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Multispacecraft observations of the electron current sheet, neighboring magnetic islands, and electron acceleration during magnetotail reconnection

Phys. Plasmas 16, 056501 (2009); doi:10.1063/1.3112744

Published 22 April 2009

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Li-Jen Chen,1,2 Naoki Bessho,1,2 Bertrand Lefebvre,1 Hans Vaith,1 Arne Asnes,3 Ondrej Santolik,4,5 Andrew Fazakerley,6 Pamela Puhl-Quinn,1 Amitava Bhattacharjee,1,2 Yuri Khotyaintsev,7 Patrick Daly,8 and Roy Torbert1
1Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
2Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
3ESTEC/ESA, Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
4Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Prague CZ14131, Czech Republic
5Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague CZ18000, Czech Republic
6Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking RH5 6NT, United Kingdom
7Swedish Institute of Space Physics, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden
8Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Open questions concerning structures and dynamics of diffusion regions and electron acceleration in collisionless magnetic reconnection are addressed based on data from the four-spacecraft mission Cluster and particle-in-cell simulations. Using time series of electron distribution functions measured by the four spacecraft, distinct electron regions around a reconnection layer are mapped out to set the framework for studying diffusion regions. A spatially extended electron current sheet (ecs), a series of magnetic islands, and bursts of energetic electrons within islands are identified during magnetotail reconnection with no appreciable guide field. The ecs is collocated with a layer of electron-scale electric fields normal to the ecs and pointing toward the ecs center plane. Both the observed electron and ion densities vary by more than a factor of 2 within one ion skin depth north and south of the ecs, and from the ecs into magnetic islands. Within each of the identified islands, there is a burst of suprathermal electrons whose fluxes peak at density compression sites [L.-J. Chen et al., Nat. Phys. 4, 19 (2008)] and whose energy spectra exhibit power laws with indices ranging from 6 to 7.3. These results indicate that the in-plane electric field normal to the ecs can be of the electron scale at certain phases of reconnection, electrons and ions are highly compressible within the ion diffusion region, and for reconnection involving magnetic islands, primary electron acceleration occurs within the islands. ©2009 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 15 December 2008; accepted 12 March 2009; published 22 April 2009
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?PHPAEN/16/056501/1
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 94.30.cs
    Plasma motion; plasma convection in the magnetosphere
  • 52.65.Rr
    Particle-in-cell method (plasma simulation)
  • 52.70.-m
    Plasma diagnostic techniques and instrumentation
  • 94.30.Kq
    Electric fields, field-aligned currents and current systems, and ring currents in the magnetosphere
  • 94.30.cl
    Magnetotail
  • 94.30.cp
    Magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere
  • YEAR: 2009

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ISSN:
1070-664X (print)   1089-7674 (online)
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