Laboratory Observations of Electron Phase-Space Holes Driven during Magnetic Reconnection

Details Laboratory Observations of Electron Phase-Space Holes Driven during Magnetic Reconnection Laboratory Observations of Electron Phase-Space Holes Driven during Magnetic Reconnection

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm11c..04f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM11C-04

Physics

Plasma Physics

[2723] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [2772] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Waves And Instabilities, [7815] Space Plasma Physics / Electrostatic Structures

Scientific paper

We report observations of electron holes driven during spontaneous reconnection events on the Versatile Toroidal Facility [1]. These experiments study reconnection in a large-guide-field (Brec / Bguide < 1), overdense (ω pe > ω ce) plasma regime. Electrostatic fluctuations are observed by small, high-bandwidth, impedance-matched Langmuir probes. Fluctuations observed during the reconnection events include broadband lower-hybrid fluctuations and large-amplitude, positive potential spikes, identified as electron phase-space holes [2]. The properties of the holes are studied in detail with cross-correlation techniques between closely spaced probes. The hole diameters parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field are roughly equal, approximately 1-2 mm (50-100 λ D, or 5-10 ρ e), and the holes are observed to travel equal or faster than the electron thermal speed. Based on the observations and scaling arguments, the holes can be shown to be predominantly electrostatic. Finally, holes are observed to be confined to highly localized regions perpendicular to the magnetic field ( ˜ 2 cm, of order ρ i). These observations will be connected to recent space observations and theory. {}
[1] J. Egedal, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. textbf{98}, 015003 (2007).
[2] W. Fox, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. textbf{101}, 255003 (2008). {}
This work was funded in part by DOE Grant DE-FG02-06ER54878 and CMPD Grant DEFC02-04ER54786.

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