EVIDENCE FOR NEWLY INITIATED RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR WIND AT 1 AU
- Space Science Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao (China)
- Faculty of Information Technology, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao (China)
- SIGMA Group, Sate Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China)
- Institute of Space Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031 (China)
We report the first evidence for a large-scale reconnection exhaust newly initiated in the solar wind using observations from three spacecraft: ACE, Wind, and ARTEMIS P2. We identified a well-structured X-line exhaust using measurements from ARTEMIS P2 in the downstream solar wind. However, in the upstream solar wind, ACE detected the same current sheet that corresponds to the exhaust identified by ARTEMIS P2 data without showing any reconnection signals. We cannot find any reconnection signals from Wind located between ACE and ARTEMIS P2. Within the exhaust, a magnetic island is identified, which is not consistent with the quasi-steady feature as previously reported and provides further evidence that the reconnection is newly initiated. Our observations show that the entering of energetic particles, probably from Earth's bow shock, makes the crucial difference between the non-reconnecting current sheet and the exhaust. Since no obvious driving factors are responsible for the reconnection initiation, we infer that these energetic particles probably play an important role in the reconnection initiation. Theoretical analysis also shows support for this potential mechanism.
- OSTI ID:
- 22525705
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 809, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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