Electron-scale measurements of magnetic reconnection in space

J. L. Burch(Southwest Research Institute), R. B. Torbert(Southwest Research Institute), T. D. Phan(University of California, Berkeley), Li‐Jen Chen(University of Maryland, College Park), T. E. Moore(Goddard Space Flight Center), R. E. Ergun(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), J. P. Eastwood(Imperial College London), D. J. Gershman(Goddard Space Flight Center), P. A. Cassak(West Virginia University), M. R. Argall(University of New Hampshire), Shan Wang(University of Maryland, College Park), M. Hesse(Goddard Space Flight Center), C. J. Pollock(Goddard Space Flight Center), B. L. Giles(Goddard Space Flight Center), R. Nakamura(Austrian Academy of Sciences), B. H. Mauk(Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), S. A. Fuselier(Southwest Research Institute), C. T. Russell(University of California, Los Angeles), R. J. Strangeway(University of California, Los Angeles), J. F. Drake(University of Maryland, College Park), M. A. Shay(University of Delaware), Y. V. Khotyaintsev(Swedish Institute of Space Physics), Peter Lindqvist(KTH Royal Institute of Technology), G. Marklund(KTH Royal Institute of Technology), F. D. Wilder(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), D. T. Young(Southwest Research Institute), K. Torkar(Austrian Academy of Sciences), J. Goldstein(Southwest Research Institute), J. Dorelli(Goddard Space Flight Center), L. A. Avanov(Goddard Space Flight Center), M. Oka(University of California, Berkeley), D. N. Baker(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), A. N. Jaynes(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), K. Goodrich(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), I. J. Cohen(Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), D. L. Turner(The Aerospace Corporation), J. F. Fennell(The Aerospace Corporation), J. B. Blake(The Aerospace Corporation), J. H. Clemmons(The Aerospace Corporation), M. V. Goldman(University of Colorado Boulder), D. L. Newman(University of Colorado Boulder), S. M. Petrinec(Lockheed Martin (United States)), K. J. Trattner(Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics), B. Lavraud(Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie), P. H. Reiff(Rice University), W. Baumjohann(Austrian Academy of Sciences), W. Magnes(Austrian Academy of Sciences), M. Steller(Austrian Academy of Sciences), W. S. Lewis(Southwest Research Institute), Y. Saito(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science), V. N. Coffey(Marshall Space Flight Center), M. O. Chandler(Marshall Space Flight Center)
Science
May 13, 2016
10.1126/science.aaf2939
Cited by 720Open Access
Full Text

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in plasmas whereby stored magnetic energy is converted into heat and kinetic energy of charged particles. Reconnection occurs in many astrophysical plasma environments and in laboratory plasmas. Using measurements with very high time resolution, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has found direct evidence for electron demagnetization and acceleration at sites along the sunward boundary of Earth's magnetosphere where the interplanetary magnetic field reconnects with the terrestrial magnetic field. We have (i) observed the conversion of magnetic energy to particle energy; (ii) measured the electric field and current, which together cause the dissipation of magnetic energy; and (iii) identified the electron population that carries the current as a result of demagnetization and acceleration within the reconnection diffusion/dissipation region.

Related Papers

No related papers found

Powered by citation graph analysis