In Situ Observations of Ion Scale Current Sheets and Associated Electron Heating in Turbulent Space Plasmas
Résumé
We present a statistical study of ion-scale current sheets in turbulent space plasma. The study was performed using in situ measurements from the Earth's magnetosheath downstream of the quasi-parallel shock. Intermittent structures were identified using the Partial Variance of Increments method. We studied the distribution of the identified structures as a function of their magnetic shear angle, the PVI index and the electron heating. The properties of the observed current sheets were different for high (>3) and low (<3) values of the PVI index. We observed a distinct population of high PVI (>3) structures that accounted for ~20% of the total. Those current sheets have high magnetic shear (>90 degrees) and were observed mostly in close proximity to the bow shock with their numbers reducing towards the magnetopause. Enhancement of the estimated electron temperature within these current sheets suggest that they are important for local electron heating and energy dissipation.