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Physics of Plasmas / Volume 18 / Issue 12 / ARTICLES / Basic Plasma Phenomena, Waves, Instabilities
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Phys. Plasmas 18, 122108 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3662430 (9 pages)

The inner structure of collisionless magnetic reconnection: The electron-frame dissipation measure and Hall fields

Seiji Zenitani, Michael Hesse, Alex Klimas, Carrie Black, and Masha Kuznetsova

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA

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(Received 31 August 2011; accepted 21 October 2011; published online 14 December 2011)

It was recently proposed that the electron-frame dissipation measure, the energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron’s rest frame, identifies the dissipation region of collisionless magnetic reconnection [Zenitani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 195003 (2011)]. The measure is further applied to the electron-scale structures of antiparallel reconnection, by using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The size of the central dissipation region is controlled by the electron-ion mass ratio, suggesting that electron physics is essential. A narrow electron jet extends along the outflow direction until it reaches an electron shock. The jet region appears to be anti-dissipative. At the shock, electron heating is relevant to a magnetic cavity signature. The results are summarized to a unified picture of the single dissipation region in a Hall magnetic geometry.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. THE ELECTRON-FRAME DISSIPATION MEASURE
  3. NUMERICAL METHOD
  4. RESULTS
    1. Overview
    2. Dissipation region
    3. Outflow region
    4. Electron shock
  5. DISCUSSION

RELATED DATABASES

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

astrophysical plasma, diffusion, magnetic reconnection, plasma jets, plasma kinetic theory, plasma magnetohydrodynamics, plasma shock waves, plasma simulation, plasma transport processes

PACS

  • 95.30.Qd

    Magnetohydrodynamics and plasmas

  • 52.25.Dg

    Plasma kinetic equations

  • 52.25.Fi

    Transport properties

  • 52.30.Cv

    Magnetohydrodynamics (including electron magnetohydrodynamics)

  • 52.35.Tc

    Shock waves and discontinuities

  • 52.65.Rr

    Particle-in-cell method

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3662430

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1070-664X (print)  
1089-7674 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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Figures (9) Tables (1)

Figures (click on thumbnails to view enlargements)

FIG.1
The normalized reconnection rates ℜ (Eq. ( 6 )) as a function of time (Ωcit).

FIG.1 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.2
(Color online) Magnetic field line structure in run 1A, averaged over t = 35-36. Rear panel: the out-of-plane magnetic field By. Front panel: the electron-frame dissipation measure De.

FIG.2 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.3
(Color online) Averaged profile of run 1A over t = 35–36. (a) The electron outflow velocity νex, (b) the electron current density |je| in units of J0, (c) the electric field Ez in units of cAiB0, (d) the out-of-plane component of the electron nonideal condition (E + νe × B)y in units of cAiB0, (e) the electron-frame dissipation measure De in units of cAiB0J0, and (f) the charge term (−ρc νe · E) in De. The contour lines are in-plane magnetic field lines. The dash line indicates the field reversal, Bx = 0.

FIG.3 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.4
(Color online) (a) The out-of-plane component of the electron nonideal condition (E + νe × B)y around the reconnection site, (b) the electron-frame dissipation measure De, and (c) De in run 2A.

FIG.4 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.5
(Color online) Composition of the dissipation measure De (a) along the inflow line (x = 37.9) in run 1A, (b) along the inflow line (x = 37.3) in run 1B, and (c) along the outflow line (z = 0) in run 1A.

FIG.5 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.6
(Color online) The Hall structure of the dissipation region.

FIG.6 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.7
(Color online) The flip angle [degree] of the Hall magnetic field lines (a) at t = 35-36 and (b) at t = 40-41. (c) 1D cuts along the two lines.

FIG.7 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.8
(Color online) (a) The stack plot of the electron outflow speed νex (thin lines) and the reconnected magnetic field Bz (thick lines). (b-e) Averaged properties near the electron jet front at t = 35-36: (b) Bx, (c) the out-of-plane magnetic field By, (d) the electron temperature math(pxxe+pyye+pzze) in units of mecAi2, and (e) the electron energy transfer je · E in units of cAiB0J0.

FIG.8 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.9
(Color online) Our present understanding of Hall reconnection structure: (A) Quadrupole magnetic field By (Refs. 22 , 23), (B) Hall current system (Ref. 22), (C) electron current layer (Refs. 4 , 5), (D) dissipation region (Ref. 16; Sec. 4B), (E) electron diamagnetic jet (Refs. 6 , 7 , 15; Sec. 4C), (F) pedestal (Ref. 11), and (G) electron shock and magnetic cavity (Sec. 4D).

FIG.9 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

Tables

Table I. Simulation parameters.

View Table


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