Search Publications
Comparison between hybrid and fully kinetic models of asymmetric magnetic reconnection: Coplanar and guide field configurations
Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Zenitani, Seiji +4 more
Magnetic reconnection occurring in collisionless environments is a multi-scale process involving both ion and electron kinetic processes. Because of their small mass, the electron scales are difficult to resolve in numerical and satellite data, it is therefore critical to know whether the overall evolution of the reconnection process is influenced…
Nonlinear interaction of kinetic Alfvén wave with fast magnetosonic wave and turbulent spectrum
Sharma, R. P.; Modi, K. V.
In the present paper, authors have investigated nonlinear interaction of kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW) and fast magnetosonic wave for intermediate β-plasma (me/mi≪β ≪1). Authors have developed the set of dimensionless equations in the presence of ponderomotive nonlinearity due to KAW in the dynamics of fast magnetosonic wave. Num…
Nonlinear interaction of kinetic Alfvén wave and whistler: Turbulent spectra and anisotropic scaling
Sharma, R. P.; Kumar Dwivedi, Navin
In this work, we are presenting the excitation of oblique propagating whistler wave as a consequence of nonlinear interaction between whistler wave and kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW) in intermediate beta plasmas. Numerical simulation has been done to study the transient evolution of magnetic field structures of KAW when the nonlinearity arises due to p…
Coherent structures and turbulent spectrum in solar wind plasmas
Sharma, R. P.; Yadav, N.; Kumari, Anju
The present paper investigates the localization of a uniform plane kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW) due to the coupling with the density/magnetic field fluctuations associated with a magnetosonic wave propagating in the transverse direction, i.e., perpendicular to the background magnetic field. To gain the physical insight into this evolution, a simplifi…
Nonlinear interaction of proton whistler with kinetic Alfvén wave to study solar wind turbulence
Goldstein, M. L.; Sharma, R. P.; Dwivedi, N. K. +1 more
This paper presents the nonlinear interaction between small but finite amplitude kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW) and proton whistler wave using two-fluid model in intermediate beta plasma, applicable to solar wind. The nonlinearity is introduced by modification in the background density. This change in density is attributed to the nonlinear ponderomotiv…
Non-diffusive resonant acceleration of electrons in the radiation belts
Artemyev, A. V.; Agapitov, O. V.; Krasnoselskikh, V. V. +2 more
We describe a mechanism of resonant electron acceleration by oblique high-amplitude whistler waves under conditions typical for the Earth radiation belts. We use statistics of spacecraft observations of whistlers in the Earth radiation belts to obtain the dependence of the angle θ between the wave-normal and the background magnetic field on magnet…
Electric field structure inside the secondary island in the reconnection diffusion region
Deng, X. H.; Huang, S. Y.; Zhou, M.
Secondary islands have recently been intensively studied because of their essential role in dissipating energy during reconnection. Secondary islands generally form by tearing instability in a stretched current sheet, with or without guide field. In this article, we study the electric field structure inside a secondary island in the diffusion regi…
Plasma penetration of the dayside magnetopause
Lundin, R.; Gunell, H.; Dandouras, I. +6 more
Data from the Cluster spacecraft during their magnetopause crossing on 25 January 2002 are presented. The magnetopause was in a state of slow non-oscillatory motion during the observational period. Coherent structures of magnetosheath plasma, here typified as plasmoids, were seen on closed magnetic field lines on the inside of the magnetopause. Us…
Phase space structure of the electron diffusion region in reconnection with weak guide fields
Egedal, J.; Daughton, W.; Ng, J. +1 more
Kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection provide detailed information about the electric and magnetic structure throughout the simulation domain, as well as high resolution profiles of the essential fluid parameters including the electron and ion densities, flows, and pressure tensors. However, the electron distribution function, f(v), within …
In-plane electric fields in magnetic islands during collisionless magnetic reconnection
Chen, Li-Jen; Roytershteyn, Vadim; Daughton, William +3 more
Magnetic islands are a common feature in both the onset and nonlinear evolution of magnetic reconnection. In collisionless regimes, the onset typically occurs within ion-scale current layers leading to the formation of magnetic islands when multiple X lines are involved. The nonlinear evolution of reconnection often gives rise to extended electron…