Abstract
AbstractIn this study we use the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission to investigate the electron acceleration and thermalization occurring along the magnetic reconnection separatrices in the magnetotail. We find that initially cold electron lobe populations are accelerated toward the X line forming beams with energies up to a few kiloelectron volts, corresponding to a substantial fraction of the electron thermal energy inside the exhaust. The accelerated electron populations are unstable to the formation of electrostatic waves which develop into nonlinear electrostatic solitary waves. The waves' amplitudes are large enough to interact efficiently with a large part of the electron population, including the electron beam. The wave‐particle interaction gradually thermalizes the beam, transforming directed drift energy to thermal energy.
Highlights
Magnetic reconnection is a universal process where magnetic energy is often explosively released, leading to particle acceleration and heating
We find that initially cold electron lobe populations are accelerated toward the X line forming beams with energies up to a few kiloelectron volts, corresponding to a substantial fraction of the electron thermal energy inside the exhaust
While this gives a good first indication of how large part of the electron distribution can be affected by the waves, it does not take into account the speeds of the electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) like the trapping range defined by equation (3) does
Summary
Magnetic reconnection is a universal process where magnetic energy is often explosively released, leading to particle acceleration and heating. How, and to what extent the particles are accelerated depend on fundamental properties such as the particle species and the relative composition of species and on changing properties, such as the particle's velocity Two examples of the former are that the presence of heavier ions or cold ionospheric ions can act as energy sinks in addition to reducing the rate at which magnetic flux is being reconnected (e.g., Tenfjord et al, 2019; Toledo-Redondo et al, 2017). The counter-streaming hot and cold electron populations occurring at reconnection separatrices have been studied extensively with numerical simulations They have been shown to be unstable to the generation of electrostatic waves, leading to the thermalization of the cold electron beam (Chen et al, 2015; Divin et al, 2012; Egedal et al, 2015; Fujimoto, 2014; Huang et al, 2014). We are able to make detailed measurements of both the electron acceleration and subsequent wave-particle interaction at separatrix regions in the magnetotail
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