Formation of the Electron Inflow Along the Separatrices During Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, by performing two‐dimensional (2‐D) particle‐in‐cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection in a Harris current sheet, we analyze the formation of electron inflow along the separatrices toward the X‐line from the perspective of fluid. The results show that both the parallel electric field and mirror force can drive the electron inflow to stream toward the X‐line. The speed of the electron inflow can reach about 4VA(where VA is the Alfvén speed based on the upstream asymptotic magnetic field magnitude and peak density in the current sheet). Although the contribution of the parallel electric field is much larger than that of the mirror force, the mirror force cannot be ignored. When the electron inflow streams toward the X‐line, it is heated in the parallel direction. The resulted gradient of the parallel electron pressure leads to the attenuation of the electron inflow. We also investigate the effects of the density and temperature of the background plasma on the formation of the electron inflow. With the decrease of the background plasma density, the contribution of the parallel electric field becomes larger while that of the mirror force almost remains unchanged. With the decrease of the background plasma temperature, the contribution of the parallel electric field becomes larger while that of the mirror force becomes smaller.