Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of large‐amplitude, parallel, electrostatic waves associated with magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause

Ergun, R. E.; Holmes, J. C.; Goodrich, K.; Wilder, F. D.; Stawarz, J. E.; Eriksson, S.; Newman, D. L.; Schwartz, Steven J.; Goldman, M. V.; Sturner, A. P.; Malaspina, D.; Usanova, Maria; Torbert, R. B.; Argall, M. R.; Lindqvist, Per‐Arne; Khotyaintsev, Yuri V.; Burch, J. L.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Pollock, C. J.; Giles, B. L.; Dorelli, J.; Avanov, L. A.; Hesse, Michael; Chen, Li‐Jen; Lavraud, B.; Contel, O. Le; Retinò, Alessandro; Phan, T. D.; Eastwood, J. P.; Øieroset, M.; Drake, J. F.; Shay, M. A.; Cassak, P. A.; Nakamura, R.; Zhou, Meng; Ashour‐Abdalla, M.; André, Mats

doi:10.1002/2016gl068992

Cited by 71 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In regions where hot and cold plasmas interpenetrate, electron‐acoustic wave damping is reduced and these waves evolve into nonlinear electron‐acoustic solitary structures. Other simulations of electron‐acoustic wave generation in regions where hot and cold plasma interpenetrate produce similar results (Ergun, Holmes, et al, ).…”

Section: Observationssupporting

confidence: 59%

A Census of Plasma Waves and Structures Associated With an Injection Front in the Inner Magnetosphere

et al. 2018

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Now that observations have conclusively established that the inner magnetosphere is abundantly populated with kinetic electric field structures and nonlinear waves, attention has turned to quantifying the ability of these structures and waves to scatter and accelerate inner magnetospheric plasma populations. A necessary step in that quantification is determining the distribution of observed structure and wave properties (e.g., occurrence rates, amplitudes, and spatial scales). Kinetic structures and nonlinear waves have broadband signatures in frequency space, and consequently, high‐resolution time domain electric and magnetic field data are required to uniquely identify such structures and waves as well as determine their properties. However, most high‐resolution fields data are collected with a strong bias toward high‐amplitude signals in a preselected frequency range, strongly biasing observations of structure and wave properties. In this study, an ∼45 min unbroken interval of 16,384 samples/s field burst data, encompassing an electron injection event, is examined. This data set enables an unbiased census of the kinetic structures and nonlinear waves driven by this electron injection, as well as determination of their “typical” properties. It is found that the properties determined using this unbiased burst data are considerably different than those inferred from amplitude‐biased burst data, with significant implications for wave‐particle interactions due to kinetic structures and nonlinear waves in the inner magnetosphere.

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Section: Observationssupporting

confidence: 59%

A Census of Plasma Waves and Structures Associated With an Injection Front in the Inner Magnetosphere

et al. 2018

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“…Due to the long duration of the magnetopause crossing (∼30 s), it is possible that the configuration of the magnetopause changed over the course of the event. It is also possible that kinetic‐scale instabilities cause the local current and boundary orientations to differ from the larger‐scale configuration (Ergun, Holmes, et al, ; Ergun et al, ; Price et al, , ). Four‐point timing analysis (Schwartz, ) of the B Z G S E reversal point (at approximately 07:36:55 UT) yields a normal vector of [0.98011, 0.192104, −0.049797], again in GSE, and a boundary velocity of −31 km/s

\overset{N}{true}

.…”

Section: Data Analysis Methods and Lmn Coordinatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ergun, Holmes, et al () and Ergun et al () reported observations of large‐amplitude parallel electrostatic waves, which they associated with drift‐instability‐driven “corrugations” of the magnetopause near the separatrix and X‐point. Cassak et al () and Genestreti et al () reported

\overset{J}{true} \cdot (\overset{E}{true} + {\overset{v}{true}}_{e} \times \overset{B}{true}) > 0

, the local per‐volume rate of work done on the plasma by the nonideal electric field, in central EDRs that were several orders of magnitude larger than what was predicted by 2.5‐d particle‐in‐cell (PIC) simulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MMS Observation of Asymmetric Reconnection Supported by 3‐D Electron Pressure Divergence

et al. 2018

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We identify the electron diffusion region (EDR) of a guide field dayside reconnection site encountered by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission and estimate the terms in generalized Ohm's law that controlled energy conversion near the X‐point. MMS crossed the moderate‐shear (∼130°) magnetopause southward of the exact X‐point. MMS likely entered the magnetopause far from the X‐point, outside the EDR, as the size of the reconnection layer was less than but comparable to the magnetosheath proton gyroradius, and also as anisotropic gyrotropic “outflow” crescent electron distributions were observed. MMS then approached the X‐point, where all four spacecraft simultaneously observed signatures of the EDR, for example, an intense out‐of‐plane electron current, moderate electron agyrotropy, intense electron anisotropy, nonideal electric fields, and nonideal energy conversion. We find that the electric field associated with the nonideal energy conversion is (a) well described by the sum of the electron inertial and pressure divergence terms in generalized Ohms law though (b) the pressure divergence term dominates the inertial term by roughly a factor of 5:1, (c) both the gyrotropic and agyrotropic pressure forces contribute to energy conversion at the X‐point, and (d) both out‐of‐the‐reconnection‐plane gradients (∂/∂M) and in‐plane (∂/∂L,N) in the pressure tensor contribute to energy conversion near the X‐point. This indicates that this EDR had some electron‐scale structure in the out‐of‐plane direction during the time when (and at the location where) the reconnection site was observed.

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“…This modification of the Hall physics due to cold ions has been studied through investigating the generalized Ohm's law using observations from the Cluster (Toledo‐Redondo et al, ) and Magnetospheric Multiscale (André et al, ) spacecraft. Lower hybrid waves (Graham et al, ), ion acoustic waves (Uchino et al, ), and electron acoustic waves (Ergun, Holmes, et al, ) can be generated at the magnetopause boundary layer due to the interaction of magnetosheath and cold magnetospheric plasmas. Thus, cold ions can affect the magnetic reconnection in both the fluid and kinetic aspects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold Ionospheric Ions in the Magnetic Reconnection Outflow Region

André

Khotyaintsev

et al. 2017

JGR Space Physics

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Magnetosheath plasma usually determines properties of asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the subsolar region of Earth's magnetopause. However, cold plasma that originated from the ionosphere can also reach the magnetopause and modify the kinetic physics of asymmetric reconnection. We present a magnetopause crossing with high‐density (10–60 cm−3) cold ions and ongoing reconnection from the observation of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The magnetopause crossing is estimated to be 300 ion inertial lengths south of the X line. Two distinct ion populations are observed on the magnetosheath edge of the ion jet. One population with high parallel velocities (200–300 km/s) is identified to be cold ion beams, and the other population is the magnetosheath ions. In the deHoffman‐Teller frame, the field‐aligned magnetosheath ions are Alfvénic and move toward the jet region, while the field‐aligned cold ion beams move toward the magnetosheath boundary layer, with much lower speeds. These cold ion beams are suggested to be from the cold ions entering the jet close to the X line. This is the first observation of the cold ionospheric ions in the reconnection outflow region, including the reconnection jet and the magnetosheath boundary layer.

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Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of large‐amplitude, parallel, electrostatic waves associated with magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause

Cited by 71 publications

References 41 publications

A Census of Plasma Waves and Structures Associated With an Injection Front in the Inner Magnetosphere

A Census of Plasma Waves and Structures Associated With an Injection Front in the Inner Magnetosphere

MMS Observation of Asymmetric Reconnection Supported by 3‐D Electron Pressure Divergence

Cold Ionospheric Ions in the Magnetic Reconnection Outflow Region

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