Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Processes setting the structure of the electron distribution function within the exhausts of anti-parallel reconnection

Abstract

In situ spacecraft observations within the exhausts of magnetic reconnection document a large variation in the velocity space structure of the electron distribution function. Multiple mechanisms help govern the underlying electron dynamics, yielding a range of signatures for collisionless reconnection. These signatures include passing beams of electrons separated by well-defined boundaries from betatron heated/cooled trapped electrons. The present study emphasizes how localized regions of non-adiabatic electron dynamics can mix electrons across the trapped/passing boundaries and impact the form of the electron distributions in the full width of the exhaust. Here, while our study is based on 2D simulations, the described principles shaping the velocity space distributions also apply to 3D geometries making our findings relevant to spacecraft observation of reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1475335
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-27438
Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; NNX14AC68G; NNX14AL38G
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 23; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics

Citation Formats

Egedal, Jan, Wetherton, Blake, Daughton, William Scott, and Le, Ari Yitzchak. Processes setting the structure of the electron distribution function within the exhausts of anti-parallel reconnection. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4972135.
Copy to clipboard
Egedal, Jan, Wetherton, Blake, Daughton, William Scott, & Le, Ari Yitzchak. Processes setting the structure of the electron distribution function within the exhausts of anti-parallel reconnection. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972135
Copy to clipboard
Egedal, Jan, Wetherton, Blake, Daughton, William Scott, and Le, Ari Yitzchak. Mon . "Processes setting the structure of the electron distribution function within the exhausts of anti-parallel reconnection". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972135. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1475335.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1475335,
title = {Processes setting the structure of the electron distribution function within the exhausts of anti-parallel reconnection},
author = {Egedal, Jan and Wetherton, Blake and Daughton, William Scott and Le, Ari Yitzchak},
abstractNote = {In situ spacecraft observations within the exhausts of magnetic reconnection document a large variation in the velocity space structure of the electron distribution function. Multiple mechanisms help govern the underlying electron dynamics, yielding a range of signatures for collisionless reconnection. These signatures include passing beams of electrons separated by well-defined boundaries from betatron heated/cooled trapped electrons. The present study emphasizes how localized regions of non-adiabatic electron dynamics can mix electrons across the trapped/passing boundaries and impact the form of the electron distributions in the full width of the exhaust. Here, while our study is based on 2D simulations, the described principles shaping the velocity space distributions also apply to 3D geometries making our findings relevant to spacecraft observation of reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4972135},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 12,
volume = 23,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972135
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail plasma sheet
journal, May 2011

A loop-top hard X-ray source in a compact solar flare as evidence for magnetic reconnection
journal, October 1994

  • Masuda, S.; Kosugi, T.; Hara, H.
  • Nature, Vol. 371, Issue 6497
  • DOI: 10.1038/371495a0

Magnitude of the Hall fields during magnetic reconnection: HALL FIELDS DURING RECONNECTION
journal, February 2010

  • Le, A.; Egedal, J.; Daughton, W.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1029/2009GL041941

Regimes of the Electron Diffusion Region in Magnetic Reconnection
journal, March 2013

Extended magnetic reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause from detection of bi-directional jets
journal, April 2000

  • Phan, T. D.; Kistler, L. M.; Klecker, B.
  • Nature, Vol. 404, Issue 6780
  • DOI: 10.1038/35009050

Magnetospheric Multiscale Overview and Science Objectives
journal, May 2015

Whistler waves associated with magnetic reconnection
journal, January 2008

  • Fujimoto, Keizo; Sydora, Richard D.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 35, Issue 19
  • DOI: 10.1029/2008GL035201

In Situ Discovery of an Electrostatic Potential, Trapping Electrons and Mediating Fast Reconnection in the Earth's Magnetotail
journal, January 2005

Large-scale electron acceleration by parallel electric fields during magnetic reconnection
journal, February 2012

  • Egedal, J.; Daughton, W.; Le, A.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2249

The inversion layer of electric fields and electron phase-space-hole structure during two-dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection
journal, January 2011

  • Chen, Li-Jen; Daughton, William S.; Lefebvre, Bertrand
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3529365

Evidence and theory for trapped electrons in guide field magnetotail reconnection: TRAPPED ELECTRONS IN GUIDE FIELD RECONNECTION
journal, December 2008

  • Egedal, J.; Fox, W.; Katz, N.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 113, Issue A12
  • DOI: 10.1029/2008JA013520

Energetic electron acceleration by unsteady magnetic reconnection
journal, June 2013

  • Fu, H. S.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Vaivads, A.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2664

Regular and chaotic charged particle motion in magnetotaillike field reversals: 1. Basic theory of trapped motion
journal, January 1989

Particle trajectories in model current sheets: 1. Analytical solutions
journal, September 1965

Highly structured electron anisotropy in collisionless reconnection exhausts
journal, August 2014

  • Shuster, J. R.; Chen, L. -J.; Daughton, W. S.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 15
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060608

Advances in petascale kinetic plasma simulation with VPIC and Roadrunner
journal, July 2009

Particle acceleration in dipolarization events: PARTICLE ACCELERATION BY DIPOLARIZATION
journal, May 2013

  • Birn, J.; Hesse, M.; Nakamura, R.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1002/jgra.50132

Fast Collisionless Reconnection and Electron Heating in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas
journal, July 2013

A review of pressure anisotropy caused by electron trapping in collisionless plasma, and its implications for magnetic reconnection
journal, June 2013

  • Egedal, Jan; Le, Ari; Daughton, William
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4811092

LXXVI. Conditions for the occurrence of electrical discharges in astrophysical systems
journal, July 1953

  • Dungey, J. W.
  • The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Vol. 44, Issue 354
  • DOI: 10.1080/14786440708521050

Electron distribution functions in the electron diffusion region of magnetic reconnection: Physics behind the fine structures
journal, December 2014

  • Bessho, N.; Chen, L. -J.; Shuster, J. R.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014GL062034

Formation of a localized acceleration potential during magnetic reconnection with a guide field
journal, May 2009

  • Egedal, J.; Daughton, W.; Drake, J. F.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3130732

Two-stage bulk electron heating in the diffusion region of anti-parallel symmetric reconnection
journal, October 2016

  • Le, A.; Egedal, J.; Daughton, W.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4964768

Phase space structure of the electron diffusion region in reconnection with weak guide fields
journal, November 2012

  • Ng, J.; Egedal, J.; Le, A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4766895

Transition in electron physics of magnetic reconnection in weakly collisional plasma
journal, November 2014

The electron edge of low latitude boundary layer during accelerated flow events
journal, October 1990

  • Gosling, J. T.; Thomsen, M. F.; Bame, S. J.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1029/GL017i011p01833

Kinetic Structure of the Electron Diffusion Region in Antiparallel Magnetic Reconnection
journal, February 2011

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Energy transfer and electron energization in collisionless magnetic reconnection for different guide-field intensities
    journal, December 2018

    • Pucci, F.; Usami, S.; Ji, H.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 12
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5050992

    Inner and outer electron diffusion region of antiparallel collisionless reconnection: Density dependence
    journal, October 2019

    • Divin, A.; Semenov, V.; Zaitsev, I.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 10
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5109368
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: