Electrostatic Turbulence and Anomalous Effects in Reconnection Diffusion Region

Y. V. Khotyaintsev , D. B. Graham , C. Norgren , A. Vaivads (1) , W. Li , A. V. Divin , M. Andre , S. Markidis , P. A. Lindqvist (2) , I. B. Peng , M. R. Argall , R. Ergun , Olivier Le Contel (3) , W. Magnes , C. T. Russell , B. L. Giles , R. B. Torbert , J. L. Burch

1 IRF - Swedish Institute of Space Physics [Kiruna]
2 Alfven Laboratory
3 LPP - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process whereby microscopicplasma processes cause macroscopic changes in magnetic field topology,so that initially separated plasmas become magnetically connected.Waves can produce particle diffusion, and anomalous resistivity, aswell as heat the plasma and accelerate plasma particles, all of whichcan impact ongoing reconnection. We report electrostatic turbulencedeveloping within the diffusion region of asymmetric magnetopausereconnection using observations by the Magnetospheric Multiscalemission and large-scale particle-in-cell simulations, and characterizeanomalous effects and plasma heating within the diffusion region. Ourobservations demonstrate that electrostatic turbulence plays animportant role in the electron-scale physics of asymmetricreconnection.

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Y. V. Khotyaintsev, D. B. Graham, C. Norgren, A. Vaivads, W. Li, et al.. Electrostatic Turbulence and Anomalous Effects in Reconnection Diffusion Region. AGU Fall meeting, Dec 2017, New Orleans, Louisiane, United States. ⟨hal-02752286⟩