Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 48, Issue 19, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2021GL094431
Keywords
magnetic reconnection; electron heating; plasma turbulence; kinetic simulation
Categories
Funding
- K computer at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science through the HPCI Research project [hp140129, hp150123]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41874189, 41821003]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A new mechanism for strong electron heating in magnetic islands ejected from the reconnection current layer is proposed in this study. Full kinetic simulations in a three-dimensional system show that electrons are effectively accelerated by the non-ideal electric field generated through electromagnetic turbulence in the magnetic islands. High-energy electrons are efficiently scattered by the turbulence, leading to strong electron heating, which is consistent with recent satellite observations in the Earth's magnetosphere.
The present study proposes a new mechanism to cause a strong electron heating in the magnetic islands ejected from the reconnection current layer. A large-scale full kinetic simulation in three-dimensional system demonstrates that the electrons are effectively accelerated by the non-ideal electric field generated through the electromagnetic turbulence excited in the magnetic islands. It is found that the high-energy electrons are efficiently scattered by the turbulence, resulting in the strong electron heating. The existence of turbulence and the associated non-ideal electric field in the magnetic islands is consistent with recent satellite observations in the Earth's magnetosphere.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available