Magnetic Reconnection in Plasmas

First Investigation on the Magnetic Curvature Distribution in the Magnetic Diffusion Region

Not scheduled

1m

132:028 (Nordita, Stockholm)

Poster Workshop, August 10-14

Speaker

Dr YongCun Zhang (State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Center for Space Science and Applied Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Description

We report first results of magnetic curvature distribution in the diffusion region of a unique magnetic reconnection event. This event is exceptional since all four Cluster spacecraft is crossing the diffusion region. Magnetic curvature analysis shows that magnetic field lines are sharply curved with high curvature in the inner outflow regions between the two Hall regions and display nearly coplanar features of antiparallel reconnection. Combination of the decrease in curvature radius of magnetic field lines and the increase in electron gyro-radius induces curvature pitch angle scattering of initially trapped electrons, resulting in an isotropic electron distribution. In Hall regions, magnetic curvature decreases corresponding obviously to the presence of Y-directed Hall fields, which implies that the stress of reconnected field is released here, in agreement with whistler mediated-reconnection. The value and direction of curvature radius are not well organized due to the fluctuating Hall fields resulting from the temporal dynamical reconnection.