Electron-Only Reconnection in Plasma Turbulence

Califano, Francesco; Cerri, Silvio Sergio; Faganello, Matteo; Laveder, Dimitri; Sisti, Manuela; Kunz, Matthew W.

doi:10.3389/fphy.2020.00317

Electron-Only Reconnection in Plasma Turbulence

Journal Article · Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Frontiers in Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2020.00317· OSTI ID:1780820

Califano, Francesco ^[1]; Cerri, Silvio Sergio ^[2]; Faganello, Matteo ^[3]; Laveder, Dimitri ^[4]; Sisti, Manuela ^[5]; Kunz, Matthew W. ^[6]

Univ. of Pisa (Italy)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France)
Univ. Côte d’Azur, Nice (France). Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Lab. J.L. Lagrange
Univ. of Pisa (Italy); Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Hybrid-Vlasov–Maxwell simulations of magnetized plasma turbulence including non-linear electron-inertia effects in a generalized Ohm's law are presented. When fluctuation energy is injected on scales sufficiently close to ion-kinetic scales, the ions efficiently become de-magnetized and electron-scale current sheets largely dominate the distribution of the emerging current structures, in contrast to the usual picture, where a full hierarchy of structure sizes is generally observed. These current sheets are shown to be the sites of electron-only reconnection (e-rec), in which the usual electron exhausts are unaccompanied by ion outflows and which are in qualitative agreement with those recently observed by MMS in the Earth's turbulent magnetosheath, downstream of the bow shock. Some features of the e-rec phenomenology are shown to be consistent with an electron magnetohydrodynamic description. Simulations suggest that this regime of collisionless reconnection may be found in turbulent systems where plasma processes, such as micro-instabilities and/or shocks, overpower the more customary turbulent cascade by directly injecting energy close to the ion-kinetic scales.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)

OSTI ID:: 1780820

Journal Information:: Frontiers in Physics, Journal Name: Frontiers in Physics Vol. 8; ISSN 2296-424X

Publisher:: Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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