Localized and Intense Energy Conversion in the Diffusion Region of Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection [electronic resource]

• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 621.3 Electrical, magnetic, optical, communications, computer engineering; electronics, lighting
• Mô tả vật lý: Size: p. 5260-5267 : , digital, PDF file.
• Bộ sưu tập: Metadata
• ID: 255668
• Chủ đề: 1. 30 direct energy conversion; 2. Magnetic reconnection; 3. Magnetopause; 4. Pic simulations

Tóm tắt

We assess a high-resolution simulation of magnetopause reconnection observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission and explain the occurrence of strongly localized dissipation with an amplitude more than an order of magnitude larger than expected. Unlike symmetric reconnection, wherein reconnection of the ambient reversed magnetic field drives the dissipation, we discover that the annihilation of the self-generated, out-of-plane (Hall) magnetic field plays the dominant role. Electrons flow along the magnetosheath separatrices, converge in the diffusion region, and jet past the X-point into the magnetosphere. The resulting accumulation of negative charge generates intense parallel electric fields that eject electrons along the magnetospheric separatrices and produce field-aligned beams. Many of these features match Magnetospheric Multiscale observations.