Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsm31a1699p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SM31A-1699
Physics
2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2724 Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7526)
Scientific paper
Asymmetric magnetic field reconnection refers to reconnection in conditions where either or both the magnitude of the reconnecting magnetic field and the plasma density are unequal on the two sides of the current layer. A prime example is reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. The modifications to the usual symmetric description of reconnection on ion and electron spatial scales indroduced by these asymmetries are investigated using 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The starting configuration is a fluid equilibrium with overall pressure balance containing a density drop of typically a factor of ten and a magnetic field magnitude jump of a factor of three. Simulations are performed both without a driving convection electric field (which should be relevant to sub-solar observations outside of the average magnetopause position) and with such a driving field at the magnetopause boundary (which should model the case where the magnetopause is driven closer to the Earth). The usual Hall physics signatures of a bipolar normal electric field and quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic field are replaced by an enhanced normal electric field on the low density side and a bipolar magnetic field on the high density side. The dependence of these structures on the strength of the guide field will be discussed as well as results concerning the spatial extent of regions associated with the breaking of the electron frozen-in condition and the existence of parallel electric fields.
Chang Mu-Tung
Mozer Forrest S.
Pritchett Philip L.
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