Magnetotail reconnection onset caused by electron kinetics with a strong external driver.
Journal
Nature communications
ISSN: 2041-1723
Titre abrégé: Nat Commun
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101528555
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
07 Oct 2020
07 Oct 2020
Historique:
received:
03
04
2020
accepted:
08
09
2020
entrez:
8
10
2020
pubmed:
9
10
2020
medline:
9
10
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Magnetotail reconnection plays a crucial role in explosive energy conversion in geospace. Because of the lack of in-situ spacecraft observations, the onset mechanism of magnetotail reconnection, however, has been controversial for decades. The key question is whether magnetotail reconnection is externally driven to occur first on electron scales or spontaneously arising from an unstable configuration on ion scales. Here, we show, using spacecraft observations and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, that magnetotail reconnection starts from electron reconnection in the presence of a strong external driver. Our PIC simulations show that this electron reconnection then develops into ion reconnection. These results provide direct evidence for magnetotail reconnection onset caused by electron kinetics with a strong external driver.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33028826
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18787-w
pii: 10.1038/s41467-020-18787-w
pmc: PMC7542433
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
5049Références
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