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Using a resistive MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) simulation, we study how the magnitude and shape of diffusion influence magnetic reconnection. Specifically, we investigate how and why the reconnection rate is influenced by variations in the diffusion distribution and magnitude. By running multiple MHD simulations where we vary the localized resistivity, we find that the properties of the diffusion region greatly influence the rate of reconnection. Increasing the magnitude of the imposed resistivity results in a higher reconnection rate, but the rate saturates at approximately 0.2. We show how a redistribution of the current density, leading to a bifurcated current sheet, play a major role in this limitation. In addition, we investigate the impact of different shapes of resistive region. The shape of the diffusion region also plays a major role in how efficient the reconnection energy conversion can operate. The highest reconnection rate, approximately 0.25, is achieved for an optimal opening angle. Our results imply that reconnection has a speed limit that may depend on properties outside the diffusion region. publishedVersion

S. Toledo-Redondo and J. Fornieles acknowledge support of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain (grant FIS2017-90102-R) and of Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant PID2020-112805GA-I00). Research at IRAP was supported by CNRS, CNES, and the University of Toulouse. We acknowledge support of the ISSI teams MMS and Cluster observations of magnetic reconnection and Cold plasma of ionospheric in the Earth's magnetosphere, and of the ESAC Science faculty., In-situ spacecraft missions are powerful assets to study processes that occur in space plasmas. One of their main limitations, however, is extrapolating such local measurements to the global scales of the system. To overcome this problem at least partially, multi-point measurements can be used. There are several multi-spacecraft missions currently operating in the Earth's magnetosphere, and the simultaneous use of the data collected by them provides new insights into the large-scale properties and evolution of magnetospheric plasma processes. In this work, we focus on studying the Earth's magnetopause (MP) using a conjunction between the Magnetospheric Multiscale and Cluster fleets, when both missions skimmed the MP for several hours at distant locations during radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The observed MP positions as a function of the evolving solar wind conditions are compared to model predictions of the MP. We observe an inflation of the magnetosphere (similar to 0.7 R-E), consistent with magnetosheath pressure decrease during radial IMF conditions, which is less pronounced on the flank (, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain FIS2017-90102-R, Spanish Government PID2020-112805GA-I00, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Commission, Centre National D'etudes Spatiales, University of Toulouse, ESAC Science faculty

Heavier plasma species such as oxygen ions can have a large impact on the magnetic reconnection process. It has been hypothesized that the acceleration of demagnetized oxygen ions by the Hall electric field will lead to the formation of an oxygen wave that expands into the exhaust. By comparing data from NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission to a fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation, we can for the first time provide observational evidence of such an expanding oxygen wave. The wave is characterized by an oxygen jet consisting of cold ions directed toward the neutral sheet associated with a density cavity. This density cavity forms as the O+ are subject to collective acceleration by the Hall electric field leaving behind a region of low-density oxygen ions. Our results are important for the understanding of the role and effect of oxygen ions in magnetic reconnection. publishedVersion

We investigate the role of a background oxygen population in magnetic reconnection, using particle‐in‐cell simulations. We run several simulations, with different initial oxygen temperatures and densities, to understand how the reconnection rate is influenced, as oxygen is captured by the reconnection process. The oxygen remains approximately demagnetized on the relevant time and spatial scales and therefore has little direct (i.e., immediate mass loading) effect on the reconnection process itself. The reconnection rate is independent of the initial oxygen temperature but clearly dependent on the density. The reduced reconnection rate is twice as fast as predicted by mass loading. We describe a mechanism where the oxygen population (and the associated electrons) acts as an energy sink on the system, altering the energy partitioning. Based on a scaling analysis, we derive an estimate of the reconnection electric field that scales as (1+no/np)−1, where no and np is the oxygen and proton densities, respectively. publishedVersion

Using 2.5-D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, we investigate how magnetotail reconnection is affected by a cold, streaming, oxygen plasma population, attributed to an ionospheric source, in the inflow region. As the tailward streaming oxygen reaches the current layer, a tailward motion of the reconnection site is induced. Due to the much longer cyclotron period of the oxygen ions, oxygen cannot couple as directly into the reconnection dynamics as protons. We find that the oxygen ions couple indirectly by means of impacting the electron dynamics. Therefore, a demagnetized species can, in fact, alter the dynamics of the reconnection site. We see further that the reconnection rate remains unchanged relative to a nonstreaming run. Our results may prove useful for understanding the development and dynamics of magnetospheric substorms and storms. publishedVersion

We present observations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection showing evidence of electron demagnetization in the electron outflow. The observations were made at the magnetopause by the four Magnetos ...

Observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft are used to investigate the Hall physics of a magnetopause magnetic reconnection separatrix layer. Inside this layer of currents and st ...

Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs), often interpreted as electron phase space holes, are commonly observed in plasmas and are manifestations of strongly nonlinear processes. Often slow ESWs are observed, suggesting generation by the Buneman instability. The instability criteria, however, are generally not satisfied. We show how slow electron holes can be generated by a modified Buneman instability in a plasma that includes a slow electron beam on top of a warm thermal electron background. This lowers the required current for marginal instability and allows for generation of slow electron holes for a wide range of beam parameters that covers expected plasma distributions in space, for example, in magnetic reconnection regions. At higher beam speeds, the electron-electron beam instability becomes dominant instead, producing faster electron holes. The range of phase speeds for this model is consistent with a statistical set of observations at the magnetopause made by Cluster.

We report multispacecraft observations of slow electrostatic solitary waves in the plasma sheet boundary layer. The electrostatic solitary waves are embedded in a region with field-aligned electron flows and are interpreted as electron phase space holes. We make unambiguous velocity and length estimates of the electron holes, vEH∼500 km/s and l||∼2–4λDe, where l|| is the parallel half width. We do not detect any magnetic signature of the holes. The electrostatic potentials of the holes are of the order eϕ/kBTe∼10%, indicating that they can affect electron motion and further couple the electron and ion dynamics.