Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm51b1800n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM51B-1800
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2723] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [2724] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, [7835] Space Plasma Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [7859] Space Plasma Physics / Transport Processes
Scientific paper
We have performed 2.5-dimensional full particle simulations of an MHD-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortex and accompanying magnetic reconnection process. This is the first study of so-called vortex-induced reconnection (VIR) using kinetic simulations. First, as a key property of the VIR, we found that magnetic reconnection occurs at multiple points in the current sheet compressed by the flow of the KH vortex. The resulting meso-scale multiple islands are carried towards the vortex body along the vortex flow, and then are incorporated into the vortex body via the re-reconnection process. The rates of both the first reconnection and second re-reconnection processes are generally higher than that of spontaneous reconnection; both reconnection processes are of driven nature. Noteworthy is that the high rate of the first reconnection leads to strong magnetic field pile-up within the multiple islands. This characteristic magnetic structure of the islands could be used as new observational evidence for the occurrence of the VIR. Next, as a key kinetic aspect of the VIR, we found that a series of multiple island formation and incorporation processes simultaneously causes efficient plasma mixing and bi-directional electron acceleration along magnetic field lines within the vortex. These kinetic effects of the VIR could account for observed features of the Earth's low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL), where mixed ions and bi-directional field-aligned electrons generally coexist. In this presentation, we will discuss how important the VIR process is for the Earth's magnetopause.
Fujimoto Minoru
Hasegawa Hidenao
Nakamura Takashi
Shinohara Iku
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