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

[PEM13-04] Thin current sheet and plasma jet observed within a FTE by MMS

Issaad Mahmoud kacem^1,2, *V. genot^1,2, C. Jacquey^1,2, B. Lavraud^1,2, Y. Vernisse^1,2, A. Marchaudon^1,2, O. Le Contel³, T. Phan⁴, M. Oka⁴, H. Hasegawa⁵, J. L Burch⁶, C. Farrugia⁷, C. Russel⁸, M. Oieroset⁴, D. Gershman^9,10, J. Dorelli⁹, C. J Pollock⁹, B. Giles⁹, J. Eastwood¹¹, F. Wilder¹², T. Moore⁹, Y. Saito⁵, T. Mukai⁵, J.-A. Sauvaud^1,2, E. Penou^1,2, R. Torbert⁷, R. Ergun¹², B. Mauk¹³, S.A. Fuselier⁶, R. Nakamura¹⁴, L. Avanov^9,7, A. Barrie^9,15, M. Chandler¹⁶, L.J. Chen⁹, V. Coffey¹⁶, E. MacDonald⁹, A. Rager^9,17, S. Smith^9,17, S. Wang¹⁵, S. Yokota⁵ (1.Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, France, 2.Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5277, Toulouse, France, 3.Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France, 4.Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 5.Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan, 6.Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, 7.University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 8.University of California, Los Angeles, CA , 9.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 10.Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Washington, DC, 11.The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, UK, 12.University of Colorado / Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, Boulder, CO, 13.Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, 14.Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria, 15.University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 16.NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, 17.Catholic University of America, Washington, DC)

Bursty magnetic reconnection may lead to the formation of flux transfer events (FTEs) on the dayside magnetopause. FTEs are characterized by a peak in magnetic field intensity and a bipolar signature in the magnetic field component normal to the magnetopause surface. Many features of FTEs have not been precisely identified owing to the limited resolution of plasma instruments on past missions. Thanks to unprecedented high resolution and accuracy, measurements made by the recent MMS mission reveal the fine structure of FTEs in full detail. The work presented here consists in the study of an FTE that was detected by MMS on November 7th, 2015. Burst data were available from all four spacecraft, in good tetrahedral configuration, allowing us to use multi-spacecraft data analysis methods. The event shares several features with FTEs but our interest lies in a very localized current system and an ion jet observed in the center of the structure. There is evidence of multiple sub-structures inside the FTE. We discuss the presence of a current sheet inside the event as a result of colliding jets leading to the possible formation of magnetic islands or coalescence of multiple magnetic islands.