SM51A-2514
An Investigation of Perpendicular Gradients of Parallel Electric Field in Separatrix Regions in Using the Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission
Friday, 18 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Andrew Paul Sturner1, Robert E Ergun2, David L Newman3, Giovanni Lapenta4, Roy B Torbert5, Per-Arne Lindqvist6, Yuri V Khotyaintsev7, Jerry Needell8, Christopher T Russell9, Robert J Strangeway9, James L Burch10, Frederick D Wilder3, Katherine Goodrich3, Julia E Stawarz1, Justin Holmes1, David Malaspina11 and Maria Usanova3, (1)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)University of Colorado, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Research, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, (5)University of New Hampshire Main Campus, Durham, NH, United States, (6)KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, (7)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (8)Univ New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States, (9)University of California Los Angeles, IGPP/EPSS, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (10)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (11)University of Colorado, Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Particle heating and acceleration observed throughout the Earth’s magnetosphere has been associated with magnetic reconnection events. Analytic studies have demonstrated that a curl of the parallel electric field is necessary for magnetic reconnection to occur. The curl of the parallel electric field has been examined in numerical simulations. We focus on the dynamics in the separatrix region. The Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission, a constellation of four satellites flown in a tight tetrahedral formation, has made multi-point high quality 3D electric field measurements in the Earth’s dusk sectors, allowing for the first direct measurements of the curl of the parallel electric field. We aim to present a preliminary survey of parallel electric fields as measured by MMS and discuss the implications on magnetic reconnection and future observations of magnetic reconnection.
