MMS observations of magnetic reconnection in small-scale current sheets in magnetosheath turbulence.
Abstract
Magnetic reconnection occurs in thin current sheets that form in turbulent plasmas. It leads to particle heating and acceleration and is thought to play an important role for the turbulent dissipation at kinetic scales, energy. However, in situ observations are scarce and the extent of its contribution to turbulent dissipation has yet to be determined. The MMS mission allows us to closely study kinetic-scale intermittent structures that form in turbulent plasma as well as to detect thin reconnecting current sheets and examine their properties. We present the results of MMS observations in the turbulence of the Earth's magnetosheath. We performed a statistical study of small-scale intermittent structures and their role in heating and accelerating electrons. We examined one current sheet in detail which shows evidence of reconnection, focusing on the mechanisms that drive the observed heating and acceleration within it and the role of wave-particle interactions.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMSM21A2438C
- Keywords:
-
- 2723 Magnetic reconnection;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2724 Magnetopause and boundary layers;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2728 Magnetosheath;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS