Possible Properties of Kinetic Flux Ropes Generated by Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract:

We present latest results of numerical studies of a recently obtained analytic solution that can describe small-scale kinetic flux ropes. Such exact nonlinear solution of the Vlasov-Poisson-Ampere system of equations can be regarded as two-dimensional Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK) mode, generalizing from a solution in a magnetized plasma with finite magnetic field strength [Ng, Bhattacharjee, and Skiff, Phys. Plasmas 13, 055903 (2006)], with the additional effect of field-aligned current. Such solution might explain magnetic flux ropes observed to form within the diffusion region in 3D kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection, and the 2D version of them (plasmoids, secondary islands). We will present properties of solutions based on a range of typical plasma parameters within regions of the magnetosphere where magnetic reconnection could happen. These solutions could potentially be used to compare with future Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) observation.

This work is supported by a National Science Foundation grant PHY-1004357 and the Alaska NASA EPSCoR Program (NNX13AB28A).