Asymmetry of the Ion Diffusion Region Hall Electric and Magnetic Fields during Guide Field Reconnection: Observations and Comparison with Simulations
Journal Article
·
· Physical Review Letters
- Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
- Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 (United States)
- Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
In situ measurements of magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail are presented showing that even a moderate guide field (20% of the reconnecting field) considerably distorts ion diffusion region structure. The Hall magnetic and electric fields are asymmetric and shunted away from the current sheet; an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation is found to be in excellent agreement with the data. The results show the importance of correctly accounting for the effects of the magnetic shear when attempting to identify and study magnetic reconnection diffusion regions in nature.
- OSTI ID:
- 21410686
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 20; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.205001; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CURRENTS
DIFFUSION
EARTH PLANET
ELECTRIC FIELDS
HALL EFFECT
IONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOTAIL
SHEETS
THEORETICAL DATA
CHARGED PARTICLES
DATA
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
EVALUATION
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
PLANETS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CURRENTS
DIFFUSION
EARTH PLANET
ELECTRIC FIELDS
HALL EFFECT
IONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOTAIL
SHEETS
THEORETICAL DATA
CHARGED PARTICLES
DATA
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
EVALUATION
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
PLANETS