Abstract
Abstract The MOST IDS team was tasked with focusing on two general areas: The first was to participate with the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) team in the development of virtual detectors that model the instrument responses of the MMS FPI sensors. The virtual instruments can be “flown through” both simulation data (from magnetohydrodynamic, hybrid, and kinetic simulations) and Cluster and THEMIS spacecraft data. The goal is to determine signatures of magnetic reconnection expected during the MMS mission. Such signatures can serve as triggers for selection of burst mode downloads. The chapter contributed by the FPI team covers that effort in detail and, therefore, most of that work has not been included here. The second area of emphasis, and the one detailed in this chapter, was to build on past and present knowledge of magnetic reconnection and its physical signatures. Below we describe intensive analyses of Cluster and THEMIS data together with theoretical models and simulations that delineate the plasma signatures that surround sites of reconnection, including the effects of turbulence as well as the detailed kinetic signatures that indicate proximity to reconnection sites. In particular, we point out that particles are energized in several regions, not only at the actual site of reconnection.
Highlights
The IDS Mission Oriented Support and Theory (MOST) effort has had two primary areas of focus: The first is to work with the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) team to develop virtual-MMS FPI detectors to “fly through” both simulation data (from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), hybrid, and kinetic simulations) and Cluster and THEMIS data to uncover signatures of magnetic reconnection that are expected to be seen during the MMS mission
The quasi-potential theory of general magnetic reconnection predicts that reconnection occurs on those field lines that have a spatial gradient with respect to the Euler coordinates, while the maximum value of the quasipotential gives the reconnection rate (Hesse and Schindler 1988; Schindler et al 1988; Fig. 2 (a) View along the normal to the plane defined by the spine and the perpendicular current of the drift flows near null As in the null rest frame
During the past several years, the GSFC-UCLA MOST IDS team has focused on several general themes
Summary
The IDS MOST effort has had two primary areas of focus: The first is to work with the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) team to develop virtual-MMS FPI detectors to “fly through” both simulation data (from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), hybrid, and kinetic simulations) and Cluster and THEMIS data to uncover signatures of magnetic reconnection that are expected to be seen during the MMS mission. The second focus has been to build on past and present knowledge of magnetic reconnection and its physical signatures by undertaking intensive analyses of Cluster and THEMIS data, together with MHD and kinetic simulations, to delineate the plasma signatures that indicate proximity to reconnection sites. These theoretical and simulation studies have helped to clarify where particle energization that is related to magnetic reconnection is expected to occur in the magnetosphere. The role of turbulence in enhancing reconnection or in triggering it has been a subject of interest for many years and in Sect. 5 we review observations, simulations, and other analyses related to the relationship between turbulence and reconnection
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