JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2017

Presentation information

[EE] Poster

P (Space and Planetary Sciences) » P-EM Solar-Terrestrial Sciences, Space Electromagnetism & Space Environment

[P-EM13] [EE] Exploring space plasma processes with Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission

Sat. May 20, 2017 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall HALL7)

[PEM13-P04] Currents and associated electron scattering and bouncing near the diffusion region at Earth’s magnetopause

*Benoit Lavraud1, Yongcun Zhang2, Yoann Vernisse1, Daniel Gershman3, John Dorelli3,4, Paul Cassak5, Jérémy Dargent1, Craig Pollock3, Barbara Giles3, Nicolas Aunai6, Matthew Argall7, Levon Avanov3, Alexander Barrie3,8, James Burch9, Michael Chandler3, Li-Jen Chen3, Ian Cohen11, Victoria Coffey10, Jonathan Eastwood12, Jan Egedal13, Stefan Eriksson14, Robert Ergun14, Charlie Farrugia7, Stephen Fuselier9, Vincent Génot1, Daniel Graham15, Elena Grigorenko16, Hiroshi Hasegawa17, Christian Jacquey1, Issaad Kacem1, Yuri Khotyaintsev15, Olivier Le Contel6, Elisabeth MacDonald3, Werner Magnes18, Barry Mauk11, Thomas Moore3, Toshifumi Mukai17, Rumi Nakamura18, William Paterson3, Emmanuel Penou1, Tai Phan19, Amy Rager3,20, Alessandro Retino6, Z. Rong21, Christopher Russell22, Yoshifumi Saito17, Jean-André Sauvaud1, Stephen Schwartz12, C. Shen23, Suzanne Smith4 (1.IRAP-CNRS, Toulouse, France, 2.State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, NSSC/CAS, Beijing, China, 3.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 4.University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 5.West Virginia University, WV, 6.Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France, 7.University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 8.Millenium Engineering, Arlington, VA, 9.Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, 10.NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, 11.Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, 12.The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, UK, 13.University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 14.University of Colorado / Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, Boulder, CO, 15.Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden, 16.Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 17.Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan, 18.Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria, 19.Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 20.Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, 21.Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, IGG/CAS, Beijing, China, 22.University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 23.Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China)

Keywords:Reconnection, Electrons, Plasma

Based on high-resolution measurements from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, we present the dynamics of electrons associated with current systems observed near the diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earth’s magnetopause. Using pitch angle distributions (PAD) and magnetic curvature analysis we demonstrate the occurrence of electron scattering in the curved magnetic field of the diffusion region down to energies of 20 eV. We show that scattering occurs closer to the current sheet as the electron energy decreases. The scattering of inflowing electrons, associated with field-aligned electrostatic potentials and Hall currents, produces a new population of scattered electrons with broader PAD which bounce back and forth in the exhaust. Except at the center of the diffusion region the two populations are collocated and behave adiabatically: the PAD of inflowing electrons focuses inward (towards lower magnetic field), while the bouncing population gradually peaks at 90° away from the center (where it mirrors owing to higher magnetic field and probable field-aligned potentials).