The Role of EN in the Reconnection Diffusion Region

K. R. Pritchard , J. L. Burch , S. A. Fuselier , J. M. Webster , K. J. Genestreti , J. M. Broll , T. Phan , B. L. Giles , R. B. Torbert , C. T. Russell , R. J. Strangeway , J. Mukherjee , A. C. Rager , M. R. Argall , Olivier Le Contel (1)

1 LPP - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas

We use high-resolution data from the Fast Plasma Instrument (FPI) on board the Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission (MMS) to study a unique dayside asymmetric reconnection event that occurred on 29 December 2016. During this event all four spacecraft observed the electron diffusion region (EDR). Evidence from this event show that electron crescents were produced as E_N accelerated magnetosheath electrons near the X-point across the magnetopause where they executed meandering orbits along the reconnection current sheet. This paper provides the first direct measurement of E_N acceleration.

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

K. R. Pritchard, J. L. Burch, S. A. Fuselier, J. M. Webster, K. J. Genestreti, et al.. The Role of EN in the Reconnection Diffusion Region. 2018 AGU Fall Meeting, Dec 2018, Washington D.C, United States. 13, pp.SM13B-2867, 2018. ⟨hal-02860986⟩