Asymmetric Reconnection Research Articles

Lower hybrid waves in the ion diffusion and magnetospheric inflow regions

AbstractThe role and properties of lower hybrid waves in the ion diffusion region and magnetospheric inflow region of asymmetric reconnection are investigated using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Two distinct groups of lower hybrid waves are observed in the ion diffusion region and magnetospheric inflow region, which have distinct properties and propagate in opposite directions along the magnetopause. One group develops near the ion edge in the magnetospheric inflow, where magnetosheath ions enter the magnetosphere through the finite gyroradius effect and are driven by the ion‐ion cross‐field instability due to the interaction between the magnetosheath ions and cold magnetospheric ions. This leads to heating of the cold magnetospheric ions. The second group develops at the sharpest density gradient, where the Hall electric field is observed and is driven by the lower hybrid drift instability. These drift waves produce cross‐field particle diffusion, enabling magnetosheath electrons to enter the magnetospheric inflow region thereby broadening the density gradient in the ion diffusion region.

Spacecraft Observations and Analytic Theory of Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection.

Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive an exclusion energy parameter E_{X} providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell demon, only high-energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low-density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. The analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low-density separatrix.

Two‐scale ion meandering caused by the polarization electric field during asymmetric reconnection

AbstractIon velocity distribution functions (VDFs) from a particle‐in‐cell simulation of asymmetric reconnection are investigated to reveal a two‐scale structure of the ion diffusion region (IDR). Ions bouncing in the inner IDR are trapped mainly by the electric field normal to the current sheet (N direction), while those reaching the outer IDR are turned back mainly by the magnetic force. The resulting inner layer VDFs have counter‐streaming populations along N with decreasing counter‐streaming speeds away from the midplane while maintaining the out‐of‐plane speed, and the outer layer VDFs exhibit crescent shapes toward the out‐of‐plane direction. Observations of the above VDF features and the normal electric fields provide evidence for the two‐scale meandering motion.

On the electron agyrotropy during rapid asymmetric magnetic island coalescence in presence of a guide field

AbstractWe present an analysis of the properties of the electron velocity distribution during island coalescence in asymmetric reconnection with and without guide field. In a previous study, three main domains were identified, in the case without guide field, as X, D, and M regions featuring different reconnection evolutions. These regions are also identified here in the case with guide field. We study the departure from isotropic and gyrotropic behavior by means of different robust detection algorithms proposed in the literature. While in the case without guide field these metrics show an overall agreement, when the guide field is present, a discrepancy in the agyrotropy within some relevant regions is observed, such as at the separatrices and inside magnetic islands. Moreover, in light of the new observations from the Multiscale MagnetoSpheric mission, an analysis of the electron velocity phase‐space in these domains is presented.

MMS observations of electron‐scale filamentary currents in the reconnection exhaust and near the X line

AbstractWe report Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of macroscopic and electron‐scale current layers in asymmetric reconnection. By intercomparing plasma, magnetic, and electric field data at multiple crossings of a reconnecting magnetopause on 22 October 2015, when the average interspacecraft separation was ~10 km, we demonstrate that the ion and electron moments are sufficiently accurate to provide reliable current density measurements at 30 ms cadence. These measurements, which resolve current layers narrower than the interspacecraft separation, reveal electron‐scale filamentary Hall currents and electron vorticity within the reconnection exhaust far downstream of the X line and even in the magnetosheath. Slightly downstream of the X line, intense (up to 3 μA/m2) electron currents, a super‐Alfvénic outflowing electron jet, and nongyrotropic crescent shape electron distributions were observed deep inside the ion‐scale magnetopause current sheet and embedded in the ion diffusion region. These characteristics are similar to those attributed to the electron dissipation/diffusion region around the X line.

Thick escaping magnetospheric ion layer in magnetopause reconnection with MMS observations

AbstractThe structure of asymmetric magnetopause reconnection is explored with multiple point and high‐time‐resolution ion velocity distribution observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. On 9 September 2015, reconnection took place at the magnetopause, which separated the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere with a density ratio of 25:2. The magnetic field intensity was rather constant, even higher in the asymptotic magnetosheath. The reconnected field line region had a width of approximately 540 km. In this region, streaming and gyrating ions are discriminated. The large extension of the reconnected field line region toward the magnetosheath can be identified where a thick layer of escaping magnetospheric ions was formed. The scale of the magnetosheath side of the reconnected field line region relative to the scale of its magnetospheric side was 4.5:1.

Electron jet of asymmetric reconnection

AbstractWe present Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of an electron‐scale current sheet and electron outflow jet for asymmetric reconnection with guide field at the subsolar magnetopause. The electron jet observed within the reconnection region has an electron Mach number of 0.35 and is associated with electron agyrotropy. The jet is unstable to an electrostatic instability which generates intense waves with E∥ amplitudes reaching up to 300 mV m−1 and potentials up to 20% of the electron thermal energy. We see evidence of interaction between the waves and the electron beam, leading to quick thermalization of the beam and stabilization of the instability. The wave phase speed is comparable to the ion thermal speed, suggesting that the instability is of Buneman type, and therefore introduces electron‐ion drag and leads to braking of the electron flow. Our observations demonstrate that electrostatic turbulence plays an important role in the electron‐scale physics of asymmetric reconnection.

Distinct characteristics of asymmetric magnetic reconnections: Observational results from the exhaust region at the dayside magnetopause.

Magnetic reconnection plays a key role in the conversion of magnetic energy into the thermal and kinetic energy of plasma. On either side of the diffusion region in space plasma, the conditions for the occurrence of reconnections are usually not symmetric. Previous theoretical studies have predicted that reconnections under asymmetric conditions will bear different features compared with those of symmetric reconnections, and numerical simulations have verified these distinct features. However, to date, the features of asymmetric reconnections have not been thoroughly investigated using in situ observations; thus, some results from theoretical studies and simulations have not been tested with observations sufficiently well. Here, spacecraft observations are used in a statistical investigation of asymmetric magnetic reconnection exhaust at the dayside magnetopause. The resulting observational features are consistent with the theoretical predictions. The results presented here advance our understanding of the development of reconnections under asymmetric conditions.

The local dayside reconnection rate for oblique interplanetary magnetic fields

AbstractWe present an analysis of local properties of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause for various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations in global magnetospheric simulations. This has heretofore not been practical because it is difficult to locate where reconnection occurs for oblique IMF, but new techniques make this possible. The approach is to identify magnetic separators, the curves separating four regions of differing magnetic topology, which map the reconnection X line. The electric field parallel to the X line is the local reconnection rate. We compare results to a simple model of local two‐dimensional asymmetric reconnection. To do so, we find the plasma parameters that locally drive reconnection in the magnetosheath and magnetosphere in planes perpendicular to the X line at a large number of points along the X line. The global magnetohydrodynamic simulations are from the three‐dimensional Block‐Adaptive, Tree Solarwind Roe‐type Upwind Scheme (BATS‐R‐US) code with a uniform resistivity, although the techniques described here are extensible to any global magnetospheric simulation model. We find that the predicted local reconnection rates scale well with the measured values for all simulations, being nearly exact for due southward IMF. However, the absolute predictions differ by an undetermined constant of proportionality, whose magnitude increases as the IMF clock angle changes from southward to northward. We also show similar scaling agreement in a simulation with oblique southward IMF and a dipole tilt. The present results will be an important component of a full understanding of the local and global properties of dayside reconnection.

Suppression of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric current sheets

Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the suppression of asymmetric reconnection in the limit where the diamagnetic drift speed ≫ Alfvén speed and the magnetic shear angle is moderate. We demonstrate that the slippage between electrons and the magnetic flux mitigates the suppression and can even result in fast reconnection that lacks one of the outflow jets. Through comparing a case where the diamagnetic drift is supported by the temperature gradient with a companion case that has a density gradient instead, we identify a robust suppression mechanism. The drift of the x-line is slowed down locally by the asymmetric nature of the x-line, and then the x-line is run over and swallowed by the faster-moving following flux.

Electron currents and heating in the ion diffusion region of asymmetric reconnection

AbstractIn this letter the structure of the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause is investigated using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The ion diffusion region is characterized by a strong DC electric field, approximately equal to the Hall electric field, intense currents, and electron heating parallel to the background magnetic field. Current structures well below ion spatial scales are resolved, and the electron motion associated with lower hybrid drift waves is shown to contribute significantly to the total current density. The electron heating is shown to be consistent with large‐scale parallel electric fields trapping and accelerating electrons, rather than wave‐particle interactions. These results show that sub‐ion scale processes occur in the ion diffusion region and are important for understanding electron heating and acceleration.

Kinetic signatures of the region surrounding the X line in asymmetric (magnetopause) reconnection

AbstractKinetic particle‐in‐cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic reconnection. A “shoulder” in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN > 0) at the reconnection magnetic field reversal is a good indicator of the EDR and is caused by magnetosheath electron meandering orbits in the vicinity of the X line. Earthward of the X line, electrons accelerated by EN form strong currents and crescent‐shaped distribution functions in the plane perpendicular to B. Just downstream of the X line, parallel electric fields create field‐aligned crescent electron distribution functions. In the immediate upstream magnetosheath, magnetic field strength, plasma density, and perpendicular electron temperatures are lower than the asymptotic state. In the magnetosphere inflow region, magnetosheath ions intrude resulting in an Earthward pointing electric field and parallel heating of magnetospheric particles. Many of the above properties persist with a guide field of at least unity.

Electron energization and structure of the diffusion region during asymmetric reconnection

AbstractResults from particle‐in‐cell simulations of reconnection with asymmetric upstream conditions are reported to elucidate electron energization and structure of the electron diffusion region (EDR). Acceleration of unmagnetized electrons results in discrete structures in the distribution functions and supports the intense current and perpendicular heating in the EDR. The accelerated electrons are cyclotron turned by the reconnected magnetic field to produce the outflow jets, and as such, the acceleration by the reconnection electric field is limited, leading to resistivity without particle‐particle or particle‐wave collisions. A map of electron distributions is constructed, and its spatial evolution is compared with quantities previously proposed to be EDR identifiers to enable effective identifications of the EDR in terrestrial magnetopause reconnection.

On the electron diffusion region in asymmetric reconnection with a guide magnetic field

AbstractParticle‐in‐cell simulations in a 2.5‐D geometry and analytical theory are employed to study the electron diffusion region in asymmetric reconnection with a guide magnetic field. The analysis presented here demonstrates that similar to the case without guide field, in‐plane flow stagnation and null of the in‐plane magnetic field are well separated. In addition, it is shown that the electric field at the local magnetic X point is again dominated by inertial effects, whereas it remains dominated by nongyrotropic pressure effects at the in‐plane flow stagnation point. A comparison between local electron Larmor radii and the magnetic gradient scale lengths predicts that distribution should become nongyrotropic in a region enveloping both field reversal and flow stagnation points. This prediction is verified by an analysis of modeled electron distributions, which show clear evidence of mixing in the critical region.

Electron distribution functions in the diffusion region of asymmetric magnetic reconnection

AbstractWe study electron distribution functions in a diffusion region of antiparallel asymmetric reconnection by means of particle‐in‐cell simulations and analytical theory. At the electron stagnation point, the electron distribution comprises a crescent‐shaped population and a core component. The crescent‐shaped distribution is due to electrons coming from the magnetosheath toward the stagnation point and accelerated mainly by electric field normal to the current sheet. Only a part of magnetosheath electrons can reach the stagnation point and form the crescent‐shaped distribution that has a boundary of a parabolic curve. The penetration length of magnetosheath electrons into the magnetosphere is derived. We expect that satellite observations can detect crescent‐shaped electron distributions during magnetopause reconnection.

Whistler emission in the separatrix regions of asymmetric magnetic reconnection

AbstractAt Earth's dayside magnetopause asymmetric magnetic reconnection occurs between the cold dense magnetosheath plasma and the hot tenuous magnetospheric plasma, which differs significantly from symmetric reconnection. During magnetic reconnection the separatrix regions are potentially unstable to a variety of instabilities. In this paper observations of the separatrix regions of asymmetric reconnection are reported as Cluster crossed the magnetopause near the subsolar point. The small relative motion between the spacecraft and plasma allows spatial changes of electron distributions within the separatrix regions to be resolved over multiple spacecraft spins. The electron distributions are shown to be unstable to the electromagnetic whistler mode and the electrostatic beam mode. Large‐amplitude whistler waves are observed in the magnetospheric and magnetosheath separatrix regions, and outflow region. In the magnetospheric separatrix regions the observed whistler waves propagate toward the X line, which are shown to be driven by the loss in magnetospheric electrons propagating away from the X line and are enhanced by the presence of magnetosheath electrons. The beam mode waves are predicted to be produced by beams of magnetosheath electrons propagating away from the X line and potentially account for some of the electrostatic fluctuations observed in the magnetospheric separatrix regions.

Magnetospheric ion influence on magnetic reconnection at the duskside magnetopause

AbstractMagnetospheric ions from the ring current, warm plasma cloak, and the plasmaspheric drainage plume all interact with the dusk flank magnetopause. During periods of strong magnetospheric convection, these ions may contribute significantly to the magnetospheric mass density at the magnetopause. Observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer at the duskside magnetopause near reconnection X lines show that ions from the ring current and warm plasma cloak may have high mass densities. However, these mass densities are not as large as the mass density in the magnetosheath. The results suggest that except for possible influence from the plasmaspheric drainage plume, the other major magnetospheric ion populations do not greatly influence asymmetric reconnection at the duskside magnetopause.

Asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a flow shear and applications to the magnetopause

AbstractWe perform a systematic theoretical and numerical study of antiparallel two‐dimensional magnetic reconnection with asymmetries in the plasma density and reconnecting magnetic field strength in addition to a bulk flow shear across the reconnection site in the plane of the reconnecting fields, which commonly occurs at planetary magnetospheres. We analytically predict the speed at which an isolated X line is convected by the flow, the reconnection rate, and the critical flow speed at which reconnection no longer takes place for arbitrary reconnecting magnetic field strengths, densities, and upstream flow speeds, and we confirm the results with two‐fluid numerical simulations. The predictions and simulation results counter the prevailing model of reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause which says reconnection occurs with a stationary X line for sub‐Alfvénic magnetosheath flow, reconnection occurs but the X line convects for magnetosheath flows between the Alfvén speed and double the Alfvén speed, and reconnection does not occur for magnetosheath flows greater than double the Alfvén speed. In particular, we find that X line motion is governed by momentum conservation from the upstream flows, which are weighted differently in asymmetric systems, so the X line convects for generic conditions including sub‐Alfvénic upstream speeds. For the reconnection rate, as with symmetric reconnection, it drops with increasing flow shear and there is a cutoff speed above which reconnection is not predominant. However, while the cutoff condition for symmetric reconnection is that the difference in flows on the two sides of the reconnection site is twice the Alfvén speed, we find asymmetries cause the cutoff speed for asymmetric reconnection to be higher than twice the asymmetric form of the Alfvén speed. The stronger the asymmetries, the more the cutoff exceeds double the asymmetric Alfvén speed. This is due to the fact that in asymmetric reconnection, the plasma with the smaller mass flux into the dissipation region contributes a smaller mass to the dissipation region, so the effect of its flow on opposing the release of energy by the reconnected magnetic fields is diminished and the reconnection is not suppressed to the extent previously thought. The results compare favorably with an observation of reconnection at Earth's polar cusps during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field, where reconnection occurs despite the magnetosheath flow speed being more than twice the magnetosheath Alfvén speed, the previously proposed suppression condition. These results are expected to be of broad importance for magnetospheric physics of Earth and other planets; particular applications are discussed.

On the electron dynamics during island coalescence in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

We present an analysis of the electron dynamics during rapid island merging in asymmetric magnetic reconnection. We consider a doubly periodic system with two asymmetric transitions. The upper layer is an asymmetric Harris sheet of finite width perturbed initially to promote a single reconnection site. The lower layer is a tangential discontinuity that promotes the formation of many X-points, separated by rapidly merging islands. Across both layers, the magnetic field and the density have a strong jump, but the pressure is held constant. Our analysis focuses on the consequences of electron energization during island coalescence. We focus first on the parallel and perpendicular components of the electron temperature to establish the presence of possible anisotropies and non-gyrotropies. Thanks to the direct comparison between the two different layers simulated, we can distinguish three main types of behavior characteristic of three different regions of interest. The first type represents the regions where traditional asymmetric reconnections take place without involving island merging. The second type of regions instead shows reconnection events between two merging islands. Finally, the third regions identify the regions between two diverging island and where typical signature of reconnection is not observed. Electrons in these latter regions additionally show a flat-top distribution resulting from the saturation of a two-stream instability generated by the two interacting electron beams from the two nearest reconnection points. Finally, the analysis of agyrotropy shows the presence of a distinct double structure laying all over the lower side facing the higher magnetic field region. This structure becomes quadrupolar in the proximity of the regions of the third type. The distinguishing features found for the three types of regions investigated provide clear indicators to the recently launched Magnetospheric Multiscale NASA mission for investigating magnetopause reconnection involving multiple islands.

Dependence of the dayside magnetopause reconnection rate on local conditions

AbstractWe estimate the reconnection rates for eight dayside magnetopause reconnection events observed by the Cluster spacecraft and compare them with the predictions of the Cassak‐Shay Formula (Rcs) Cassak and Shay (2007). The measured reconnection rate is determined by calculating the product of the inflow velocity and magnetic field in the magnetosheath inflow region. The predicted reconnection rate is calculated using the plasma parameters on both sides of the current layer, including the contributions of magnetosheath H+, magnetospheric hot H+ and O+, and magnetospheric cold ions. The measured reconnection rates show clear correlations with Rcs with an aspect ratio of 0.07. The O+ and cold ions can contribute up to ~30% of the mass density, which may reduce the reconnection rate for individual events. However, the variation of the reconnection rate is dominated by the variation of the magnetosheath parameters. In addition, we calculated the predicted reconnection rate using only magnetosheath parameters (Rsh). The correlation of the measured rate with Rsh was better than the correlation with Rcs, with an aspect ratio of 0.09. This might indicate deviations from the Cassak‐Shay theory caused by the asymmetric reconnection structure and kinetic effects of different inflow populations. A better aspect ratio is expected to be between the ones determined using Rcs and Rsh. The aspect ratio does not show a clear dependence on the O+ concentration, likely because the O+ contribution is too small in these events. The aspect ratio also does not show a clear correlation with density asymmetry or guide field.