Development of bifurcated current sheets in solar wind reconnection exhausts
File(s)
Published version
Accepted version
Author(s)
Mistry, R
Eastwood, JP
Hietala, H
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Petschek-type reconnection is expected to result in bifurcations of reconnection current sheets. In contrast, Hall reconnection simulations show smooth changes in the reconnecting magnetic field. Here we study three solar wind reconnection events where different spacecraft sample oppositely directed reconnection exhausts from a common reconnection site. The spacecraft's relative separations and measurements of the exhaust width are used to geometrically calculate each spacecraft's distance from the X line. We find that in all cases spacecraft farthest from the X line observe clearly bifurcated reconnection current sheets, while spacecraft nearer to the X line do not. These observations suggest that clear bifurcations of reconnection current sheets occur at large distances from the X line (~1000 ion skin depths) and that Petschek-type signatures are less developed close to the reconnection site. This may imply that fully developed bifurcations of reconnection current sheets are unlikely to be observed in the near-Earth magnetotail.
Date Issued
2015-12-19
Date Acceptance
2015-11-18
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2015, 42 (24), pp.10513-10520
ISSN
1944-8007
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Start Page
10513
End Page
10520
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
42
Issue
24
Copyright Statement
©2015. The Authors.This is an open access article under theterms of the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits use,distribution and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work isproperly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Grant Number
ST/K001051/1
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published