Journal ArticleDOI
Three‐dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection in the presence of a guide field
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TLDR
In this article, the authors used 3D particle-in-cell simulations with an open geometry to investigate the changes in the reconnection physics produced by a "guide field" component B0y of the magnetic field.Abstract:
[1] Previous investigations of collisionless magnetic reconnection in a standard Harris neutral sheet configuration have demonstrated the importance of the Hall term for producing near-Alfvenic rates of reconnection and the existence of a very thin (∼c/ωpe) electron current layer and sharp density/pressure gradients on c/ωpi scales. The present work uses three-dimensional (3-D) particle-in-cell simulations with an open geometry to investigate the changes in the reconnection physics produced by a “guide field” component B0y of the magnetic field. With B0y ≲ B0, the nonlinear reconnection rate is not substantially modified from that for the Harris case. The properties of the reconnection fields and particle dynamics, however, are strongly altered. The familiar quadrupole By pattern is replaced by an enhancement of ∣By∣ between the separatrices. The enhanced parallel electric field and parallel electron velocity are confined to one pair of separatrix arms (which are positively charged), while the electron current peaks on the other pair (which are negatively charged). The ion outflow along the current sheet polarizes the separatrices, thereby creating large components of the in-plane electric field. The electrons are accelerated to form a beam structure with parallel speed limited by the electron Alfven speed. The beam-dominated electron distribution produces some y-dependent structures in E∥. For B0y ≫ B0, the reconnection rate is reduced by a factor of 2–3, and the parallel fields and velocities are somewhat smaller; the Hall current produced perturbations in By are considerably reduced.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Electron acceleration from contracting magnetic islands during reconnection
TL;DR: Here it is shown that electrons gain kinetic energy by reflecting from the ends of the contracting ‘magnetic islands’ that form as reconnection proceeds, analogous to the increase of energy of a ball reflecting between two converging walls.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cluster observations of electron holes in association with magnetotail reconnection and comparison to simulations
Cynthia A Cattell,J. Dombeck,John R. Wygant,James Drake,Marc Swisdak,M. L. Goldstein,W. Keith,Andrew Fazakerley,Mats André,E. A. Lucek,André Balogh +10 more
TL;DR: Cluster observations of electron holes in association with magnetotail reconnection and comparison to simulations were presented in this article, where the authors compared simulations and simulations of the two models.
Journal ArticleDOI
Dipolarization fronts as a signature of transient reconnection in the magnetotail
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that bipolarization fronts (DFs) form when the force balance is already restored in the system and justify their interpretation as a nonlinear stage of the tearing instability developing in two magnetotail-like structures on the left and on the right of the initial central X-line.
Journal ArticleDOI
Formation of secondary islands during magnetic reconnection
TL;DR: In this paper, full particle simulations are presented that suggest that the strength of an ambient guide magnetic field can determine whether magnetic reconnection remains steady or becomes bursty during anti-parallel (component) reconnection.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Search-Coil Magnetometer for MMS
O. Le Contel,Paul Leroy,Alain Roux,Christophe Coillot,D. Alison,A. Bouabdellah,L. Mirioni,L. Meslier,A. Galic,M. C. Vassal,Roy B. Torbert,J. Needell,D. Rau,I. Dors,Robert E. Ergun,J. Westfall,D. Summers,J. Wallace,Werner Magnes,Aris Valavanoglou,Göran F. Olsson,M. Chutter,Joseph Macri,S. Myers,S. Turco,J. Nolin,D. Bodet,K. M. Rowe,M. Tanguy,B. de la Porte +29 more
TL;DR: The tri-axial search-coil magnetometer (SCM) belongs to the FIELDS instrumentation suite on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission as discussed by the authors.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Dissipation of Currents in Ionized Media
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