SM41I-08
Observations of 3-D Electric Fields and Waves Associated With Reconnection at the Dayside Magnetopause
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 09:36
2018 (Moscone West)
Frederick D Wilder1, Robert Ergun2, Katherine Goodrich1, David Malaspina3, Stefan Eriksson4, Julia E Stawarz4, Andrew Paul Sturner4, Justin Holmes4, James L Burch5, Roy B Torbert6, Tai Phan7, Olivier Le Contel8, Martin V Goldman1, David L Newman1, Per-Arne Lindqvist9, Yuri V Khotyaintsev10, Robert J Strangeway11 and Christopher T Russell12, (1)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)University of Colorado, Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (6)University of New Hampshire Main Campus, Durham, NH, United States, (7)University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (8)Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (UMR7648), CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/UPMC/Univ. Paris Sud/Obs. de Paris, Paris, France, (9)KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, (10)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (11)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (12)University of California Los Angeles, IGPP/EPSS, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Abstract:
The phenomenon of magnetic reconnection, especially at electron scales, is still poorly understood. One process that warrants further investigation is the role of wave phenomenon in mediating magnetic reconnection. Previous observations have shown the presence of electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) as well as whistler mode waves near the dayside reconnection site. Additionally, recent simulations have suggested that whistler waves might be generated by electron phase space holes associated with ESWs as they propagate along the magnetic separatrix towards the diffusion region. Other observations have shown ESWs with distinct speeds and time scales, suggesting that different instabilities generate the ESWs. NASA’s recently launched Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission presents a unique opportunity to investigate the roles of wave phenomena, such as ESWs and whistlers, in asymmetric reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. We will present 3-D electric and magnetic field data from magnetopause crossings by MMS during its first dayside science phase. Burst mode wave data and electron distributions from all four spacecraft will be analyzed to investigate the origin of these wave phenomena, as well as their impact on the reconnection electric field.
