Category Archives: Magnetic reconnection

Signatures of Cold Ions in a Kinetic Simulation of the Reconnecting Magnetopause

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Signatures of Cold Ions in a Kinetic Simulation of the Reconnecting Magnetopause

Dargent, J., Aunai, N., Lavraud, B., Toledo‐Redondo, S., Califano, F. ( 2019). Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124, 2497– 2514.

At the Earth’s magnetopause, a low‐energy ion population of ionospheric origin is commonly observed at the magnetospheric side. In this work we use a 2‐D fully kinetic simulation to identify several original signatures related to the dynamics of cold ions involved in magnetic reconnection at the asymmetric dayside magnetopause. We identify several original signatures of the cold ions dynamics driven by the development of magnetic reconnection at the asymmetric dayside magnetopause. We find that cold ions tend to rarefy in the diffusion region, while their density is enhanced as a result of compression along magnetospheric separatrices. We also observe the formation of crescent‐shaped cold ion distribution functions along the separatrices in the near‐exhaust region, and we present an analytical model to explain this signature. Finally, we give evidence of a localized parallel heating of cold ions. These signatures should be detected with the magnetospheric multiscale mission high‐resolution observations.

Perpendicular Current Reduction Caused by Cold Ions of Ionospheric Origin in Magnetic Reconnection at the Magnetopause: Particle‐in‐Cell Simulations and Spacecraft Observations

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Perpendicular Current Reduction Caused by Cold Ions of Ionospheric Origin in Magnetic Reconnection at the Magnetopause: Particle‐in‐Cell Simulations and Spacecraft Observations

Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 10,033– 10,042. doi : https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079051

Sergio Toledo‐Redondo Jérémy Dargent Nicolas Aunai Benoit Lavraud Mats André Wenya Li Barbara Giles Per‐Arne Lindqvist Robert E. Ergun Christopher T. Russell James L. Burch

Cold ions of ionospheric origin are present throughout the Earth’s magnetosphere, including the dayside magnetopause, where they modify the properties of magnetic reconnection, a major coupling mechanism at work between the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere. We present Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) spacecraft observations of the reconnecting magnetopause with different amounts of cold ions and show that their presence reduces the Hall term in the Ohm’s law. Then, we compare two particle‐in‐cell simulations, with and without cold ions on the magnetospheric side. The cold ions remain magnetized inside the magnetospheric separatrix region, leading to the reduction of the perpendicular currents associated with the Hall effect. Moreover, this reduction is proportional to the relative number density of cold ions. And finally, the Hall electric field peak is reduced along the magnetospheric separatrix owing to cold ions. This should have an effect on energy conversion by reconnection from electromagnetic fields to kinetic energy of the particles.

Kinetic simulation of asymmetric magnetic reconnection with cold ions

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Kinetic simulation of asymmetric magnetic reconnection with cold ions

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Volume 122, Issue 5, pp. 5290-5306 DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023831

Dargent, J.; Aunai, N.; Lavraud, B.; Toledo-Redondo, S.; Shay, M. A.; Cassak, P. A.; Malakit, K.

At the dayside magnetopause, the magnetosphere often contains a cold ion population of ionospheric origin. This population is not always detectable by particle instruments due to its low energy, despite having an important contribution to the total ion density and therefore an impact on key plasma processes such as magnetic reconnection. The exact role and implications of this low-temperature population are still not well known and has not been addressed with numerical simulation before. We present 2-D fully kinetic simulations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection with and without a cold ion population on the magnetospheric side of the magnetopause, but sharing the same total density, temperature, and magnetic field profiles. The comparison of the simulations suggests that cold ions directly impact signatures recently suggested as a good marker of the X line region: the Larmor electric field. Our simulations reveal that this electric field, initially present all along the magnetospheric separatrix, is related to the bounce of magnetosheath ions at the magnetopause magnetic field reversal through Speiser-like orbits. Once reconnection widens the current sheet away from the X line, the bouncing stops and the electric field signature remains solely confined near the X line. When cold ions are present, however, their very low temperature enables them to E × B drift in the electric field structure. If their density is large enough compared to other ions, their contribution to the momentum equation is capable of maintaining the signature away from the X line. This effect must be taken into account when analyzing in situ spacecraft measurements.

Orientation of the X-line in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

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Orientation of the X-line in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

Journal of Plasma Physics, Volume 82, Issue 4, article id. 535820401, 15 pp.DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022377816000647

Aunai, N.; Hesse, M.; Lavraud, B.; Dargent, J.; Smets, R.

Magnetic reconnection can occur in current sheets separating magnetic fields sheared by any angle and of arbitrarily different amplitudes. In such asymmetric and non-coplanar systems, it is not yet understood what the orientation of the X-line will be. Studying how this orientation is determined locally by the reconnection process is important to understand systems such as the Earth magnetopause, where reconnection occurs in regions with large differences in upstream plasma and field properties. This study aims at determining what the local X-line orientation is for different upstream magnetic shear angles in an asymmetric set-up relevant to the Earth’s magnetopause. We use two-dimensional hybrid simulations and vary the simulation plane orientation with regard to the fixed magnetic field profile and search for the plane maximizing the reconnection rate. We find that the plane defined by the bisector of upstream fields maximizes the reconnection rate and this appears not to depend on the magnetic shear angle, domain size or upstream plasma and asymmetries.

Cold ion heating at the dayside magnetopause during magnetic reconnection

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Cold ion heating at the dayside magnetopause during magnetic reconnection

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 43, Issue 1, pp. 58-66 DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067187

Toledo-Redondo, S.; André, M.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Lavraud, B.; Graham, D. B.; Divin, A.; Aunai, N.

Cold ions of ionospheric origin are known to be present in the magnetospheric side of the Earth’s magnetopause. They can be very abundant, with densities up to 100 cm-3. These cold ions can mass load the magnetosphere, changing global parameters of magnetic reconnection, like the Alfvén speed or the reconnection rate. In addition they introduce a new length scale related to their gyroradius and kinetic effects which must be accounted for. We report in situ observations of cold ion heating in the separatrix owing to time and space fluctuations of the electric field. When this occurs, the cold ions are preheated before crossing the Hall electric field barrier. However, when this mechanism is not present cold ions can be observed well inside the reconnection exhaust. Our observations suggest that the perpendicular cold ion heating is stronger close to the X line owing to waves and electric field gradients linked to the reconnection process.

On the electron diffusion region in planar, asymmetric, systems

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On the electron diffusion region in planar, asymmetric, systems

Published in Geophysical Research Letters DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061586

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Sibeck, David; Birn, Joachim

simulations and analytical theory are employed to study the electron diffusion region in asymmetric reconnection, which is taking place in planar configurations without a guide field. The analysis presented here focuses on the nature of the local reconnection electric field and on differences from symmetric configurations. Further emphasis is on the complex structure of the electron distribution in the diffusion region, which is generated by the mixing of particles from different sources. We find that the electric field component that is directly responsible for flux transport is provided not by electron pressure-based, “quasi-viscous,” terms but by inertial terms. The quasi-viscous component is shown to be critical in that it is necessary to sustain the required overall electric field pattern in the immediate neighborhood of the reconnection X line.

Theory and Modeling for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

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Theory and Modeling for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

Published in Space Science Reviews DOI : 10.1007/s11214-014-0078-y

M. Hesse, N. Aunai, J. Birn, P. Cassak, R. E. Denton, J. F. Drake, T. Gombosi, M. Hoshino, W. Matthaeus, D. Sibeck, S. Zenitani

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission will provide measurement capabilities, which will exceed those of earlier and even contemporary missions by orders of magnitude. MMS will, for the first time, be able to measure directly and with sufficient resolution key features of the magnetic reconnection process, down to the critical electron scales, which need to be resolved to understand how reconnection works. Owing to the complexity and extremely high spatial resolution required, no prior measurements exist, which could be employed to guide the definition of measurement requirements, and consequently set essential parameters for mission planning and execution. Insight into expected details of the reconnection process could hence only been obtained from theory and modern kinetic modeling. This situation was recognized early on by MMS leadership, which supported the formation of a fully integrated Theory and Modeling Team (TMT). The TMT participated in all aspects of mission planning, from the proposal stage to individual aspects of instrument performance characteristics. It provided and continues to provide to the mission the latest insights regarding the kinetic physics of magnetic reconnection, as well as associated particle acceleration and turbulence, assuring that, to the best of modern knowledge, the mission is prepared to resolve the inner workings of the magnetic reconnection process. The present paper provides a summary of key recent results or reconnection research by TMT members.

On the relationship between quadrupolar magnetic field and collisionless reconnection

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On the relationship between quadrupolar magnetic field and collisionless reconnection

Published in Physics of Plasmas DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4885097

R. Smets, N. Aunai, G. Belmont, C. Boniface and J. Fuchs

Using hybrid simulations, we investigate the onset of fast reconnection between two cylindrical magnetic shells initially close to each other. This initial state mimics the plasma structure in High Energy Density Plasmas induced by a laser-target interaction and the associated self-generated magnetic field. We clearly observe that the classical quadrupolar structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field appears prior to the reconnection onset. Furthermore, a parametric study reveals that, with a non-coplanar initial magnetic topology, the reconnection onset is delayed and possibly suppressed. The relation between the out-of-plane magnetic field and the out-of-plane electric field is discussed.

The relation between reconnected flux, the parallel electric field, and the reconnection rate in a three-dimensional kinetic simulation of magnetic reconnection

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The relation between reconnected flux, the parallel electric field, and the reconnection rate in a three-dimensional kinetic simulation of magnetic reconnection

Published in Physics of Plasmas

D.E. Wendel, D.K. Olson, M. Hesse, N. Aunai, M. Kuznetsova, H. Karimabadi, W. Daughton and M. L. Adrian

We investigate the distribution of parallel electric fields and their relationship to the location and rate of magnetic reconnection in a large particle-in-cell simulation of 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions. The simulation’s guide field geometry inhibits the formation of simple topological features such as null points. Therefore, we derive the location of potential changes in magnetic connectivity by finding the field lines that experience a large relative change between their endpoints, i.e., the quasi-separatrix layer. We find a good correspondence between the locus of changes in magnetic connectivity or the quasi-separatrix layer and the map of large gradients in the integrated parallel electric field (or quasi-potential). Furthermore, we investigate the distribution of the parallel electric field along the reconnecting field lines. We find the reconnection rate is controlled by only the low-amplitude, zeroth and first–order trends in the parallel electric field while the contribution from fluctuations of the parallel electric field, such as electron holes, is negligible. The results impact the determination of reconnection sites and reconnection rates in models and in situ spacecraft observations of 3D turbulent reconnection. It is difficult through direct observation to isolate the loci of the reconnection parallel electric field amidst the large amplitude fluctuations. However, we demonstrate that a positive slope of the running sum of the parallel electric field along the field line as a function of field line length indicates where reconnection is occurring along the field line.

Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems

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Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems

Published in Physics of Plasmas

Michael Hesse, Nicolas Aunai, Seiji Zenitani, Maria Kuznetsova and Joachim Birn

Asymmetric reconnection is being investigated by means of particle-in-cell simulations. The research has two foci: the direction of the reconnection line in configurations with nonvanishing magnetic fields; and the question why reconnection can be faster if a guide field is added to an otherwise unchanged asymmetric configuration. We find that reconnection prefers a direction, which maximizes the available magnetic energy, and show that this direction coincides with the bisection of the angle between the asymptotic magnetic fields. Regarding the difference in reconnection rates between planar and guide field models, we demonstrate that a guide field can provide essential confinement for particles in the reconnection region, which the weaker magnetic field in one of the inflow directions cannot necessarily provide.