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

Egedal, Jan; Wetherton, Blake; Daughton, William Scott; Le, Ari Yitzchak

doi:10.1063/1.4972135

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

Journal Article · Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972135· OSTI ID:1475335

Egedal, Jan ^[1];

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Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Physics
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

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.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396; NNX14AC68G; NNX14AL38G

OSTI ID:: 1475335

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-27438

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 12; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 8 works

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Cited By (3)

Energy transfer and electron energization in collisionless magnetic reconnection for different guide-field intensities Pucci, F.; Usami, S.; Ji, H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5050992	journal	December 2018
Inner and outer electron diffusion region of antiparallel collisionless reconnection: Density dependence Divin, A.; Semenov, V.; Zaitsev, I. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5109368	journal	October 2019
Energy transfer and electron energization in collisionless magnetic reconnection for different guide-field intensities Pucci, F.; Usami, S.; Ji, H. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1808.01919	text	January 2018

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