Intense electric fields and electron‐scale substructure within magnetotail flux ropes as revealed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission
File(s)Stawarz_et_al-2018-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf (1.58 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Three flux ropes associated with near‐Earth magnetotail reconnection are analyzed using Magnetospheric Multiscale observations. The flux ropes are Earthward propagating with sizes from ∼3 to 11 ion inertial lengths. Significantly different axial orientations are observed, suggesting spatiotemporal variability in the reconnection and/or flux rope dynamics. An electron‐scale vortex, associated with one of the most intense electric fields (E) in the event, is observed within one of the flux ropes. This E is predominantly perpendicular to the magnetic field (B); the electron vortex is frozen‐in with E × B drifting electrons carrying perpendicular current and causing a small‐scale magnetic enhancement. The vortex is ∼16 electron gyroradii in size perpendicular to B and potentially elongated parallel to B. The need to decouple the frozen‐in vortical motion from the surrounding plasma implies a parallel E at the structure's ends. The formation of frozen‐in electron vortices within reconnection‐generated flux ropes may have implications for particle acceleration.
Date Issued
2018-09-16
Date Acceptance
2018-08-17
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2018, 45 (17), pp.8783-8792
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Start Page
8783
End Page
8792
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
45
Issue
17
Copyright Statement
©2018. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Grant Number
ST/N000692/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Geology
GLOBAL HYBRID SIMULATION
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
EARTHS MAGNETOTAIL
PLASMA SHEET
HOLES
BOUNDARY
MMS
ISLANDS
MD Multidisciplinary
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-08-24