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Richard L, Sorriso-Valvo L, Yordanova E, Graham DB, Khotyaintsev YV. Turbulence in Magnetic Reconnection Jets from Injection to Sub-Ion Scales. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2024; 132:105201. [PMID: 38518330 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.132.105201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/24/2024]
Abstract
We investigate turbulence in magnetic reconnection jets in the Earth's magnetotail using data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft. We show that signatures of a limited inertial range are observed in many reconnection jets. The observed turbulence develops on the timescale of a few ion gyroperiods, resulting in intermittent multifractal energy cascade from the characteristic scale of the jet down to the ion scales. We show that at sub-ion scales, the fluctuations are close to monofractal and predominantly kinetic Alfvén waves. The observed energy transfer rate across the inertial range is ∼10^{8} J kg^{-1} s^{-1}, which is the largest reported for space plasmas so far.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis Richard
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Space and Plasma Physics, Uppsala University, Uppsala 751 20, Sweden
| | - Luca Sorriso-Valvo
- CNR/ISTP-Istituto per la Scienza e la Tecnologia dei Plasmi, 70126 Bari, Italy; Space and Plasma Physics, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 114 28, Sweden; and Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden
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2
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Liu ZY, Zong QG, Rankin R, Zhang H, Hao YX, He JS, Fu SY, Wu HH, Yue C, Pollock CJ, Le G. Particle-sounding of the spatial structure of kinetic Alfvén waves. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2088. [PMID: 37045846 PMCID: PMC10097679 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37881-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) are ubiquitous throughout the plasma universe. Although they are broadly believed to provide a potential approach for energy exchange between electromagnetic fields and plasma particles, neither the detail nor the efficiency of the interactions has been well-determined yet. The primary difficulty has been the paucity of knowledge of KAWs' spatial structure in observation. Here, we apply a particle-sounding technique to Magnetospheric Multiscale mission data to quantitatively determine the perpendicular wavelength of KAWs from ion gyrophase-distribution observations. Our results show that KAWs' perpendicular wavelength is statistically 2.4[Formula: see text] times proton thermal gyro-radius. This observation yields an upper bound of the energy the majority proton population can reach in coherent interactions with KAWs, that is, roughly 5.76 times proton perpendicular thermal energy. Therefore, the method and results shown here provide a basis for unraveling the effects of KAWs in dissipating energy and accelerating particles in a number of astrophysical systems, e.g., planetary magnetosphere, astrophysical shocks, stellar corona and wind, and the interstellar medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z-Y Liu
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Q-G Zong
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
- Key laboratory of solar activity and space weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, China.
| | - R Rankin
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - H Zhang
- Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
| | - Y-X Hao
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
| | - J-S He
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - S-Y Fu
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - H-H Wu
- School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - C Yue
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | | | - G Le
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
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3
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Zhang H, Zong Q, Connor H, Delamere P, Facskó G, Han D, Hasegawa H, Kallio E, Kis Á, Le G, Lembège B, Lin Y, Liu T, Oksavik K, Omidi N, Otto A, Ren J, Shi Q, Sibeck D, Yao S. Dayside Transient Phenomena and Their Impact on the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS 2022; 218:40. [PMID: 35784192 PMCID: PMC9239986 DOI: 10.1007/s11214-021-00865-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Dayside transients, such as hot flow anomalies, foreshock bubbles, magnetosheath jets, flux transfer events, and surface waves, are frequently observed upstream from the bow shock, in the magnetosheath, and at the magnetopause. They play a significant role in the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Foreshock transient phenomena, associated with variations in the solar wind dynamic pressure, deform the magnetopause, and in turn generates field-aligned currents (FACs) connected to the auroral ionosphere. Solar wind dynamic pressure variations and transient phenomena at the dayside magnetopause drive magnetospheric ultra low frequency (ULF) waves, which can play an important role in the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts. These transient phenomena and their geoeffects have been investigated using coordinated in-situ spacecraft observations, spacecraft-borne imagers, ground-based observations, and numerical simulations. Cluster, THEMIS, Geotail, and MMS multi-mission observations allow us to track the motion and time evolution of transient phenomena at different spatial and temporal scales in detail, whereas ground-based experiments can observe the ionospheric projections of transient magnetopause phenomena such as waves on the magnetopause driven by hot flow anomalies or flux transfer events produced by bursty reconnection across their full longitudinal and latitudinal extent. Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), hybrid, and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are powerful tools to simulate the dayside transient phenomena. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the present understanding of dayside transient phenomena at Earth and other planets, their geoeffects, and outstanding questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Zhang
- Physics Department & Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2156 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA
- Shandong University, Weihai, China
| | - Qiugang Zong
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
- Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 200136 China
| | - Hyunju Connor
- Physics Department & Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2156 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - Peter Delamere
- Physics Department & Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2156 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA
| | - Gábor Facskó
- Department of Informatics, Milton Friedman University, 1039 Budapest, Hungary
- Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - Hiroshi Hasegawa
- Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan
| | | | - Árpád Kis
- Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science (ELKH EPSS), Sopron, Hungary
| | - Guan Le
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - Bertrand Lembège
- LATMOS (Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales), IPSL/CNRS/UVSQ, 11 Bd d’Alembert, Guyancourt, 78280 France
| | - Yu Lin
- Auburn University, Auburn, USA
| | - Terry Liu
- Physics Department & Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2156 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Kjellmar Oksavik
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Arctic Geophysics, The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
| | | | - Antonius Otto
- Physics Department & Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2156 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA
| | - Jie Ren
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
| | | | - David Sibeck
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
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4
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Bacchini F, Pucci F, Malara F, Lapenta G. Kinetic Heating by Alfvén Waves in Magnetic Shears. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2022; 128:025101. [PMID: 35089767 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.128.025101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 10/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
With first-principles kinetic simulations, we show that a large-scale Alfvén wave (AW) propagating in an inhomogeneous background decays into kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs), triggering ion and electron energization. We demonstrate that the two species can access unequal amounts of the initial AW energy, experiencing differential heating. During the decay process, the electric field carried by KAWs produces non-Maxwellian features in the particle velocity distribution functions, in accordance with space observations. The process we present solely requires the interaction of a large-scale AW with a magnetic shear and may be relevant for several astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Bacchini
- Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Francesco Pucci
- Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISTP-CNR), Via Amendola 122/D, 70126 Bari, Italy and Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Francesco Malara
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Giovanni Lapenta
- Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
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5
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Vines SK, Anderson BJ, Allen RC, Denton RE, Engebretson MJ, Johnson JR, Toledo‐Redondo S, Lee JH, Turner DL, Ergun RE, Strangeway RJ, Russell CT, Wei H, Torbert RB, Fuselier SA, Giles BL, Burch JL. Determining EMIC Wave Vector Properties Through Multi-Point Measurements: The Wave Curl Analysis. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH. SPACE PHYSICS 2021; 126:e2020JA028922. [PMID: 33868890 PMCID: PMC8047877 DOI: 10.1029/2020ja028922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves play important roles in particle loss processes in the magnetosphere. Determining the evolution of EMIC waves as they propagate and how this evolution affects wave-particle interactions requires accurate knowledge of the wave vector, k. We present a technique using the curl of the wave magnetic field to determine k observationally, enabled by the unique configuration and instrumentation of the Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) spacecraft. The wave curl analysis is demonstrated for synthetic arbitrary electromagnetic waves with varying properties typical of observed EMIC waves. The method is also applied to an EMIC wave interval observed by MMS on October 28, 2015. The derived wave properties and k from the wave curl analysis for the observed EMIC wave are compared with the Waves in Homogenous, Anisotropic, Multi-component Plasma (WHAMP) wave dispersion solution and with results from other single- and multi-spacecraft techniques. We find good agreement between k from the wave curl analysis, k determined from other observational techniques, and k determined from WHAMP. Additionally, the variation of k due to the time and frequency intervals used in the wave curl analysis is explored. This exploration demonstrates that the method is robust when applied to a wave containing at least 3-4 wave periods and over a rather wide frequency range encompassing the peak wave emission. These results provide confidence that we are able to directly determine the wave vector properties using this multi-spacecraft method implementation, enabling systematic studies of EMIC wave k properties with MMS.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. K. Vines
- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryLaurelMDUSA
| | - B. J. Anderson
- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryLaurelMDUSA
| | - R. C. Allen
- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryLaurelMDUSA
| | - R. E. Denton
- Department of Physics and AstronomyDartmouth CollegeHanoverNHUSA
| | | | - J. R. Johnson
- Department of EngineeringAndrews UniversityBerrien SpringsMIUSA
| | - S. Toledo‐Redondo
- Department of Electromagnetism and ElectronicsUniversity of MurciaMurciaSpain
| | - J. H. Lee
- The Aerospace CorporationEl SegundoCAUSA
| | - D. L. Turner
- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryLaurelMDUSA
| | - R. E. Ergun
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsUniversity of Colorado at BoulderBoulderCOUSA
| | - R. J. Strangeway
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space SciencesInstitute for Geophysics and Planetary PhysicsUniversity of California at Los AngelesLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - C. T. Russell
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space SciencesInstitute for Geophysics and Planetary PhysicsUniversity of California at Los AngelesLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - H. Wei
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space SciencesInstitute for Geophysics and Planetary PhysicsUniversity of California at Los AngelesLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - R. B. Torbert
- Space Science CenterUniversity of New HampshireDurhamNHUSA
- Southwest Research InstituteSan AntonioTXUSA
| | - S. A. Fuselier
- Southwest Research InstituteSan AntonioTXUSA
- Department of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of Texas at San AntonioSan AntonioTXUSA
| | - B. L. Giles
- NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltMDUSA
| | - J. L. Burch
- Southwest Research InstituteSan AntonioTXUSA
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6
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Chen CHK, Klein KG, Howes GG. Evidence for electron Landau damping in space plasma turbulence. Nat Commun 2019; 10:740. [PMID: 30765843 PMCID: PMC6375956 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08435-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2018] [Accepted: 01/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
How turbulent energy is dissipated in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas is a major open question. Here, we present the application of a field-particle correlation technique to directly measure the transfer of energy between the turbulent electromagnetic field and electrons in the Earth's magnetosheath, the region of solar wind downstream of the Earth's bow shock. The measurement of the secular energy transfer from the parallel electric field as a function of electron velocity shows a signature consistent with Landau damping. This signature is coherent over time, close to the predicted resonant velocity, similar to that seen in kinetic Alfven turbulence simulations, and disappears under phase randomisation. This suggests that electron Landau damping could play a significant role in turbulent plasma heating, and that the technique is a valuable tool for determining the particle energisation processes operating in space and astrophysical plasmas.
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Affiliation(s)
- C H K Chen
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.
| | - K G Klein
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA
| | - G G Howes
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
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7
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Gershman DJ, F.-Viñas A, Dorelli JC, Goldstein ML, Shuster J, Avanov LA, Boardsen SA, Stawarz JE, Schwartz SJ, Schiff C, Lavraud B, Saito Y, Paterson WR, Giles BL, Pollock CJ, Strangeway RJ, Russell CT, Torbert RB, Moore TE, Burch JL. Energy partitioning constraints at kinetic scales in low- β turbulence. PHYSICS OF PLASMAS 2018; 25:022303. [PMID: 30344429 PMCID: PMC6190670 DOI: 10.1063/1.5009158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Turbulence is a fundamental physical process through which energy injected into a system at large scales cascades to smaller scales. In collisionless plasmas, turbulence provides a critical mechanism for dissipating electromagnetic energy. Here we present observations of plasma fluctuations in low-β turbulence using data from NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in Earth's magnetosheath. We provide constraints on the partitioning of turbulent energy density in the fluid, ion-kinetic, and electron-kinetic ranges. Magnetic field fluctuations dominated the energy density spectrum throughout the fluid and ion-kinetic ranges, consistent with previous observations of turbulence in similar plasma regimes. However, at scales shorter than the electron inertial length, fluctuation power in electron kinetic energy significantly exceeded that of the magnetic field, resulting in an electron-motion-regulated cascade at small scales. This dominance should be highly relevant for the study of turbulence in highly magnetized laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Melvyn L. Goldstein
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771
- Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD, 21250
| | - Jason Shuster
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742
| | - Levon A. Avanov
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742
| | - Scott A. Boardsen
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771
- Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD, 21250
| | | | | | - Conrad Schiff
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771
| | - Benoit Lavraud
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, CNRS, UPS, CNES, Université de Toulouse, France
| | - Yoshifumi Saito
- JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan
| | | | | | | | - Robert J. Strangeway
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
| | - Christopher T. Russell
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
| | - Roy B. Torbert
- Physics Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824
- Southwest Research Institute Durham, Durham, NH, 03824
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