Multispacecraft analysis of dipolarization fronts and associated whistler wave emissions using MMS data

Breuillard, H.; Contel, O. Le; Retinò, Alessandro; Chasapis, A.; Chust, T.; Mirioni, Laurent; Graham, Daniel B.; Wilder, F. D.; Cohen, I. J.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yuri; Lindqvist, Per‐Arne; Marklund, Göran; Burch, J. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Ergun, R. E.; Goodrich, K.; Macri, J.; Needell, J.; Chutter, M.; Rau, D.; Dors, I.; Russell, C. T.; Magnes, W.; Strangeway, R. J.; Bromund, K. R.; Plaschke, Ferdinand; Fischer, D.; Leinweber, H. K.; Anderson, B. J.; Le, G.; Slavin, J. A.; Kepko, E. L.; Baumjohann, W.; Mauk, B. H.; Fuselier, S. A.; Nakamura, R.

doi:10.1002/2016gl069188

Cited by 50 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The magnetic pressure and tension are largely balanced at the low-beta core of the flux rope . The possibility of this type of event was later confirmed with global hybrid simulations by Lu et al (2015) and has since been observed in other studies (Breuillard et al, 2016;Man et al, 2018;Poh et al, 2019). The plasmoid-type FRs form in the cross-tail current sheet on open field lines during multiple X-line reconnection and are carried tailward by fast exhaust flows from these X-lines (Baker et al, 1996;Slavin, Lepping, et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Asymmetric Reconnection Within a Flux Rope‐Type Dipolarization Front

et al. 2020

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On 8 September 2018, at nearly 14:51:30 UT, the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraftencountered an electron diffusion region near the center of a flux-rope type dipolarization front. The observed signature of the magnetic field in geocentric solar ecliptic included a bipolar B z coinciding with a peak in B y and |B| as is typical for a flux rope. At the same time, all three spacecraft with available plasma data observed a decrease in density and an increase in temperature over ion scales near the reversal in B z . These ion-scale changes are expected in a dipolarization front. The three spacecraft with available electron plasma data also observed clear evidence of electron-scale reconnection just after the B z reversal including ideal magnetohydrodynamics violation, a large out-of-plane current, a large j · E′ energy conversion, and crescent-shaped electron velocity distributions. This is the first time reconnection has been observed near the center of a flux rope on an electron-scale during such an event, and MMS was likely very close to the reconnection X-line. Key Points:• MMS observed an earthward propagating flux rope-type dipolarization front in the near-Earth magnetotail • Electron-scale magnetic reconnection happened near the center of the structure • The X-line motion was such that MMS1 and MMS2 passed through the inner EDR

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Asymmetric Reconnection Within a Flux Rope‐Type Dipolarization Front

et al. 2020

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“…The DF has also been suggested as important energy conversion site (e.g., Angelopoulos et al, ; Huang, Fu, et al, ; Khotyaintsev et al, ) due to intense currents and electric fields at the front. Flux pileup regions (FPRs) (e.g., Fu et al, ; Khotyaintsev et al, ) or dipolarizing flux bundles (e.g., Liu et al, ) behind DFs have been suggested to be favorable places for suprathermal electron acceleration (e.g., Ashour‐Abdalla et al, ; Birn et al, ; Duan et al, ; Fu et al, ; Fu, Khotyaintsev, et al, ; Gabrielse et al, ; Liu, Fu, Xu, Wang, et al, ; Lu et al, ; Pan et al, ; Wu et al, ), wave‐particle interactions (e.g., Breuillard et al, ; Fu et al, ; Huang et al, ; Hwang et al, ; Khotyaintsev et al, ; Panov et al, ), and pitch angle evolution (e.g., Fu, Khotyaintsev, Vaivads, André, Sergeev, et al, ; Liu, Fu, Xu, Cao, & Liu, ; Liu, Fu, Cao, et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron Jet Detected by MMS at Dipolarization Front

Liu

Vaivads

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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Using MMS high‐resolution measurements, we present the first observation of fast electron jet (Ve ~2,000 km/s) at a dipolarization front (DF) in the magnetotail plasma sheet. This jet, with scale comparable to the DF thickness (~ 0.9 di), is primarily in the tangential plane to the DF current sheet and mainly undergoes the E × B drift motion; it contributes significantly to the current system at the DF, including a localized ring‐current that can modify the DF topology. Associated with this fast jet, we observed a persistent normal electric field, strong lower hybrid drift waves, and strong energy conversion at the DF. Such strong energy conversion is primarily attributed to the electron‐jet‐driven current (E ⋅ je ≈ 2 E ⋅ ji), rather than the ion current suggested in previous studies.

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“…The MMS mission provides a better chance to revisit and study the dissipating flux rope‐dipolarization front scenario, in particular the electron kinetic scale physics associated with the re‐reconnection process, which is crucial to this scenario. Breuillard et al () reported MMS observation of ± B Z bipolar signature prior to dipolarization fronts. Signatures associated with an encounter of the re‐reconnection region had been briefly reported by Man et al ().…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissipation of Earthward Propagating Flux Rope Through Re‐reconnection with Geomagnetic Field: An MMS Case Study

Poh

Slavin

et al. 2019

JGR Space Physics

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Three‐dimensional global hybrid simulations and observations have shown that earthward‐moving flux ropes (FRs) can undergo magnetic reconnection (or re‐reconnection) with the near‐Earth dipole field to create dipolarization front (DF)‐like signatures that are immediately preceded by brief intervals of negative BZ. The simultaneous erosion of the southward BZ field at the leading edge of the FR and continuous reconnection of lobe magnetic flux at the X‐line tailward of the FR result in the asymmetric south‐north BZ signature in many earthward‐moving FRs and possibly DFs with negative BZ dips prior to their observation. In this study, we analyzed Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) observation of fields and plasma signatures associated with the encounter of an ion diffusion region ahead of an earthward‐moving FR on 3 August 2017. The signatures of this re‐reconnection event were (i) +/− BZ reversal, (ii) −/+ bipolar‐type quadrupolar Hall magnetic fields, (iii) northward super‐Alfvénic electron outflow jet of ~1,000–1,500 km/s, (iv) Hall electric field of ~15 mV/m, (v) intense currents of ~40–100 nA/m2, and (vi) J·E′ ~0.11 nW/m3. Our analysis suggests that the MMS spacecraft encounters the ion and electron diffusion regions but misses the X‐line. Our results are in good agreement with particle‐in‐cell simulations of Lu et al. (2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA022815). We computed a dimensionless reconnection rate of ~0.09 for this re‐reconnection event and through modeling, estimating that the FR would fully dissipate by −16.58 RE. We demonstrated pertubations in the high‐latitude ionospheric currents at the same time of the dissipation of earthward‐moving FRs using ground‐ and space‐based measurements.

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Multispacecraft analysis of dipolarization fronts and associated whistler wave emissions using MMS data

Cited by 50 publications

References 59 publications

Asymmetric Reconnection Within a Flux Rope‐Type Dipolarization Front

Asymmetric Reconnection Within a Flux Rope‐Type Dipolarization Front

Electron Jet Detected by MMS at Dipolarization Front

Dissipation of Earthward Propagating Flux Rope Through Re‐reconnection with Geomagnetic Field: An MMS Case Study

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