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| Titel |
Electron pitch angle distribution during magnetic reconnection diffusion region observations in the Earth's magnetotail |
| VerfasserIn |
A. L. Borg, M. G. G. T. Taylor, J. P. Eastwood |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
0992-7689
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Annales Geophysicae ; 30, no. 1 ; Nr. 30, no. 1 (2012-01-13), S.109-117 |
| Datensatznummer |
250017167
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/angeo-30-109-2012.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Earth's magnetosphere provides an excellent laboratory for magnetic
reconnection research. In particular, the magnetotail current sheet that is
formed between the interface of the similar Northern and Southern Hemispheres
of the magnetotail provides a relatively stable symmetric reconnection
configuration that can be used to study basic aspects of the reconnection
process. Of particular importance is the manner in which electrons are
processed by the reconnection. Simulations and satellite data analyses of the
ion diffusion region have suggested that the fluxes of electrons in the
inflow regions of reconnection are greater in the directions parallel and
anti-parallel to the magnetic field (field-aligned) whereas the electron flux
in the outflow region is distributed more isotropically. However, this has
only been studied experimentally on a case-by-case basis. In this paper, we
investigate this claim by analyzing the degree of bulk electron field
alignment in the outflow and inflow regions during encounters of the magnetic
reconnection ion diffusion region by the Cluster spacecraft in the years
2001–2006. We demonstrate that while the median electron flux in the inflow
region is indeed more field aligned than in the outflow region during some
ion diffusion region encounters, the variation of the signature across events
is so large that it cannot be said to be a general feature of magnetic
reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. |
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