2,045 research outputs found
Reduction of Ion Heating During Magnetic Reconnection by Large-Scale Effective Potentials
The physical processes that control the partition of released magnetic energy
between electrons and ions during reconnection is explored through
particle-in-cell simulations and analytical techniques. We demonstrate that the
development of a large-scale parallel electric field and its associated
potential controls the relative heating of electrons and ions. The potential
develops to restrain heated exhaust electrons and enhances their heating by
confining electrons in the region where magnetic energy is released.
Simultaneously the potential slows ions entering the exhaust below the
Alfv\'enic speed expected from the traditional counterstreaming picture of ion
heating. Unexpectedly, the magnitude of the potential and therefore the
relative partition of energy between electrons and ions is not a constant but
rather depends on the upstream parameters and specifically the upstream
electron normalized temperature (electron beta). These findings suggest that
the fraction of magnetic energy converted into the total thermal energy may be
independent of upstream parameters
Radiation risks from large solar energetic particle events
Solar energetic particles (SEPs) constitute a radiation hazard to both humans and hardware in space. Over the past few years there have been significant advances in our knowledge of the composition and energy spectra of SEP events, leading to new insights into the conditions that contribute to the largest events. This paper summarizes the energy spectra and frequency of large SEP events, and discusses the interplanetary conditions that affect the intensity of the largest events
Kinetic signatures of the region surrounding the X-line in asymmetric (magnetopause) reconnection
Kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the
electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic
reconnection. A "shoulder" in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN >
0) at the reconnection magnetic field reversal is a good indicator of the EDR,
and is caused by magnetosheath electron meandering orbits in the vicinity of
the x-line. Earthward of the X-line, electrons accelerated by EN form strong
currents and crescent-shaped distribution functions in the plane perpendicular
to B. Just downstream of the X-line, parallel electric fields create
field-aligned crescent electron distribution functions. In the immediate
upstream magnetosheath, magnetic field strength, plasma density, and
perpendicular electron temperatures are lower than the asymptotic state. In the
magnetosphere inflow region, magnetosheath ions intrude resulting in an
Earthward pointing electric field and parallel heating of magnetospheric
particles. Many of the above properties persist with a guide field of at least
unity.Comment: Submitted to Geophysical Research Letter
Energy transfer, pressure tensor and heating of kinetic plasma
Kinetic plasma turbulence cascade spans multiple scales ranging from
macroscopic fluid flow to sub-electron scales. Mechanisms that dissipate large
scale energy, terminate the inertial range cascade and convert kinetic energy
into heat are hotly debated. Here we revisit these puzzles using fully kinetic
simulation. By performing scale-dependent spatial filtering on the Vlasov
equation, we extract information at prescribed scales and introduce several
energy transfer functions. This approach allows highly inhomogeneous energy
cascade to be quantified as it proceeds down to kinetic scales. The pressure
work, , can
trigger a channel of the energy conversion between fluid flow and random
motions, which is a collision-free generalization of the viscous dissipation in
collisional fluid. Both the energy transfer and the pressure work are strongly
correlated with velocity gradients.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figure
Ion Larmor Radius Effects Near A Reconnection X Line At The Magnetopause: Themis Observations And Simulation Comparison
We report a Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS-D) spacecraft crossing of a magnetopause reconnection exhaust ~9 ion skin depths (di) downstream of an X line. The crossing was characterized by ion jetting at speeds substantially below the predicted reconnection outflow speed. In the magnetospheric inflow region THEMIS detected (a) penetration of magnetosheath ions and the resulting flows perpendicular to the reconnection plane, (b) ion outflow extending into the magnetosphere, and (c) enhanced electron parallel temperature. Comparison with a simulation suggests that these signatures are associated with the gyration of magnetosheath ions onto magnetospheric field lines due to the shift of the flow stagnation point toward the low-density magnetosphere. Our observations indicate that these effects, ~2â3 di in width, extend at least 9 di downstream of the X line. The detection of these signatures could indicate large-scale proximity of the X line but do not imply that the spacecraft was upstream of the electron diffusion region
Transition from ion-coupled to electron-only reconnection: Basic physics and implications for plasma turbulence
Using kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we simulate reconnection
conditions appropriate for the magnetosheath and solar wind, i.e., plasma beta
(ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure) greater than 1 and low magnetic
shear (strong guide field). Changing the simulation domain size, we find that
the ion response varies greatly. For reconnecting regions with scales
comparable to the ion Larmor radius, the ions do not respond to the
reconnection dynamics leading to ''electron-only'' reconnection with very large
quasi-steady reconnection rates. The transition to more traditional
''ion-coupled'' reconnection is gradual as the reconnection domain size
increases, with the ions becoming frozen-in in the exhaust when the magnetic
island width in the normal direction reaches many ion inertial lengths. During
this transition, the quasi-steady reconnection rate decreases until the ions
are fully coupled, ultimately reaching an asymptotic value. The scaling of the
ion outflow velocity with exhaust width during this electron-only to
ion-coupled transition is found to be consistent with a theoretical model of a
newly reconnected field line. In order to have a fully frozen-in ion exhaust
with ion flows comparable to the reconnection Alfv\'en speed, an exhaust width
of at least several ion inertial lengths is needed. In turbulent systems with
reconnection occurring between magnetic bubbles associated with fluctuations,
using geometric arguments we estimate that fully ion-coupled reconnection
requires magnetic bubble length scales of at least several tens of ion inertial
lengths
Observations of the longitudinal spread of solar energetic particle events in solar cycle 24
With the twin STEREO spacecraft, significantly separated from L1-based satellites such as ACE, simultaneous multi-point measurements of solar energetic particle (SEP) events can be made for H-Fe ions from a few hundred keV/nuc to over 100 MeV/nuc and for electrons from tens to hundreds of keV. These observations allow studies of the longitudinal characteristics of SEP events to advance beyond statistical analysis of single point measurements. Although there have been few large SEP events thus far in cycle 24, there have been a number of smaller events that have been detected by more than one spacecraft. The composition of these SEP events, as indicated by the H/He and Fe/O abundance ratios, shows a dependence on longitudinal distance from the solar source in some events, at times with ratios varying by an order of magnitude. However, these variations are not organized by either the speed or width of the associated coronal mass ejections
Observations Of Hall Reconnection Physics Far Downstream Of The X Line
Observations made using the Wind spacecraft of Hall magnetic fields in solar wind reconnection exhausts are presented. These observations are consistent with the generation of Hall fields by a narrow ion inertial scale current layer near the separatrix, which is confirmed with an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation that shows excellent agreement with observations. The Hall fields are observed thousands of ion inertial lengths downstream from the reconnection X line, indicating that narrow regions of kinetic dynamics can persist extremely far downstream
- âŠ