Energy Partition and Conservation Near Electron Diffusion Regions During Magnetic Reconnection

The conversion of energy stored in magnetic fields to other forms during magnetic reconnection is one of the primary topics of focus that the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission aims to study. Inflowing magnetic energy is released into the exhaust in the form of plasma heating, bulk flows, and Poynting flux, the latter of which may be further divided into frequency bands that separate large scale, quasi-static structures from various wave phenomena. In close encounters where the x-point lies within or close to the tetrahedron formed by the four MMS spececraft, the terms in Poynting's theorem, the statement of energy conservation in electrodynamics, can be evaluated. These methods are used on multiple events when MMS encountered the electron diffusion region (EDR). A better understanding of the relative contributions to various energy fluxes as well as the relative contributions to the terms in Poynting's theorem may help shed light on the processes that lead to energy dissipation during magnetic reconnection.