[IGPP Everyone] Today - SPACE SCIENCE SEMINAR - WINTERQUARTER -Geology 6704- 3:30pm -Friday February 28, 2020

[Marjorie Sowmendran]

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SPACE PHYSICS SEMINAR

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH, PLANETARY, AND SPACE SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

(AOS M275B, EPSS M288B)









Magnetotail reconnection: Observation-motivated particle-in-cell simulations

San Lu

UCLA, EPSS Department

Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is an important process in plasmas because it reconfigures magnetic field and releases magnetic energy to accelerate charged particles. In Earth’s magnetotail, in particular, magnetic reconnection plays an important role in magnetospheric energy conversion. Because magnetotail reconnection occurs in the pre-reconnection current sheet, the characteristics of this current sheet controls properties of magnetotail reconnection. In-situ spacecraft observations show that the pre-reconnection current sheet has two important characteristics: 1) it has inhomogeneous temperature across the current sheet, and 2) it is a charged current sheet with the current predominantly carried by electrons. Particle-in-cell (PIC) models can well simulate the magnetotail reconnection with the most complete physics description. However, previous PIC simulations of magnetic reconnection were based on the simple neutral current sheets with homogeneous temperature and ions as current carriers. We perform a series of particle-in-cell simulations and find that the properties of magnetic reconnection are significantly changed after having included the two characteristics of the pre-reconnection current sheet. We hereby suggest that for better understanding and modeling magnetotail reconnection, the temperature inhomogeneity and charging effect need to be taken into account. 

Friday, February 28, 2020

Room 6704 Geology

3:30 - 5:00 PM

In-charge: C. T. Russell 



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