J. E. Stawarz

MMS Multipoint electric field observations of small-scale magnetic holes

Small-scale magnetic holes (MHs), local depletions in magnetic field strength, have been observed multiple times in the Earths magnetosphere in the bursty bulk flow (BBF) braking region. This part ...

Third-moment descriptions of the interplanetary turbulent cascade, intermittency and back transfer.

We review some aspects of solar wind turbulence with an emphasis on the ability of the turbulence to account for the observed heating of the solar wind. Particular attention is paid to the use of structure functions in computing energy cascade rates and their general agreement with the measured thermal proton heating. We then examine the use of 1 h data samples that are comparable in length to the correlation length for the fluctuations to obtain insights into local inertial range dynamics and find evidence for intermittency in the computed energy cascade rates. When the magnetic energy dominates the kinetic energy, there is evidence of anti-correlation in the cascade of energy associated with the outward- and inward-propagating components that we can only partially explain.

VARIABLE CASCADE DYNAMICS AND INTERMITTENCY IN THE SOLAR WIND AT 1 AU

In recent studies by ourselves and others of third-moment expressions for the rate of energy cascade in the solar wind, it has been shown that relatively large volumes of data are needed to produce convergent averages. These averages are in good agreement with independently obtained estimates for the average heating rate for a solar wind plasma under those conditions. The unanswered question has been whether the convergence issue is the result of intermittent dynamics or simple measurement uncertainties. In other words, is the difficulty in obtaining a single result that characterizes many similarly prepared samples due to in situ dynamics that create physically real variations or simple statistics? There have been publications showing evidence of intermittent dynamics in the solar wind. Here we show that the third-moment expressions and the computed energy cascade for relatively small samples of data comparable to the correlation length are generally well-formed estimates of the local dynamics. This leads us to conclude that intermittency and not simple measurement uncertainties are responsible for the slow convergence to expected heating rates. We partially characterize the scale size of the intermittency to be comparable to or smaller than the correlation length of the turbulence and we attempt to rephrase the discussion of third moments in terms of intermittent dynamics.

Small-scale behavior of Hall magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.

Decaying Hall magnetohydrodynamic (HMHD) turbulence is studied using three-dimensional (3D) direct numerical simulations with grids up to 768(3) points and two different types of initial conditions. Results are compared to analogous magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) runs and both Laplacian and Laplacian-squared dissipative operators are examined. At scales below the ion inertial length, the ratio of magnetic to kinetic energy as a function of wave number transitions to a magnetically dominated state. The transition in behavior is associated with the advection term in the momentum equation becoming subdominant to dissipation. Examination of autocorrelation functions reveals that, while current and vorticity structures are similarly sized in MHD, HMHD current structures are narrower and vorticity structures are wider. The electric field autocorrelation function is significantly narrower in HMHD than in MHD and is similar to the HMHD current autocorrelation function at small separations. HMHD current structures are found to be significantly more intense than in MHD and appear to have an enhanced association with strong alignment between the current and magnetic field, which may be important in collisionless plasmas where field-aligned currents can be unstable. When hyperdiffusivity is used, a longer region consistent with a k(-7/3) scaling is present for right-polarized fluctuations when compared to Laplacian dissipation runs.

Multiscale Currents Observed by MMS in the Flow Braking Region

Abstract We present characteristics of current layers in the off‐equatorial near‐Earth plasma sheet boundary observed with high time‐resolution measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission during an intense substorm associated with multiple dipolarizations. The four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, separated by distances of about 50 km, were located in the southern hemisphere in the dusk portion of a substorm current wedge. They observed fast flow disturbances (up to about 500 km/s), most intense in the dawn‐dusk direction. Field‐aligned currents were observed initially within the expanding plasma sheet, where the flow and field disturbances showed the distinct pattern expected in the braking region of localized flows. Subsequently, intense thin field‐aligned current layers were detected at the inner boundary of equatorward moving flux tubes together with Earthward streaming hot ions. Intense Hall current layers were found adjacent to the field‐aligned currents. In particular, we found a Hall current structure in the vicinity of the Earthward streaming ion jet that consisted of mixed ion components, that is, hot unmagnetized ions, cold E × B drifting ions, and magnetized electrons. Our observations show that both the near‐Earth plasma jet diversion and the thin Hall current layers formed around the reconnection jet boundary are the sites where diversion of the perpendicular currents take place that contribute to the observed field‐aligned current pattern as predicted by simulations of reconnection jets. Hence, multiscale structure of flow braking is preserved in the field‐aligned currents in the off‐equatorial plasma sheet and is also translated to ionosphere to become a part of the substorm field‐aligned current system.

Energy partitioning constraints at kinetic scales in low-β turbulence

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 NASAs Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in Earths 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.

Intense Electric Fields and Electron‐Scale Substructure Within Magnetotail Flux Ropes as Revealed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

Three flux ropes associated with near-Earth magnetotail reconnection are analyzed using Magnetospheric Multiscale observations. The flux ropes are Earthward propagating with sizes from similar to 3 ...

Magnetic Reconnection, Turbulence, and Particle Acceleration: Observations in the Earth's Magnetotail

We report observations of turbulent dissipation and particle acceleration from large-amplitude electric fields (E) associated with strong magnetic field (B) fluctuations in the Earths plasma sheet ...

Guide Field Reconnection: Exhaust Structure and Heating

Abstract Magnetospheric Multiscale observations are used to probe the structure and temperature profile of a guide field reconnection exhaust ~100 ion inertial lengths downstream from the X‐line in the Earths magnetosheath. Asymmetric Hall electric and magnetic field signatures were detected, together with a density cavity confined near 1 edge of the exhaust and containing electron flow toward the X‐line. Electron holes were also detected both on the cavity edge and at the Hall magnetic field reversal. Predominantly parallel ion and electron heating was observed in the main exhaust, but within the cavity, electron cooling and enhanced parallel ion heating were found. This is explained in terms of the parallel electric field, which inhibits electron mixing within the cavity on newly reconnected field lines but accelerates ions. Consequently, guide field reconnection causes inhomogeneous changes in ion and electron temperature across the exhaust.