Electron-scale Dissipation near the X-line During Magnetic Reconnection and the Upcoming FLARE (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments) Device

Thursday, October 1, 2015
Hantao Ji1, Jonathan Jara-Almonte1, Seth E Dorfman1, Jongsoo Yoo2, William R Fox II2, Masaaki Yamada2, William S Daughton3, Vadim Roytershteyn4 and The FLARE Team, (1)Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, (2)Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, United States, (3)MS-F699, Plasma Theory and App, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (4)SciberQuest, Inc, Atlanta, GA, United States
Abstract:
Despite its disruptive influences on the large-scale structures of space and solar plasmas, the crucial topological changes and associated dissipation during magnetic reconnection take place only near an X-line within thin singular layers on the electron scales. While ion dissipation layers have been frequently detected, the existence of election layers near the X-line and the associated dissipation structures and mechanisms are still an open question, and will be a main subject of the MMS mission. In this presentation, we will revisit the significant discrepancy on the thickness of the electron dissipation layer measured in the MRX experiment [1,2] and in the PIC simulation [3,4]. Although the long wave-length, electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift instabilities has been ruled out as a candidate to explain the discrepancy [5], other two candidates have emerged as possible explanations: (a) 3D flux-rope-like magnetic structures [6] and (b) micro-instabilities at frequencies higher than the lower-hybrid frequency including Debye-scale electrostatic turbulence [7]. Discussions will also include additional results from experimental evidence of electron heating through non-classical mechanisms near the X-line [8], as well as the relevant space observations. We will also present the construction status of the upcoming FLARE device [9] which is designed to access new regimes of magnetic reconnection involving multiple X-lines. The prospective research topics on FLARE will be discussed in relation to the dynamics of the Earth’s magnetosphere.

[1] Y. Ren et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 085003 (2008)

[2] H. Ji et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L13106 (2008)

[3] S. Dorfman et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 102107 (2008)

[4] V. Roytershteyn et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 055706 (2010)

[5] V. Roytershteyn et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 055705 (2013)

[6] S. Dorfman et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 233 (2013); Phys. Plasmas 21, 012109 (2014)

[7] J. Jara-Almonte et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 032114 (2014)

[8] J. Yoo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 215007 (2013); Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 095002 (2014)

[9] H. Ji and W. Daughton, Phys. Plasmas 18, 111207 (2011).

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