Electron Current Sheet Research Articles

Role of nonlinear structures and associated turbulence generation dayside magnetosphere reconnection sites

A numerical simulation is implemented to investigate the role of whistler wave in the presence of the ponderomotive force-driven density modification and the magnetic field perturbation due to preexisting magnetic islands. The dynamical equation governing the whistler waves is derived and solved using numerical methods to assess their role. The simulation produced results that revealed the nonlinear structures, confirming the system's turbulent characteristics. Moreover, we utilized a semi-analytical model, applying the paraxial approximation, to estimate the scale size of the current sheet, which was found to be between 2λe and λe. This measurement provides evidence of the presence of a superthin electron current sheet within reconnection sites. Qualitative consistency is established by comparing the simulation results with findings reported in the literature.

Reconnection Inside a Dipolarization Front of a Diverging Earthward Fast Flow

AbstractWe examine a Dipolarization Front (DF) event with an embedded electron diffusion region (EDR), observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft on 08 September 2018 at 14:51:30 UT in the Earth's magnetotail by applying multi‐scale multipoint analysis methods. In order to study the large‐scale context of this DF, we use conjunction observations of the Cluster spacecraft together with MMS. A polynomial magnetic field reconstruction technique is applied to MMS data to characterize the embedded electron current sheet including its velocity and the X‐line exhaust opening angle. Our results show that the MMS and Cluster spacecraft were located in two counter‐rotating vortex flows, and such flows may distort a flux tube in a way that the local magnetic shear angle is increased and localized magnetic reconnection may be triggered. Using multi‐point data from MMS we further show that the local normalized reconnection rate is in the range of R ∼ 0.16 to 0.18. We find a highly asymmetric electron in‐ and outflow structure, consistent with previous simulations on strong guide‐field reconnection events. This study shows that magnetic reconnection may not only take place at large‐scale stable magnetopause or magnetotail current sheets but also in transient localized current sheets, produced as a consequence of the interaction between the fast Earthward flows and the Earth's dipole field.

Reconnection Rate and Transition from Ion-coupled to Electron-only Reconnection

Standard collisionless magnetic reconnection couples with both electron and ion dynamics. Recently, a new type of magnetic reconnection, electron-only magnetic reconnection without ion outflow, has been observed, and its reconnection rate has been found to be much higher than that in ion-coupled reconnection. In this paper, using 2D particle-in-cell simulations, we find that when the ion gyroradius is much smaller than the size of the simulation domain, magnetic reconnection is standard with ion outflows. As the ion gyroradius increases, the ion response gradually weakens, and the reconnection rate becomes higher. Electron-only reconnection occurs when the ion gyroradius is comparable to the size of the simulation domain. This trend applies to both strong and weak guide field situations. Therefore, the key factor that controls the transition from ion-coupled reconnection to electron-only reconnection is the ratio between the ion gyroradius and the size of the simulation domain. We further show that, in electron-only reconnection, when the initial electron current sheet is thinner, the reconnection rate and the electron outflow speed are higher.

Electron Dynamics in the Electron Current Sheet During Strong Guide‐Field Reconnection

AbstractIn this study, we investigate detailed electron dynamics in strong guide‐field reconnection (the normalized guide field is ∼1.5). This reconnection event is observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft at the center of a flux rope in the magnetotail. With the presence of a large parallel electric field (E‖) in the electron current sheet, electrons are accelerated when streaming into this E‖ region from one direction, and decelerated from the other direction. Some decelerated electrons can reduce the parallel speed to ∼0 to form relatively isotropic electron distributions at one side of the electron current sheet, as the estimated acceleration potential satisfies the relation eΦ‖ ≥ kTe,‖, where Te,‖ is the electron temperature parallel to the magnetic field. Therefore, a large E‖ is generated to balance the parallel electron pressure gradient across the electron current sheet, since electrons at the other side of the current sheet are still anisotropic. Based on these observations, we further show that the electron beta is an important parameter in guide‐field reconnection, providing a new perspective to solve the large parallel electric field puzzle in guide‐field reconnection.

Equilibrium Configurations of Super‐Thin Current Sheets in Space Plasma: Characteristic Scaling of Multilayer Structures

AbstractThin current sheets (TCSs) are the key structures in space and laboratory plasmas responsible for the accumulation and subsequent release of the stored magnetic energy. Spacecraft measurements in the near Earth's space revealed the complicated multilayer TCSs structure consisting from extremely thin and strong electron current embedded inside the thicker ion current layer. In this paper we present for the first time the analytical self‐consistent model of 1D super thin electron current sheet (STCS) supported by magnetized electrons within a much wider (but still very thin) proton structure carried by nonmagnetized (quasi‐adiabatic) particles. We take into account the dependence of electron STCS on anisotropy of electron distribution and magnetic field shear often existing in realistic TCS configurations. It is shown that the structure of the embedded STCS can be described by the simple nonlinear equation, which allows to estimate the scaling of STCS thickness due to coupling of electron and ion domains, although electron dynamics described by guiding center drift approximation is scale free. The theoretical results are in a good agreement with MMS spacecraft observations in the Earth's magnetotail.

Observation of Magnetic Reconnection in a Region of Strong Turbulence

We examine a rare and interesting observation of magnetic reconnection embedded in a large-scale region of strong turbulence in which magnetic field annihilation is energizing ions and electrons. The magnetic reconnection event is in Earth’s magnetotail and is associated with enhanced energetic particle fluxes indicating local particle acceleration. Despite substantial electric and magnetic field fluctuations throughout the surrounding, large-scale region, the ongoing magnetic reconnection has many similar properties to laminar, 2D magnetic reconnection including Hall electric fields, Hall magnetic fields, a thin electron current sheet, and ion and electron jets. Notably, the electron jet emerging from the electron diffusion region (EDR) appears to transport sufficient off-diagonal momentum to infer that off-diagonal electron stress can support the reconnection electric field in the EDR even in a turbulent environment. Although the electron jet appears to be briefly (∼1 s) deflected or possibly interrupted by an electromagnetic disturbance, the reconnection appears to otherwise continue for a long period (∼30 minutes) as evidenced by a persistent ion jet. This particular finding implies that the fundamental electron-scale processes inside of the EDR in turbulent magnetic reconnection are not necessarily distinct from those in laminar magnetic reconnection. These observations provide direct confirmation that magnetic reconnection can not only be responsible for but also can continue in regions of large-scale turbulence. Because the electric and magnetic fields of strong turbulence are linked to particle acceleration, it follows that particle acceleration also can continue as a consequence of turbulent magnetic reconnection.

Fine Structures of the Electron Current Sheet in Magnetotail Guide‐Field Reconnection

AbstractWe investigate fine structures of the electron current sheet in magnetotail guide‐field reconnection using Magnetospheric Multiscale observations. This current sheet, observed in the outer electron diffusion region (EDR) of reconnection, is featured by clear bifurcation and deflection, and also has complicated fine sublayers. The formation of these sublayers is closely related to streaming and meandering electrons, which are facilitated by the reconnection guide field. In particular, in the sublayer around the BL reversal, the meandering electrons, which usually move along the out‐of‐plane (M) direction, are strongly distorted into the vL‐vN plane due to the finite BM component. The low frequency fluctuation of this current sheet is also revealed, contributing ∼3% of the reconnection electric field by the anomalous effect. We suggest that such current sheet fluctuations, possibly driven by the magnetic double‐gradient instability, can be characteristic in the outer EDR.

Electron-only Reconnection in Kinetic-Alfvén Turbulence

Abstract We study numerically small-scale reconnection events in kinetic, low-frequency, quasi-2D turbulence (termed kinetic-Alfvén turbulence). Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that such turbulence generates reconnection structures where the electron dynamics do not couple to the ions, similarly to the electron-only reconnection events recently detected in the Earth’s magnetosheath by Phan et al. Electron-only reconnection is thus an inherent property of kinetic-Alfvén turbulence, where the electron current sheets have limited anisotropy and, as a result, their sizes are smaller than the ion inertial scale. The reconnection rate of such electron-only events is found to be close to 0.1.

Spontaneous Onset of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection on an Electron Scale

Abstract Using particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the onset of magnetic reconnection from a quiescent Harris current sheet in collisionless plasmas. After the current sheet is destabilized by the collisionless tearing mode instability, it proceeds to onset of reconnection, which manifests spontaneous thinning of current sheet and pileup of upstream magnetic flux. Once the current sheet thins to a critical thickness, about two electron inertial lengths, reconnection begins to grow explosively in this electron current sheet. This study shows that the spontaneous onset of collisionless magnetic reconnection is controlled by electron kinetics.

Three-dimensional stability of current sheets supported by electron pressure anisotropy

The stability of electron current sheets embedded within the reconnection exhaust is studied with a 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation. The electron current layers studied here form self-consistently in a reconnection regime with a moderate guide field, are supported by electron pressure anisotropy with the pressure component parallel to the magnetic field direction larger than the perpendicular components, and extend well beyond electron kinetic scales. In 3D, in addition to drift instabilities common to nearly all reconnection exhausts, the regime considered also exhibits an electromagnetic instability driven by the electron pressure anisotropy. While the fluctuations modulate the current density on small scales, they do not break apart the general structure of the extended electron current layers. The elongated current sheets should therefore persist long enough to be observed both in space observations and in laboratory experiments.

An Electron‐Scale Current Sheet Without Bursty Reconnection Signatures Observed in the Near‐Earth Tail

AbstractObservations of a current sheet as thin as the electron scale are extremely rare in the near‐Earth magnetotail. By measurement from the novel Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the near‐Earth magnetotail, we identified such an electron‐scale current sheet and determined its detailed properties. The electron current sheet was bifurcated, with a half‐thickness of nine electron inertial lengths, and was sandwiched between the Hall field. Because of the strong Hall electric field, the super‐Alfvénic electron bulk flows were created mainly by the electric field drift, leading to the generation of the strong electron current. Inevitably, a bifurcated current sheet was formed since the Hall electric field was close to zero at the center of the current sheet. Inside the electron current sheet, the electrons were significantly heated while the ion temperature showed no change. The ions kept moving at a low speed, which was not affected by this electron current sheet. The energy dissipation was negligible inside the current sheet. The observations indicate that a thin current sheet, even as thin as electron scale, is not the sufficient condition for triggering bursty reconnection.

On the role of system size in Hall MHD magnetic reconnection

We study the effects of the Hall electric field on magnetic island coalescence in the large island limit and find evidence for both an elongated electron current sheet layer with a Sweet-Parker-like reconnection rate and a collapsed, Petschek-like electron sheet with a peak reconnection rate approaching the 0.1vAB0 Hall MHD rate. The state observed in our simulations appears to depend on the grid scale. Furthermore, even at the largest system sizes, we find that flux-pileup effects cause the islands to “bounce” despite the presence of a collapsed current sheet allowing fast instantaneous reconnection. The average reconnection rate in the large island limit is slow though the peak reconnection rate is fast.

Electron-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of electron scale current sheet dynamics in the Vineta.II guide field reconnection experiment

Three dimensional electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) simulations of electron current sheet dynamics in a background of stationary and unmagnetized ions and the subsequent generation of electromagnetic fluctuations are carried out. The physical parameters and initial magnetic configuration in the simulations are chosen to be similar to those in the \textsc{Vineta}.II magnetic reconnection experiment. Consistent with the experimental results, our 3D EMHD simulations show the formation of an elongated electron scale current sheet together with the excitation of electromagnetic fluctuations within this sheet. The fluctuations in the simulations are generated by an electron shear flow instability growing on the in-plane (perpendicular to the direction of the main current in the sheet) electron shear flow (or current) developed during the current sheet evolution. Similar to the experiments, the magnetic field fluctuations perpendicular to the guide magnetic field exhibit a broadband frequency spectrum following a power law and a positive correlation with the axial current density. Although the experimental results show that ions influence the spectral properties of the fluctuations, the simulations suggest that the electron dynamics, even in the absence of ion motion, primarily determines the formation of the current sheet and the generation of electromagnetic fluctuations observed in the experiments.

Spreading of electron scale magnetic reconnection with a wave number dependent speed due to the propagation of dispersive waves

In this work, we study electron scale spreading of localized magnetic reconnection in the presence of a guide magnetic field, however, without the influence of ions and cross-scale coupling. These fundamental physics studies will help to understand the coupling of the electron scale spreading with the ion scales in real systems. An electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) model is employed to model the physics at electron scales. Three dimensional EMHD simulations and linear eigen mode analysis are performed for different guide field strengths. The simulations show a wave-like bi-directional spreading of magnetic reconnection at electron scales. The electron scale spreading, however, unlike the ion scale spreading by Alfvén waves, is caused by the uni- and bi-directional propagation of the dispersive flow induced and whistler wave modes, respectively. The dispersive nature of the two wave modes makes the spreading-speed dependent on the wave numbers of the unstable tearing mode, which depend on the thickness of the electron current sheet and the strength of the guide field. A model of the speed of spreading is developed, in which the spreading-speeds parallel and anti-parallel to the guide field are given by linear combinations of the group speeds of the two wave modes. The model prediction of the spreading speeds agrees well with the speeds obtained from the simulation results. For small guide fields, the spreading is asymmetric being faster in the direction of the electron flow. On increasing the guide field, the spreading becomes increasingly symmetric, with the speeds of the order of electron Alfvén speed in the guide magnetic field, due to the dominance of the whistler group speed in determining the speed of the spreading. As a consequence of the asymmetric spreading, the chain of alternate X- and O-points, formed due the growth of oblique tearing modes, extends farther in the direction of electron flow as compared to that in the direction of the guide magnetic field.

Electron acceleration in a secondary magnetic island formed during magnetic reconnection with a guide field

Secondary magnetic islands may be generated in the vicinity of an X line during magnetic reconnection. In this paper, by performing two-dimensional (2-D) particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the role of a secondary magnetic island in electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection with a guide field. The electron motions are found to be adiabatic, and we analyze the contributions of the parallel electric field and Fermi and betatron mechanisms to electron acceleration in the secondary island during the evolution of magnetic reconnection. When the secondary island is formed, electrons are accelerated by the parallel electric field due to the existence of the reconnection electric field in the electron current sheet. Electrons can be accelerated by both the parallel electric field and Fermi mechanism when the secondary island begins to merge with the primary magnetic island, which is formed simultaneously with the appearance of X lines. With the increase in the guide field, the contributions of the Fermi mechanism to electron acceleration become less and less important. When the guide field is sufficiently large, the contribution of the Fermi mechanism is almost negligible.

Nonlinear evolution of electron shear flow instabilities in the presence of an external guide magnetic field

The dissipation mechanism by which the magnetic field reconnects in the presence of an external (guide) magnetic field in the direction of the main current is not well understood. In thin electron current sheets (half thickness close to an electron inertial length) formed in a quasi-steady state of collisionless magnetic reconnection, electron shear flow instabilities are potential candidates for providing an anomalous dissipation mechanism which can break the frozen-in condition of the magnetic field affecting the structure and rate of reconnection. We present the results of investigations of the evolution of electron shear flow instabilities, from linear to nonlinear state, in guide field magnetic reconnection. The properties of the plasma turbulence resulting from the growth of instability and their dependence on the strength of the guide field are studied. For this sake, we utilize the three dimensional electron-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of electron current sheets. We show that, unlike the case of current sheets self-consistently embedded in anti-parallel magnetic fields, the evolution of thin electron current sheets in the presence of a finite external guide field (equal to the asymptotic value of the reconnecting magnetic field or larger) is dominated by high wave number non-tearing mode instabilities. The latter causes the development of, first, a wavy structure of the current sheet. The turbulence, developed later, consists of current filaments and electron flow vortices. As a result of the nonlinear evolution of instability, the current sheet broadens simultaneously with its flattening in the central region mimicking a viscous-like turbulent dissipation. Later, the flattened current sheet bifurcates. During the time of bifurcation, the rate of the change of mean electron flow velocity is proportional to the magnitude of the flow velocity, suggesting a resistive-like dissipation. The turbulence energy cascades to shorter wavelengths preferentially in the direction perpendicular to the guide magnetic field. The degree of anisotropy of the turbulence was found to increase with the increasing strength of the guide field.

Hybrid simulations of magnetic reconnection with kinetic ions and fluid electron pressure anisotropy

We present the first hybrid simulations with kinetic ions and recently developed equations of state for the electron fluid appropriate for reconnection with a guide field. The equations of state account for the main anisotropy of the electron pressure tensor. Magnetic reconnection is studied in two systems, an initially force-free current sheet and a Harris sheet. The hybrid model with the equations of state is compared to two other models, hybrid simulations with isothermal electrons and fully kinetic simulations. Including the anisotropic equations of state in the hybrid model provides a better match to the fully kinetic model. In agreement with fully kinetic results, the main feature captured is the formation of an electron current sheet that extends several ion inertial lengths. This electron current sheet modifies the Hall magnetic field structure near the X-line, and it is not observed in the standard hybrid model with isotropic electrons. The saturated reconnection rate in this regime nevertheless remains similar in all three models. Implications for global modeling are discussed.

Effect of guide field on three-dimensional electron shear flow instabilities in electron current sheets

We examine, in the limit of electron plasma ${\it\beta}_{e}\ll 1$, the effect of an external guide field and current sheet thickness on the growth rates and nature of three-dimensional (3-D) unstable modes of an electron current sheet driven by electron shear flow. The growth rate of the fastest growing mode drops rapidly with current sheet thickness but increases slowly with the strength of the guide field. The fastest growing mode is tearing type only for thin current sheets (half-thickness ${\approx}d_{e}$, where $d_{e}=c/{\it\omega}_{pe}$ is the electron inertial length) and zero guide field. For finite guide field or thicker current sheets, the fastest growing mode is a non-tearing type. However, growth rates of the fastest 2-D tearing and 3-D non-tearing modes are comparable for thin current sheets ($d_{e}<\text{half thickness}<2\,d_{e}$) and small guide field (of the order of the asymptotic value of the component of magnetic field supporting the electron current sheet). It is shown that the general mode resonance conditions for tearing modes depend on the effective dissipation mechanism. The usual tearing mode resonance condition ($\boldsymbol{k}\boldsymbol{\cdot }\boldsymbol{B}_{0}=0$, $\boldsymbol{k}$ is the wavevector and $\boldsymbol{B}_{0}$ is the equilibrium magnetic field) can be recovered from the general resonance conditions in the limit of weak dissipation. The conditions (relating current sheet thickness, strength of the guide field and wavenumbers) for the non-existence of tearing mode are obtained from the general mode resonance conditions. We discuss the role of electron shear flow instabilities in magnetic reconnection.

Evolution of electron current sheets in collisionless magnetic reconnection

An electron current sheet embedded in an ion scale current sheet is an inherent feature of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Such thin electron current sheets are unstable to tearing mode and produce secondary magnetic islands modulating the reconnection rate. In this work, 2-D evolution of tearing mode at multiple reconnection sites in an electron current sheet is studied using electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) model. It is shown that growth of the perturbations can make reconnection impulsive by suddenly enhancing the reconnection rate and also forms new structures in the presence of multiple reconnection sites, one of which is dominant and others are secondary. The rise of the reconnection rate to a peak value and the time to reach the peak value due to tearing instability are similar to those observed in particle-in-cell simulations for similar thicknesses of the electron current sheet. The peak reconnection rate scales as 0.05/ϵ1.15, where ϵ is half thickness of the current sheet. Interactions of electron outflows from the dominant and secondary sites form a double vortex sheet inside the magnetic island between the two sites. Electron Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the double vortex sheet produces secondary vortices and consequently turbulence inside the magnetic island. Interaction of outflow from the dominant site and inflows to the adjacent secondary sites launches whistler waves which propagate from the secondary sites into the upstream region at Storey angle with the background magnetic field. Due to the wave propagation, the out-of-plane magnetic field has a nested structure of quadrupoles of opposite polarities. A numerical linear eigen value analysis of the EMHD tearing mode, valid for current sheet half-thicknesses ranging from ϵ<de=c/ωpe (strong electron inertia) to ϵ>de (weak electron inertia), is presented.

Current sheet in plasma as a system with a controlling parameter

A simple kinetic model describing stationary solutions with bifurcated and single-peaked current density profiles of a plane electron beam or current sheet in plasma is presented. A connection is established between the two-dimensional constructions arising in terms of the model and the one-dimensional considerations by Bernstein−Greene−Kruskal facilitating the reconstruction of the distribution function of trapped particles when both the profile of the electric potential and the free particles distribution function are known.