How Does the Guide Field Affect the Asymmetry of Hall Magnetic and Electric Fields in Fast Magnetic Reconnection?

Lai, Xiangsheng; Zhou, Meng; Deng, Xiaohua; Li, Tang-Mu; Huang, Suming

doi:10.1088/0256-307x/32/9/095202

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(13 reference statements)

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“…However, in guide field reconnection, the Hall term is distorted with respect to the neutral sheet. It has been shown that the Hall term is the main factor leading to the distortion of the electric field E z (Lai et al, 2015). The region with a positive Hall term shrinks compared to the case without a guide field; hence, a region with only a convective term emerges.…”

Section: Simulation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Huang

Zhou

et al. 2018

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. It has been shown that the guide field substantially modifies the structure of the reconnection layer. For instance, the Hall magnetic and electric fields are distorted in guide field reconnection compared to reconnection without guide fields (i.e., anti-parallel reconnection). In this paper, we performed 2.5-D electromagnetic full particle simulation to study the electric field structures in magnetic reconnection under different initial guide fields (B g ). Once the amplitude of a guide field exceeds 0.3 times the asymptotic magnetic field B 0 , the traditional bipolar Hall electric field is clearly replaced by a tripolar electric field, which consists of a newly emerged electric field and the bipolar Hall electric field. The newly emerged electric field is a convective electric field about one ion inertial length away from the neutral sheet. It arises from the disappearance of the Hall electric field due to the substantial modification of the magnetic field and electric current by the imposed guide field. The peak magnitude of this new electric field increases linearly with the increment of guide field strength. Possible applications of these results to space observations are also discussed.

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Section: Simulation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently Malakit et al (2013) found a new electric field in asymmetric magnetic reconnection. This electric field is named the "Larmor electric field" because it is associated with the finite ion Larmor radius effect and hence is distinct from the Hall electric field.…”

Section: Simulation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Huang

Zhou

et al. 2018

Ann. Geophys.

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“…This is unlike the typical bipolar structure of the Hall electric field in antiparallel symmetric reconnection in which the bipolar Hall electric field is symmetric with respect to B L = 0. However, it is an essential feature of guide field reconnection that the bipolar normal electric field is replaced by a tripolar electric field (Lai et al, ; Øieroset et al, ; Pritchett & Mozer, ). Both the guide field and the density asymmetry across the current sheet can modify the structure of the Hall electric field; however, the influence of density asymmetry on the Hall electric field is not obvious because the density changes by a factor of 3 across the current sheet, which is smaller than the factor of ~10 expected for typical MPs.…”

Section: Current Sheet and Ion Diffusion Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of an Ion Diffusion Region With Large Guide Field at the Magnetopause: Current System, Electron Heating, and Plasma Waves

et al. 2018

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We report Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of a reconnecting current sheet in the presence of a weak density asymmetry with large guide field at the dayside magnetopause. An ion diffusion region (IDR) was detected associated with this current sheet. Parallel current dominated over the perpendicular current in the IDR, as found in previous studies of component reconnection. Electrons were preferentially heated parallel to the magnetic field within the IDR. The heating was manifested as a flattop distribution below 400 eV. Two types of electromagnetic electron whistler waves were observed within the regions where electrons were heated. One type of whistler wave was associated with nonlinear structures in E|| with amplitudes up to 20 mV/m. The other type was not associated with any structures in E||. Poynting fluxes of these two types of whistler waves were directed away from the X‐line. We suggest that the nonlinear evolution of the oblique whistler waves gave rise to the solitary structures in E||. There was a perpendicular super‐Alfvénic outflow jet that was carried by magnetized electrons. Intense electrostatic lower hybrid drift waves were localized in the current sheet center and were probably driven by the super‐Alfvénic electron jet, the velocity of which was approximately equal to the diamagnetic drift of demagnetized ions. Our observations suggest that the guide field significantly modified the structures (Hall electromagnetic fields and current system) and wave properties in the IDR.

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“…It is proposed that that kind of Hall magnetic field structure results from the in-plane Hall current carried mainly by electrons, which is directed away from the X line along the separatrix and toward the X line along the magnetic field line just below the separatrix (Nagai et al 2003;Lu et al 2010). In symmetric reconnection without a guide field, both the in-plane Hall current and Hall magnetic field have good symmetry, while the introduction of a guide field distorts the symmetry (Pritchett 2001;Eastwood et al 2010;Huang et al 2010Huang et al , 2014Lu et al 2011;Wang et al 2012;Lai et al 2015;Zhou et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Parametric Study of the Structure of Hall Magnetic Field Based on Kinetic Simulations. I. Anti-parallel Magnetic Reconnection in an Asymmetric Current Sheet

Sang

Wang

et al. 2019

ApJ

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The generation of the Hall magnetic field is considered one of the most important characteristics in collisionless magnetic reconnection. Here, in this paper, with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we study the structure of the Hall magnetic field generated during anti-parallel magnetic reconnection in an asymmetric current sheet. A quadrupolar structure of the Hall magnetic field is first formed, and then it evolves into a hexapolar structure with the proceeding magnetic reconnection. In the quadrupolar structure of the Hall magnetic field, the quadrants on the side of the current sheet with the weaker magnetic field (the dominant Hall magnetic field) are much stronger than those on the other side, and they can cross the center of the current sheet. With the increase of the ratio of the magnetic fields or the decrease of the density ratio (here, the ratio is defined as the values between the side with the stronger magnetic field to that with the weaker magnetic field), the tendency will become more salient. However, with a decrease of the temperature ratio, the tendency reverses. With the proceeding reconnection, two ribbons with an enhanced Hall magnetic field are generated in the region below the dominant Hall magnetic field, and then a hexapolar structure of the Hall magnetic field is formed, which will become stronger with an increase of the ratio of the magnetic field or decrease of the density, while the effect of the temperature asymmetry is much weaker than that of the magnetic field and density asymmetry. The generation of the Hall magnetic field can be explained by the in-plane current carried mainly by the electrons.

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How Does the Guide Field Affect the Asymmetry of Hall Magnetic and Electric Fields in Fast Magnetic Reconnection?

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of an Ion Diffusion Region With Large Guide Field at the Magnetopause: Current System, Electron Heating, and Plasma Waves

A Parametric Study of the Structure of Hall Magnetic Field Based on Kinetic Simulations. I. Anti-parallel Magnetic Reconnection in an Asymmetric Current Sheet

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