Observational evidence for an elongated (>50 ion skin depths) electron diffusion region during fast magnetic reconnection

Details Observational evidence for an elongated (>50 ion skin depths) electron diffusion region during fast magnetic reconnection Observational evidence for an elongated (>50 ion skin depths) electron diffusion region during fast magnetic reconnection

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufmsh43a..01p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SH43A-01

Physics

2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835), 7835 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7526)

Scientific paper

We report observational evidence for an elongated electron reconnection diffusion region during fast reconnection. The Cluster in-situ observations in a magnetosheath reconnecting current sheet reveal a broad current layer (width around 12 ion skin depths) supporting the reversal of the reconnecting magnetic field with an embedded intense outflow current that implies a super-Alfvenic electron outflow jet with a transverse scale of ~8 electron skin depths. The oblique trajectory of the spacecraft through the reconnection layer allows the deduction of a fast reconnection rate of 9% of the upstream Alfven speed as well as the minimum extent of the super-Alfvenic electron outflow jet of 50 ion skin depths downstream from the X-line. The deduced reconnection rate is consistent with the directly measured rate of 8% based on the tangential electric field and the inflow plasma velocity. These observations confirm and extend the surprising finding from recent large-scale full particle simulations of the presence of an elongated (> 20 ion skin depths) electron diffusion region even during fast reconnection [Shay et al., 2007; Karimabadi et al., 2007].

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