Speaker
Dr
Andrey Divin
(St. Petersburg State University)
Description
Electron diffusion region (EDR) is regarded as the key region of
collisionless magnetic
reconnection. Electrons are unmagnetized inside the EDR, and
magnetic field lines are detached
from plasma, allowing fast conversion of magnetic energy into energy
of plasma. Large-scale
kinetic simulations are required for understanding the EDR structure. In
this study, two-
dimensional Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of collisionless magnetic
reconnection are utilized to
study electron pressure behaviour in the X-line vicinity. The electron
pressure anisotropy is
generated by demagnetization of particles on the electron inertial
scales, combined with the
acceleration by reconnection electric field. Next, the properties of the
external EDR are
determined by strong pressure anisotropy of plasma upstream of the
EDR. The competition
between these two processes is responsible for the two-scale structure
along the outflow
direction, where electrons form a thin jet and the overshoot of the (div
Pe)y term exists. We
conclude that the anisotropy of the inflow electron population is an
important parameter
controlling the EDR properties and accordingly the EDR scalings, which
in turn may help
identifying the EDR in spacecraft observations.
Primary authors
Dr
Andrey Divin
(St. Petersburg State University)
Prof.
Vladimir Semenov
(St. Petersburg State University)
Co-authors
Prof.
Giovanni Lapenta
(KU Leuven)
Prof.
Stefano Markidis
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
