Criteria for and statistics of electron diffusion regions associated with subsolar magnetic field reconnection

Mozer, F. S.

doi:10.1029/2005ja011258

Cited by 47 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…The electron diffusion region has also been observed in space [24][25][26][27][28][29], where it was identified by examining the violation of the frozen-in condition for the electrons or by the observation of parallel electric fields. Previously reported electron diffusion regions in laboratory were either in electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) plasmas where the ions were globally demagnetized [30] or in the presence of a strong guide field which magnetized the electrons [31].…”

Section: Recent Numerical Simulations Have Shown That Fast Reconnectimentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of the Hall Effect and Electron Diffusion Region During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Ren¹,

Ji²,

Dorfman³

et al. 2008

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The Hall effect during magnetic reconnection without an external guide field has been extensively studied in the laboratory plasma of the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [Yamada et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936(1997] by measuring its key signature, an out-of-plane quadrupole magnetic field, with magnetic probe arrays whose spatial resolution is on the order of the electron skin depth. The in-plane electron flow is deduced from out-of-plane magnetic field measurements.The measured in-plane electron flow and numerical results are in good agreement. The electron diffusion region is identified by measuring the electron outflow channel. The width of the electron diffusion region scales with the electron skin depth (∼ 8c/ω pe ) and the peak electron outflow velocity scales with the electron Alfvén velocity (∼ 0.11V eA ), independent of ion mass. The measured width of the electron diffusion region is much wider and the observed electron outflow is much slower than those obtained in 2D numerical simulations. It is found that the classical and anomalous dissipation present in the experiment can broaden the electron diffusion region and slow the electron outflow.As a consequence, the electron outflow flux remain consistent with numerical simulations. The ions, as measured by a Mach probe, have a much wider outflow channel than the electrons, and their outflow is much slower than the electron outflow everywhere in the electron diffusion region.

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Section: Recent Numerical Simulations Have Shown That Fast Reconnectimentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of the Hall Effect and Electron Diffusion Region During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Ren¹,

Ji²,

Dorfman³

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Today, computer simulations and spacecraft observations are beginning to resolve the fine-structure involved (e.g. Vaivads et al, 2004a;Onofri et al, 2004;Retinò et al, 2006 andMozer, 2005). Multi-spacecraft missions, such as Cluster (Escoubet et al, 1997;, offer the opportunity to resolve the spatial-temporal ambiguity associated with single spacecraft measurements and allow us to determine the scale lengths of spatial structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal structure and spatial dimensions of whistler wave regions in the magnetopause boundary layer

et al. 2007

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Abstract. We use whistler waves observed close to the magnetopause as an instrument to investigate the internal structure of the magnetopause-magnetosheath boundary layer. We find that this region is characterized by tube-like structures with dimensions less than or comparable with an ion inertial length in the direction perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field. The tubes are revealed as they constitute regions where whistler waves are generated and propagate. We believe that the region containing tube-like structures extend several Earth radii along the magnetopause in the boundary layer. Within the presumed wave generating regions we find current structures moving at the whistler wave group velocity in the same direction as the waves.

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“…The dashed box outlines the X-line region (e.g. Mozer, 2005) where reconnection is initiated and that is only a few ion skin depths (λ i =c/ω pi , where ω pi is the ion plasma frequency) in size. As reconnection proceeds the initial current sheet bifurcates into two pairs of Alfvén waves at which the magnetic field changes direction and the main energy conversion takes place.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind observations of low energy particles within a solar wind reconnection region

2008

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Abstract. We report characteristics of thermal particle observations during the encounter of the Wind satellite with the separatrix and the outflow domains of a reconnection event on 22 July 1999 in the solar wind. During the studied event the electrostatic analyzers on Wind were transmitting threedimensional electron and proton distributions in a burst mode every 3 s, the spin period of the spacecraft. The event was associated with a magnetic shear angle of 114 • and a large guide magnetic field. The observations suggest that Wind crossed the separatrix and outflow regions about a thousand of ion skin depths from the X-line. At the leading separator boundary, a strong proton beam was identified that originated from the direction of the X-line. In the separatrix and the outflow regions, the phase space distributions of thermal electrons displayed field aligned bidirectional anisotropy. During the crossings of the current sheets bounding the outflow region, we identified two adjacent layers in which the dominant thermal electron flows were towards the X-line at the inner edges of the current sheets and away from the X-line at the outer edges. Interestingly, simulation studies and observations in the Earth's magnetosphere have revealed that the electron flows are reversed, consistent with the Hall current system.

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Criteria for and statistics of electron diffusion regions associated with subsolar magnetic field reconnection

Cited by 47 publications

References 33 publications

Experimental Study of the Hall Effect and Electron Diffusion Region During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Experimental Study of the Hall Effect and Electron Diffusion Region During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Internal structure and spatial dimensions of whistler wave regions in the magnetopause boundary layer

Wind observations of low energy particles within a solar wind reconnection region

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