  
M. Oieroset ◽  
M. Oka
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Ion Diffusion ◽  
Particle In Cell

scholarly journals Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes in the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongsheng Wang ◽  
Quanming Lu ◽  
Rumi Nakamura ◽  
Can Huang ◽  
Aimin Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Flux ◽  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Ion Diffusion ◽  
Magnetic Flux Ropes ◽  
Flux Ropes

The evolution of the ion diffusion region during collisionless magnetic reconnection in a force-free current sheet

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 092110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fushun Zhou ◽  
Can Huang ◽  
Quanming Lu ◽  
Jinlin Xie ◽  
Shui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Ion Diffusion ◽  
Free Current

scholarly journals Identification of the Electron-Diffusion Region during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

2008 ◽  
Vol 101 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Ren ◽  
Masaaki Yamada ◽  
Hantao Ji ◽  
Stefan P. Gerhardt ◽  
Russell Kulsrud
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Laboratory Plasma ◽  
Electron Diffusion

scholarly journals First in situ evidence of electron pitch angle scattering due to magnetic field line curvature in the Ion diffusion region

2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 4103-4110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. C. Zhang ◽  
C. Shen ◽  
A. Marchaudon ◽  
Z. J. Rong ◽  
B. Lavraud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Field Line ◽  
Magnetic Field Line ◽  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Ion Diffusion ◽  
Angle Scattering

Formation of non-thermal electron velocity distribution functions in kinetic magnetic reconnection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Yao ◽  
Patricio A. Muñoz ◽  
Jörg Büchner
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Free Energy ◽  
Field Strength ◽  
Magnetic Reconnection ◽  
Electron Beams ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Electron Velocity ◽  
Diffusion Region ◽  
Electron Velocity Distribution ◽  
Velocity Distribution Functions

<div> <div>Magnetic reconnection can convert magnetic energy into non-thermal particle energy in the form of electron beams. Those accelerated electrons can, in turn, cause radio emission in environments such as solar flares. The actual properties of those electron velocity distribution functions (EVDFs) generated by reconnection are still not well understood. In particular the properties that are relevant for the micro-instabilities responsible for radio emission. We aim thus at characterizing the electron distributions functions generated by 3D magnetic reconnection by means of fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) code simulations. Our goal is to characterize the possible sources of free energy of the generated EVDFs in dependence on an external (guide) magnetic field strength. We find that: (1) electron beams with positive gradients in their parallel (to the local magnetic field direction) distribution functions are observed in both diffusion region (parallel crescent-shaped EVDFs) and separatrices (bump-on-tail EVDFs). These non-thermal EVDFs cause counterstreaming and bump-on-tail instabilities. These electrons are adiabatic and preferentially accelerated by a parallel electric field in regions where the magnetic moment is conserved. (2) electron beams with positive gradients in their perpendicular distribution functions are observed in regions with weak magnetic field strength near the current sheet midplane. The characteristic crescent-shaped EVDFs (in perpendicular velocity space) are observed in the diffusion region. These non-thermal EVDFs can cause electron cyclotron maser instabilities. These non-thermal electrons in perpendicular velocity space are mainly non-adiabatic. Their EVDFs are attributed to electrons experiencing an E×B drift and meandering motion. (3) As the guide field strength increases, the number of locations in the current sheet with distributions functions featuring a perpendicular source of free energy significantly decreases.</div> </div>

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