Electron magnetic reconnection without ion coupling in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath - Archive ouverte HAL
Journal Articles Nature Year : 2018

Electron magnetic reconnection without ion coupling in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath

T. D. Phan
Jonathan P. Eastwood
  • Function : Author
M. A. Shay
  • Function : Author
B. U. Ö. Sonnerup
  • Function : Author
M. Fujimoto
  • Function : Author
P. A. Cassak
  • Function : Author
J. L. Burch
  • Function : Author
R. B. Torbert
  • Function : Author
A. C. Rager
  • Function : Author
C. Pollock
  • Function : Author
P. S. Pyakurel
  • Function : Author
C. C. Haggerty
  • Function : Author
Y. V. Khotyaintsev
  • Function : Author
Y. Saito
  • Function : Author
M. Oka
  • Function : Author
R. E. Ergun
  • Function : Author
Alessandro Retinò
Olivier Le Contel
M. R. Argall
  • Function : Author
B. L. Giles
  • Function : Author
T. E. Moore
  • Function : Author
F. D. Wilder
  • Function : Author
R. J. Strangeway
  • Function : Author
C. T. Russell
  • Function : Author
P. A. Lindqvist
  • Function : Author
W. Magnes

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection in current sheets is a magnetic-to-particle energy conversion process that is fundamental to many space and laboratory plasma systems. In the standard model of reconnection, this process occurs in a minuscule electron-scale diffusion region(1,2). On larger scales, ions couple to the newly reconnected magnetic-field lines and are ejected away from the diffusion region in the form of bi-directional ion jets at the ion Alfven speed(3-5). Much of the energy conversion occurs in spatially extended ion exhausts downstream of the diffusion region(6). In turbulent plasmas, which contain a large number of small-scale current sheets, reconnection has long been suggested to have a major role in the dissipation of turbulent energy at kinetic scales(7-11). However, evidence for reconnection plasma jetting in small-scale turbulent plasmas has so far been lacking. Here we report observations made in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath region (downstream of the bow shock) of an electron-scale current sheet in which diverging bi-directional super-ion-Alfvenic electron jets, parallel electric fields and enhanced magnetic-to-particle energy conversion were detected. Contrary to the standard model of reconnection, the thin reconnecting current sheet was not embedded in a wider ion-scale current layer and no ion jets were detected. Observations of this and other similar, but unidirectional, electron jet events without signatures of ion reconnection reveal a form of reconnection that can drive turbulent energy transfer and dissipation in electron-scale current sheets without ion coupling.
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Dates and versions

hal-01895687 , version 1 (01-10-2024)

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T. D. Phan, Jonathan P. Eastwood, M. A. Shay, J. F. Drake, B. U. Ö. Sonnerup, et al.. Electron magnetic reconnection without ion coupling in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath. Nature, 2018, 557, pp.202-206. ⟨10.1038/s41586-018-0091-5⟩. ⟨hal-01895687⟩
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