Speaker
Dr
Daniel Graham
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics)
Description
Magnetic reconnection enables the accelerating and heating of
electrons, leading to
the formation of electron distributions, which can be unstable to a
variety of
instabilities. For instance, magnetic reconnection can accelerate
electrons to form
beams and counter-streaming electron populations, as well as loss cone
distributions.
Additionally, at Earth’s magnetopause magnetospheric and
magnetosheath electron
populations can mix, leading to unstable electron distributions, which
differ from
symmetric reconnection at Earth’s magnetotail. Characterizing the
resulting waves
and instabilities is crucial for understanding magnetic reconnection at
electron spatial
scales. We investigate the waves and instabilities associated with
asymmetric
magnetic reconnection at Earth’s magnetopause. Both electrostatic and
electromagnetic waves are observed. We investigate how these waves
are generated,
and their subsequent effects on particle scattering and heating.
Primary author
Dr
Daniel Graham
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics)
Co-authors
Dr
Andris Vaivads
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics)
Prof.
Mats Andre
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics)
Dr
Yuri Khotyaintsev
(Swedish Institute of Space Physics)
