Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 41, Issue 15, Pages 5389-5395Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060608
Keywords
collisionless magnetic reconnection; electron distribution function; electron anisotropy; Cluster observation; reconnection exhaust
Categories
Funding
- NSF [PHY-0903923, AGS-1202537]
- NASA [NNX11AH03G]
- NASA's Heliophysics Theory Program
- National Science Council, Taiwan
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1543598] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/G008493/1, ST/H004130/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- UK Space Agency [ST/M003132/1, ST/J004758/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- STFC [ST/H004130/1, ST/G008493/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- NASA [144936, NNX11AH03G] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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Results from two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection with zero guide field discussed in this paper reveal that around the time when the reconnection rate peaks, electron velocity distributions become highly structured in magnetic islands and open exhausts. Rings, arcs, and counterstreaming beams are generic and lasting components of the exhaust electron distributions. The temporal dependence of electron distributions provides a perspective to explain an outstanding discrepancy concerning the degree of electron anisotropy in reconnection exhausts and enables inference of the reconnection phase based on observed anisotropic electron distributions. Some of the structures predicted by our simulations are confirmed by measurements from the Cluster spacecraft during its encounter with reconnection exhausts in the magnetotail.
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