Electric Fields and Particle Distribution Functions During a Magnetic Reconnection Event: Comparison of PIC simulations with Cluster observations

Details Electric Fields and Particle Distribution Functions During a Magnetic Reconnection Event: Comparison of PIC simulations with Cluster observations Electric Fields and Particle Distribution Functions During a Magnetic Reconnection Event: Comparison of PIC simulations with Cluster observations

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm44a..07c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM44A-07

Physics

2700 Magnetospheric Physics (6939), 2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 7815 Electrostatic Structures

Scientific paper

A magnetic reconnection event, which occurred in the magnetotail during a substorm, is studied based on data from Cluster spacecraft and the results of a 2D electromagnetic PIC simulation. The focus is on the structure of DC electric fields and electron distribution functions within a few ion inertial lengths of the reconnection site, including the electron diffusion region. The simulation enables us to systematically establish detailed signatures in spatial bins of the larger simulation domain and test them against observations. Electric field structures (80 mV/m, peak to peak) of the order of a few electron inertial lengths are observed by multiple spacecraft at times separated by a few minutes, and are qualitatively corroborated by the simulations. Observed electron distribution functions exhibit very similar features to those obtained from the simulations. The comparison of simulation data in spatial bins with multi-spacecraft data enables a more definitive experimental identification of separatrices and electron diffusion region crossings than has been possible before, and at the same time points to the limitations of 2D simulations in capturing 3D time-dependent reconnection dynamics.

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