Physics
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusmsh51c..04b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #SH51C-04
Physics
7514 Energetic Particles (2114), 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835)
Scientific paper
Magnetic reconnection is widely thought to be a mechanism that can accelerate particles to suprathermal energies during stellar flares and planetary substorms. Studies of solar flares by RHESSI, in particular, indicate that most of the released flare energy is carried by a large number of suprathermal electrons and ions. Exactly where and how energetic particles are produced during reconnection has been a long-standing question. In this study (Nature Physics, 4, 19-23, 2008), we use in-situ multi-spacecraft measurements from CLUSTER in the Earth's magnetotail to demonstrate that the primary production of energetic electrons is linked to the dynamics of magnetic islands during active reconnection. Fluxes of energetic electrons peak at sites of compressed density within magnetic islands. At the reconnection layer between islands, the energetic electron flux is one order of magnitude lower than that within islands, and the highest energy of electrons is lower than that inside islands. Strong density substructures are observed within islands, suggesting that the islands may have gone through coalescence. Island coalescence presents a new potential mechanism for particle acceleration during reconnection. In our particle-in-cell simulations, multiple magnetic islands are generated in a Harris sheet, and we observe that more energetic electrons are generated near O-points in magnetic islands than at X-points. Comparisons between the results from observations and simulations elucidate how island dynamics leads to particle energization.
Bessho Naoki
Bhattacharjee Anirban
Chen Leon L.
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