Observations of Flux Ropes With Strong Energy Dissipation in the Magnetotail

An ion‐scale flux rope (FR), embedded in a high‐speed electron flow (possibly an electron vortex), is investigated in the magnetotail using observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. Intense electric field and current and abundant waves are observed in the exterior and interior regions of the FR. Comparable parallel and perpendicular currents in the interior region imply that the FR has a non‐force‐free configuration. Electron demagnetization occurs in some subregions of the FR. It is surprising that strong dissipation (J × E' up to 2,000 pW/m3) occurs in the center of the FR without signatures of secondary reconnection or coalescence of two FRs, implying that FR may provide another important channel for energy dissipation in space plasmas. These features indicate that the observed FR is still highly dynamical, and hosts multiscale coupling processes, even though the FR has a very large scale and is far away from the reconnection site.

[1]  R. Torbert,et al.  Observations of the Electron Jet Generated by Secondary Reconnection in the Terrestrial Magnetotail , 2018, The Astrophysical Journal.

[2]  R. Torbert,et al.  Electron‐Scale Measurements of Dipolarization Front , 2018 .

[3]  C. Russell,et al.  Coalescence of Macroscopic Flux Ropes at the Subsolar Magnetopause: Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations. , 2017, Physical review letters.

[4]  K. Fujimoto.  Bursty emission of whistler waves in association with plasmoid collision , 2017 .

[5]  S. Huang,et al.  Occurrence rate of whistler waves in the magnetotail reconnection region , 2017 .

[6]  P. Lindqvist,et al.  MMS observations of whistler waves in electron diffusion region , 2017 .

[7]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Intermittent energy dissipation by turbulent reconnection , 2017 .

[8]  Q. Lu,et al.  Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes observed in the tailward high‐speed flows , 2016 .

[9]  R. Nakamura,et al.  Electrostatic and electromagnetic fluctuations detected inside magnetic flux ropes during magnetic reconnection , 2016 .

[10]  D. Gershman,et al.  The substructure of a flux transfer event observed by the MMS spacecraft , 2016 .

[11]  B. Anderson,et al.  MMS observations of ion‐scale magnetic island in the magnetosheath turbulent plasma , 2016 .

[12]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Two types of whistler waves in the hall reconnection region , 2016 .

[13]  U. Gliese,et al.  Fast Plasma Investigation for Magnetospheric Multiscale , 2016 .

[14]  A. Du,et al.  Characteristics of field‐aligned currents associated with magnetic flux ropes in the magnetotail: A statistical study , 2016 .

[15]  J. B. Blake,et al.  Electron-scale measurements of magnetic reconnection in space , 2016, Science.

[16]  A. Valavanoglou,et al.  The Search-Coil Magnetometer for MMS , 2016 .

[17]  Wolfgang Baumjohann,et al.  The Magnetospheric Multiscale Magnetometers , 2016 .

[18]  Per-Arne Lindqvist,et al.  The Axial Double Probe and Fields Signal Processing for the MMS Mission , 2016 .

[19]  P. Lindqvist,et al.  The Spin-Plane Double Probe Electric Field Instrument for MMS , 2016 .

[20]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Identifying magnetic reconnection events using the FOTE method , 2016, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.

[21]  H. Karimabadi,et al.  In situ observations of flux rope at the separatrix region of magnetic reconnection , 2016 .

[22]  R. Nakamura,et al.  Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes in the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection , 2015, Nature Physics.

[23]  S. Huang,et al.  Kinetic simulations of secondary reconnection in the reconnection jet , 2015 .

[24]  W. Sun,et al.  Electromagnetic energy conversion at dipolarization fronts: Multispacecraft results , 2015 .

[25]  A. Vaivads,et al.  How to find magnetic nulls and reconstruct field topology with MMS data? , 2015 .

[26]  L. Hall.  The Magnetospheric Multiscale , 2015 .

[27]  S. Huang,et al.  Kinetic simulations of electric field structure within magnetic island during magnetic reconnection and their applications to the satellite observations , 2014 .

[28]  Jiansen He,et al.  Observation of directional change of core field inside flux ropes within one reconnection diffusion region in the Earth’s magnetotail , 2014 .

[29]  Xiaohua Deng,et al.  Plasma physics of magnetic island coalescence during magnetic reconnection , 2014 .

[30]  K. Fujimoto.  Wave activities in separatrix regions of magnetic reconnection , 2014 .

[31]  A. Runov,et al.  Dipolarization fronts as a consequence of transient reconnection: In situ evidence , 2013 .

[32]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Energetic electron acceleration by unsteady magnetic reconnection , 2013, Nature Physics.

[33]  M. Volwerk,et al.  Three‐dimensional magnetic flux rope structure formed by multiple sequential X‐line reconnection at the magnetopause , 2013 .

[34]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Electron acceleration in the reconnection diffusion region: Cluster observations , 2012 .

[35]  S. Y. Huang,et al.  Electric field structure inside the secondary island in the reconnection diffusion region , 2012 .

[36]  X. Deng,et al.  Kinetic structure and wave properties associated with sharp dipolarization front observed by Cluster , 2012 .

[37]  William Daughton,et al.  Role of electron physics in the development of turbulent magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas , 2011 .

[38]  F. Sahraoui,et al.  Wave properties in the magnetic reconnection diffusion region with high β: Application of the k‐filtering method to Cluster multispacecraft data , 2010 .

[39]  Can Huang,et al.  Observations of energetic electrons up to 200 keV associated with a secondary island near the center of an ion diffusion region: A Cluster case study , 2010 .

[40]  M. Fujimoto,et al.  Observations of slow electron holes at a magnetic reconnection site. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[41]  M. Fujimoto,et al.  ELECTRON ACCELERATION BY MULTI-ISLAND COALESCENCE , 2010, 1004.1154.

[42]  M. Fujimoto,et al.  “Island surfing” mechanism of electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection , 2010, 1004.1150.

[43]  M. Fujimoto,et al.  Cluster observations of energetic electrons and electromagnetic fields within a reconnecting thin current sheet in the Earth's magnetotail , 2008 .

[44]  P. Pritchett.  Energetic electron acceleration during multi-island coalescence , 2008 .

[45]  R. Sydora,et al.  Whistler waves associated with magnetic reconnection , 2008 .

[46]  Shinsuke Imada,et al.  Observation of energetic electrons within magnetic islands , 2008 .

[47]  M. Shay,et al.  Electron acceleration from contracting magnetic islands during reconnection , 2006, Nature.

[48]  William Daughton,et al.  Fully kinetic simulations of undriven magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions , 2006 .

[49]  R. Nakamura,et al.  Joint observations by Cluster satellites of bursty bulk flows in the magnetotail , 2006 .

[50]  Quanming Lu,et al.  The process of electron acceleration during collisionless magnetic reconnection , 2006 .

[51]  A. Vaivads,et al.  Plasma Waves Near Reconnection Sites , 2006 .

[52]  D. Baker,et al.  Cluster observations of earthward flowing plasmoid in the tail , 2004 .

[53]  Wolfgang Baumjohann,et al.  Geotail encounter with reconnection diffusion region in the Earth's magnetotail: Evidence of multiple X lines collisionless reconnection? , 2004 .

[54]  C. Owen,et al.  Geotail observations of magnetic flux ropes in the plasma sheet , 2003 .

[55]  M. Scholer,et al.  Structure of the magnetopause reconnection layer and of flux transfer events: Ion kinetic effects , 2000 .

[56]  B. Sonnerup,et al.  Minimum and Maximum Variance Analysis , 1998 .

[57]  H. Matsumoto,et al.  Electron beam instabilities as generation mechanism of electrostatic solitary waves in the magnetotail , 1996 .

[58]  Lou‐Chuang Lee,et al.  A theory of magnetic flux transfer at the Earth's magnetopause , 1985 .