Kinetic aspects of the ion current layer in a reconnection outflow exhaust

Abstract

Kinetic aspects of the ion current layer at the center of a reconnection outflow exhaust near the X-type region are investigated by a two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The layer consists of magnetized electrons and unmagnetized ions that carry a perpendicular electric current. The ion fluid appears to be nonideal, sub-Alfvenic, and nondissipative. The ion velocity distribution functions contain multiple populations such as global Speiser ions, local Speiser ions, and trapped ions. The particle motion of the local Speiser ions in an appropriately rotated coordinate system explains the ion fluid properties very well. The trapped ions are the first demonstration of the regular orbits in the chaotic particle dynamics [Chen and Palmadesso, J. Geophys. Res., 91, 1499 (1986)] in self-consistent PIC simulations. They would be observational signatures in the ion current layer near reconnection sites.

13 pages, 11 figures; source codes to obtain the Poincare maps are attached; see ancillary files in the "Other formats" link

References in corpus (9)

• Two-scale structure of the electron dissipation region during collisionless magnetic reconnection
• New Measure of the Dissipation Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection
• Super-Alfvénic propagation of reconnection signatures and Poynting flux during substorms
• The structure of the magnetic reconnection exhaust boundary
• Jet deflection by very weak guide fields during magnetic reconnection
• The inner structure of collisionless magnetic reconnection: The electron-frame dissipation measure and Hall fields
• The Relation between Ion Temperature Anisotropy and Formation of Slow Shocks in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection
• The effects of strong temperature anisotropy on the kinetic structure of collisionless slow shocks and reconnection exhausts. Part I: PIC simulations
• Evidence for the dissipation region in magnetotail reconnection

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Particle dynamics in the electron current layer in collisionless magnetic reconnection
• Rapid Particle Acceleration due to Recollimation Shocks and Turbulent Magnetic Fields in Injected Jets with Helical Magnetic Fields
• Detection of current-sheet and bipolar ion flows in a self-generated antiparallel magnetic field of laser-produced plasmas for magnetic reconnection research
• Some remarks on the diffusion regions in magnetic reconnection