Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm53a1361c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM53A-1361
Physics
Plasma Physics
[7835] Space Plasma Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [7839] Space Plasma Physics / Nonlinear Phenomena, [7845] Space Plasma Physics / Particle Acceleration, [7852] Space Plasma Physics / Solitons And Solitary Waves
Scientific paper
Bipolar pulses in the magnetic field component normal to the current sheet (Bz) have been observed abundantly in the magnetotail and the magnetopause, and are often considered as products of magnetic reconnection. In particular, the magnetotail Bz pulses of the ion skin depth (di) scale have been identified to be current filaments aligned primarily in the dawn-dusk (y) direction, and effective electron acceleration sites. Whether these Bz pulses grow from unstable elongated electron current layers during reconnection is an open question. The resolution of this question will provide an assessment of the occurrence and importance of elongated electron current layers during reconnection in the magnetosphere. In this paper, observable properties of intense current filaments growing from elongated electron current layers are established based on 2D PIC simulations. When first formed, the current filaments have the electron skin depth scale, and are associated with: One, strong bipolar electric fields Ez and Ex (x is on the current sheet and perpendicular to the current). Two, localized prominent single peaks in the electron density and y velocity (Vy). Three, localized bipolar electron Vx and Vz. During the growth and ejection of the filaments, the structures in Ez, Ex and Vy persist, and the density structure evolves but remains distinctly high within the filaments. The magnetotail Bz pulses that are reported to host bursts of energetic electrons (Phys. Plasmas, 16, 056501, 2009) exhibit features consistent with the above persistent properties.
Bessho Naoki
Bhattacharjee Anirban
Chen Leon L.
Daughton W. S.
Torbert Roy B.
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