Nonlinear waves and instabilities leading to secondary reconnection in reconnection outflows

Lapenta, Giovanni; Pucci, Francesco; Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Servidio, S.; Sorriso‐Valvo, L.; Newman, D. L.; Goldman, M. V.

doi:10.1017/s002237781800003x

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…In the magnetosheath downstream of the bow shock, the turbulence is mainly driven by the relative streaming ions or ion temperature anisotropy (Karimabadi et al., 2014), which has been fruitfully investigated for decades. Although a few mechanisms have been proposed to account for the turbulence generated by reconnection, such as the oblique tearing instability, Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability, kinetic Alfvén wave, interchange instability, drift‐type instability (such as the lower‐hybrid drift) or microscopic kinetic instabilities (Daughton et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2012, 2015; Lapenta et al., 2018; Zhong et al., 2018), what causes the turbulence in reconnection remains largely unexplored and is one of the most challenging topics for future research.…”

Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Secondary Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Reconnection Outflow

Zhou

Man

Deng

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are the two most important energy dissipation processes in plasma. These two processes intertwine with each other and play important roles in their respective dynamic evolution. Here, we present the first evidence that secondary reconnections occur in the turbulent outflow driven by a primary reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. We have identified 14 secondary reconnections in a large number of current filaments in the turbulent outflow, which persisted for about one and half an hour. Most of these secondary reconnections were electron‐only reconnection that has recently been discovered in the magnetosheath. These secondary reconnections entangled the magnetic field lines and dissipated the magnetic energy in the outflow region far away from the primary X line.

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Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Secondary Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Reconnection Outflow

Zhou

Man

Deng

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Energy flows can then be a diagnostics to identify developing instabilities in outflow, potentially leading to turbulence (Pucci et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiscale MHD‐Kinetic PIC Study of Energy Fluxes Caused by Reconnection

et al. 2020

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“…In these two regions, LHW are commonly observed in the vicinity of magnetic reconnection sites where strong density gradients do form. Their role on the onset (or relaxation) of magnetic reconnection has been addressed in the past and still represents a key point in the context of reconnection research (Daughton 2003;Lapenta et al 2003Lapenta et al , 2018Yoo et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron acceleration driven by the lower-hybrid-drift instability

Lavorenti

Henri

Califano

et al. 2021

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Context. Density inhomogeneities are ubiquitous in space and astrophysical plasmas, particularly at contact boundaries between different media. They often correspond to regions that exhibit strong dynamics across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Indeed, density inhomogeneities are a source of free energy that can drive various instabilities such as the lower-hybrid-drift instability, which, in turn, transfers energy to the particles through wave-particle interactions and eventually heats the plasma. Aims. Our study is aimed at quantifying the efficiency of the lower-hybrid-drift instability to accelerate or heat electrons parallel to the ambient magnetic field. Methods. We combine two complementary methods: full-kinetic and quasilinear models. Results. We report self-consistent evidence of electron acceleration driven by the development of the lower-hybrid-drift instability using 3D-3V full-kinetic numerical simulations. The efficiency of the observed acceleration cannot be explained by standard quasilinear theory. For this reason, we have developed an extended quasilinear model that is able to quantitatively predict the interaction between lower-hybrid fluctuations and electrons on long time scales, which is now in agreement with full-kinetic simulations results. Finally, we apply this new, extended quasilinear model to a specific inhomogeneous space plasma boundary, namely, the magnetopause of Mercury. Furthermore, we discuss our quantitative predictions of electron acceleration to support future BepiColombo observations.

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Nonlinear waves and instabilities leading to secondary reconnection in reconnection outflows

Cited by 22 publications

References 56 publications

Observations of Secondary Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Reconnection Outflow

Observations of Secondary Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Reconnection Outflow

Multiscale MHD‐Kinetic PIC Study of Energy Fluxes Caused by Reconnection

Electron acceleration driven by the lower-hybrid-drift instability

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