Satellite observations of plasma physics near the magnetic field reconnection X line

Observations of Hall Reconnection Physics Far Downstream of the X Line.

Observations made using the Wind spacecraft of Hall magnetic fields in solar wind reconnection exhausts are presented. These observations are consistent with the generation of Hall fields by a narrow ion inertial scale current layer near the separatrix, which is confirmed with an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation that shows excellent agreement with observations. The Hall fields a...

Magnetic reconnection in the near-Mars magnetotail: MAVEN observations

We report Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) observations of electrons, ions, and magnetic fields which provide comprehensive demonstration of magnetic reconnection signatures in the Martian magnetotail. In the near-Mars tail current sheet at XMSO ∼−1.3RM, trapped electrons with two-sided loss cones were observed, indicating the closed magnetic field topology. In the closed field re...

Evolution of field line helicity during magnetic reconnection

Guide field dependence of 3-D X-line spreading during collisionless magnetic reconnection

[1] Theoretical arguments and large-scale two-fluid simulations are used to study the spreading of reconnection X-lines localized in the direction of the current as a function of the strength of the out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field. It is found that the mechanism causing the spreading is different for weak and strong guide fields. In the weak guide field limit, spreading is due to the motion...

The Orientation of the Reconnection X - line

We propose a criterion for identifying the orientation of the X-line when two regions of plasma with arbitrary densities, temperatures, and magnetic fields undergo reconnection. The X-line points in the direction that maximizes the (suitably-defined) Alfvén speed characterizing the reconnection outflow. For many situations a good approximation is that the X-line bisects the angle formed by the ...