Observations of a Small-Scale Flux Rope Next to an EDR at the Dayside Magnetopause - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Poster De Conférence Année : 2018

Observations of a Small-Scale Flux Rope Next to an EDR at the Dayside Magnetopause

S. Hoilijoki
  • Fonction : Auteur
R. Ergun
S. Eriksson
  • Fonction : Auteur
F. D. Wilder
  • Fonction : Auteur
N. Ahmadi
S. J. Schwartz
  • Fonction : Auteur
R. B. Torbert
  • Fonction : Auteur
Olivier Le Contel
R. J. Strangeway
  • Fonction : Auteur
B. L. Giles
  • Fonction : Auteur
J. L. Burch
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that converts magnetic energy to thermal and kinetic energy of the particles. Previous studies have shown that small-scale magnetic flux ropes often form in secondary magnetic reconnection inside the ion diffusion region, where ions are demagnetized. It has also been shown that these small-scale flux ropes may have a role in the particle acceleration in magnetic reconnection and they might even have an impact on the reconnection rate. With the high cadence multipoint observations provided by Magnetopsheric Multiscale (MMS) mission the details of the small-scale flux ropes and their possible impact on the reconnecting current sheet can be studied. We present results of a dayside magnetopause crossing event where MMS first encounters an electron diffusion region (EDR), where crescent shaped electron velocity distribution functions are observed. Right after the current sheet crossing MMS enters a magnetic structure that has bipolar magnetic field in the direction normal to the current sheet. Inside the structure three of the spacecraft observe an increase in the total magnetic field magnitude and dip in the density. These features suggest that the structure may be a small-scale flux rope being formed adjacent to the current sheet. During this event the MMS spacecraft separation is 8 km, which is much smaller than the ion skin depth (di 40 km) allowing us to investigate the electron scale features of this structure.
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Dates et versions

hal-02860988 , version 1 (08-06-2020)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-02860988 , version 1

Citer

S. Hoilijoki, R. Ergun, S. Eriksson, F. D. Wilder, N. Ahmadi, et al.. Observations of a Small-Scale Flux Rope Next to an EDR at the Dayside Magnetopause. 2018 AGU Fall Meeting, Dec 2018, Washington D.C, United States. pp.SM13B-2843, 2018. ⟨hal-02860988⟩
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