Statistical Properties of Turbulent Fluctuations Associated with Electron-only Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract

Context: Recent satellite measurements in the turbulent magnetosheath of Earth have given evidence of an unusual reconnection mechanism that is driven exclusively by electrons. This newly observed process was called electron-only reconnection, and its inter-play with plasma turbulence is a matter of great debate. Aims: By using 2D-3V hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulations of freely decaying plasma turbulence, we study the role of electron-only reconnection in the development of plasma turbulence. In particular, we search for possible differences with respect to the turbulence associated with standard ion-coupled reconnection. Methods: We analyzed the structure functions of the turbulent magnetic field and ion fluid velocity fluctuations to characterize the structure and the intermittency properties of the turbulent energy cascade. Results: We find that the statistical properties of turbulent fluctuations associated with electron-only reconnection are consistent with those of turbulent fluctuations associated with standard ion-coupled reconnection, and no peculiar signature related to electron-only reconnection is found in the turbulence statistics. This result suggests that the turbulent energy cascade in a collisionless magnetized plasma does not depend on the specific mechanism associated with magnetic reconnection. The properties of the dissipation range are discussed as well, and we claim that only electrons contribute to the dissipation of magnetic field energy at sub-ion scales.

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• Global scale-invariant dissipation in collisionless plasma turbulence
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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Local cascade and dissipation in incompressible Hall magnetohydrodynamic turbulence: the Coarse-Graining approach
• Large Scale Linear Magnetic Holes with Magnetic Mirror Properties in Hybrid Simulations of Solar Wind Turbulence
• Anisotropic Heating and Parallel Heat Flux in Electron-only Magnetic Reconnection with Intense Guide Fields