1. Switch-off slow shock/rotational discontinuity structures in collisionless magnetic reconnection: What to look for in satellite observations
- Author
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Jonathan Eastwood, Martin V. Goldman, Stefano Markidis, Maria Elena Innocenti, R. Mistry, E. Cazzola, Giovanni Lapenta, David Newman, Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence [Firenze] (UNIFI), Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder] (LASP), University of Colorado [Boulder], Centre for Sustainable Communications [Stockholm] (CESC), Royal Institute of Technology [Stockholm] (KTH ), Centre for Plasma Astrophysics [Leuven], Catholic University of Leuven - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Subjects
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,[PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] ,MODE SHOCKS ,Electron ,ACCELERATION ,01 natural sciences ,010305 fluids & plasmas ,Ion ,Physics::Plasma Physics ,WALEN ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-PLASM-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Plasma Physics [physics.plasm-ph] ,0103 physical sciences ,MD Multidisciplinary ,Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences ,Geosciences, Multidisciplinary ,FIELD ,Anisotropy ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Physics ,GEOTAIL OBSERVATIONS ,Science & Technology ,Shock (fluid dynamics) ,PLASMA SHEET ,Magnetic reconnection ,Ion current ,Geology ,Computational physics ,Solar wind ,Discontinuity (linguistics) ,Geophysics ,13. Climate action ,SOLAR-WIND ,Physics::Space Physics ,Physical Sciences ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,HYBRID SIMULATIONS ,ION DYNAMICS ,MAGNETOTAIL RECONNECTION - Abstract
In Innocenti et al. (2015) we have observed and characterized for the first time Petschek‐like switch‐off slow shock/rotational discontinuity (SO‐SS/RD) compound structures in a 2‐D fully kinetic simulation of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Observing these structures in the solar wind or in the magnetotail would corroborate the possibility that Petschek exhausts develop in collisionless media as a result of single X point collisionless reconnection. Here we highlight their signatures in simulations with the aim of easing their identification in observations. The most notable signatures include a four‐peaked ion current profile in the out‐of‐plane direction, associated ion distribution functions, increased electron and ion anisotropy downstream the SS, and increased electron agyrotropy downstream the RDs.
- Published
- 2017
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