Journal article
Intermittent Electron-only Reconnection at Lunar Mini-magnetospheres
Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.963(1), L11
03/01/2024
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2774
Abstract
Lunar crustal magnetic anomalies (LCMA) are sub-ion-gyroradius structures that have been shown to stand off the solar wind (SW) plasma from the Moon’s surface, forming shock-like discontinuities and reflecting incident SW protons. In this Letter, the results of high-resolution, 2D fully kinetic simulations show a bursty electron-only magnetic reconnection in the SW-LCMA interaction region, characterized by the quasiperiodic formation and ejection of magnetic islands and strong parallel electron flows along the X-point separator lines. The islands are observed to modify the magnetic pressure pileup and Hall electric field above the LCMA, leading to sharp increases in reflected protons that drive electromagnetic fluctuations downstream and short distances upstream in the SW.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Intermittent Electron-only Reconnection at Lunar Mini-magnetospheres
- Creators
- A Stanier - Los Alamos National LaboratoryL Chen - Goddard Space Flight CenterA Le - Los Alamos National LaboratoryJ Halekas - University of IowaR Sawyer - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.963(1), L11
- DOI
- 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2774
- eISSN
- 2041-8213
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000104, name: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, award: MMS & HERMES missions; DOI: 10.13039/100000015, name: U.S. Department of Energy, award: FWPLANLE7C5
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984560487302771
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