SM42A-05:
Observations of Plasma Waves in the Colliding Jet Region of a 3D Magnetic Flux Rope Flanked by Two Active Reconnection X Lines at the Subsolar Magnetopause
Thursday, 18 December 2014: 11:32 AM
Marit Oieroset1, David J Sundkvist2, Christopher Carew Chaston1, Tai-Duc Phan1, Forrest Mozer1, James P McFadden1, Vassilis Angelopoulos3, Laila Andersson4 and Jonathan P Eastwood5, (1)University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (2)UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (3)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (4)Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
Abstract:
We have performed a detailed analysis of plasma and wave observations in a 3D magnetic flux rope encountered by the THEMIS spacecraft at the subsolar magnetopause. The extent of the flux rope was ∼270 ion skin depths in the outflow direction, and it was flanked by two active reconnection X lines producing colliding plasma jets in the flux rope core where ion heating and suprathermal electrons were observed. The colliding jet region was highly dynamic and characterized by the presence of high-frequency waves such as ion acoustic-like waves, electron holes, and whistler mode waves near the flux rope center and low-frequency kinetic Alfvén waves over a larger region. We will discuss possible links between these waves and particle heating.
