Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Egedal, J
• Le, A
• Daughton, W
• Wetherton, B
• Cassak, P A
• Chen, L-J
• Lavraud, B
• Torbert, R B
• Dorelli, J
• Gershman, D J
• Avanov, L A

Titel

Spacecraft Observations and Analytic Theory of Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

Ist Teil von

• Physical review letters, 2016-10, Vol.117 (18), p.185101-185101, Article 185101

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Physical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

PROLA

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive an exclusion energy parameter E_{X} providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell demon, only high-energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low-density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. The analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low-density separatrix.