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Giles, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Giles, B..

14 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Lower-Hybrid Drift Waves Driving Electron Nongyrotropic Heating and Vortical Flows in a Magnetic Reconnection Layer

Here, we report measurements of lower-hybrid drift waves driving electron heating and vortical flows in an electron-scale reconnection layer under a guide field. Electrons accelerated by the electrostatic potential of the waves exhibit perpendicular and nongyrotropic heating. The vortical flows generate magnetic field perturbations comparable to the guide field magnitude. The measurements reveal a new regime of electron-wave interaction and how this interaction modifies the electron dynamics in the reconnection layer.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2019

Electron Diffusion Regions in Magnetotail Reconnection Under Varying Guide Fields

Kinetic structures of electron diffusion regions (EDRs) under finite guide fields in magnetotail reconnection are reported. The EDRs with guide fields 0.14–0.5 (in unit of the reconnecting component) are detected by the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft. The key new features include the following: (1) cold inflowing electrons accelerated along the guide field and demagnetized at the magnetic field minimum while remaining a coherent population with a low perpendicular temperature, (2) wave fluctuations generating strong perpendicular electron flows followed by alternating parallel flows inside the reconnecting current sheet under an intermediate guide field, and (3) gyrophase bunched electrons with high parallel speeds leaving the X‐line region. The normalized reconnection rates for the three EDRs range from 0.05 to 0.3. The measurements reveal that finite guide fields introduce new mechanisms to break the electron frozen‐in condition.

Chen, L.‐J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Two-Fluid Dynamics and Energetics of the Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection in Laboratory and Space Plasmas

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in magnetized plasma where magnetic energy is converted to plasma energy. Despite huge differences in the physical size of the reconnection layer, remarkably similar characteristics are observed in both laboratory and magnetosphere plasmas. Here we present the comparative study of the dynamics and physical mechanisms governing the energy conversion in the laboratory and space plasma in the context of two-fluid physics, aided by numerical simulations. In strongly asymmetric reconnection layers with negligible guide field, the energy deposition to electrons is found to primarily occur in the electron diffusion region where electrons are demagnetized and diffuse. A large potential well is observed within the reconnection plane and ions are accelerated by the electric field toward the exhaust region. The present comparative study identifies the robust two-fluid mechanism operating in systems over six orders of magnitude in spatial scales and over a wide range of collisionality.

Yamada, M.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Direct Observation of Electron Distributions Inside Millisecond Duration Electron Holes

Despite the importance of millisecond duration spatial structures [chorus wave nonlinearity or time domain structures (TDS)] to plasma dynamics, there have been no direct observations of the generation and interaction of these waves and TDS with electrons at the millisecond timescale required for their understanding. Through superposition of 0.195 ms Magnetospheric Multiscale Satellite electron measurements inside 37 superposed, millisecond duration electron holes, the first observations of electron spectra and pitch angle distributions on a submillisecond timescale have been obtained. They show that keV electrons inside the superposed electron hole are accelerated by several hundred volts and that the spectrum of electrons inside the electron hole contain several maxima and minima that are explained by a model of electron energy changes on entering the holes. We report the first observation of trapped electrons inside the TDS, in accordance with the theoretical requirement that such electrons must be present in order to form the phase space holes. Mechanisms of electron acceleration by electron holes (through perpendicular energy gain as the TDS moves into a converging magnetic field) and scattering (due to the perpendicular electric field) are discussed.

Mozer, F. S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Generation of Electron Whistler Waves at the Mirror Mode Magnetic Holes: MMS Observations and PIC Simulation

The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission has observed electron whistler waves at the center and at the edges of magnetic holes in the dayside magnetosheath. The magnetic holes are nonlinear mirror structures since their magnitude is anticorrelated with particle density. In this article, we examine the growth mechanisms of these whistler waves and their interaction with the host magnetic hole. In the observations, as magnetic holes develop and get deeper, an electron population gets trapped and develops a temperature anisotropy favorable for whistler waves to be generated. In addition, the decrease in magnetic field magnitude and the increase in density reduce the electron resonance energy, which promotes the electron cyclotron resonance. To investigate this process, we used expanding box particle-in-cell simulations to produce the mirror instability, which then evolve into magnetic holes. The simulation shows that whistler waves can be generated at the center and edges of magnetic holes, which reproduces the primary features of the MMS observations. The simulation shows that the electron temperature anisotropy develops in the center of the magnetic hole once the mirror instability reaches its nonlinear stage of evolution. The plasma is then unstable to whistler waves at the minimum of the magnetic field structures. In the saturation regime of mirror instability, when magnetic holes are developed, the electron temperature anisotropy appears at the edges of the holes and electron distributions become more isotropic at the magnetic field minimum. At the edges, the expansion of magnetic holes decelerates the electrons, which leads to temperature anisotropies.

Magnetospheric Multiscale↗
NASA NTRS2018

Electron Bulk Acceleration and Thermalization at Earth's Quasiperpendicular Bow Shock

Electron heating at Earth's quasiperpendicular bow shock has been surmised to be due to the combined effects of a quasistatic electric potential and scattering through wave-particle interaction. Here we report the observation of electron distribution functions indicating a new electron heating process occurring at the leading edge of the shock front. Incident solar wind electrons are accelerated parallel to the magnetic field toward downstream, reaching an electron-ion relative drift speed exceeding the electron thermal speed. The bulk acceleration is associated with an electric field pulse embedded in a whistler-mode wave. The high electron-ion relative drift is relaxed primarily through a nonlinear current-driven instability. The relaxed distributions contain a beam traveling toward the shock as a remnant of the accelerated electrons. Similar distribution functions prevail throughout the shock transition layer, suggesting that the observedacceleration and thermalization is essential to the cross-shock electron heating.

Chen, L.-J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

On Electron-Scale Whistler Turbulence in the Solar Wind

For the first time, the dispersion relation for turbulence magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind is determined directly on small scales of the order of the electron inertial length, using four-point magnetometer observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The data are analyzed using the high-resolution adaptive wave telescope technique. Small-scale solar wind turbulence is primarily composed of highly obliquely propagating waves, with dispersion consistent with that of the whistler mode.

Narita, Y.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Magnetic Reconnection and Modification of the Hall Physics Due to Cold Ions at the Magnetopause

Observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft are used to investigate the Hall physics of a magnetopause magnetic reconnection separatrix layer. Inside this layer of currents and strong normal electric fields, cold (eV) ions of ionospheric origin can remain frozen-in together with the electrons. The cold ions reduce the Hall current. Using a generalized Ohms law, the electric field is balanced by the sum of the terms corresponding to the Hall current, the v x B drifting cold ions, and the divergence of the electron pressure tensor. A mixture of hot and cold ions is common at the subsolar magnetopause. A mixture of length scales caused by a mixture of ion temperatures has significant effects on the Hall physics of magnetic reconnection.

Andre, M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Kinetic Evidence of Magnetic Reconnection Due to Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves

The Kelvin-Helmholtz (ICH) instability at the Earth's magnetopause is predominantly excited during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Magnetic reconnection due to KH waves has been suggested as one of the mechanisms to transfer solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere. We investigate KH waves observed at the magnetopause by the Magnetospheric Multlscale (MMS) mission; in particular, we study the trailing edges of KH waves with Alfvenic ion jets. We observe gradual mixing of magnetospheric and magnetosheath ions at the boundary layer. The magnetospheric electrons with energy up to 80 keV are observed on the magnetosheath side of the jets, which indicates that they escape into the magnetosheath through reconnected magnetic field lines. At the same time, the low-energy (below 100eV) magnetosheath electrons enter the magnetosphere and are heated in the field-aligned direction at the high-density edge of the jets. Our observations provide unambiguous kinetic evidence for ongoing reconnection due to KH waves.

Li, W.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Currents and Associated Electron Scattering and Bouncing Near the Diffusion Region at Earth's Magnetopause

Based on high-resolution measurements from NASA's Magnetospheric Multlscale mission, we present the dynamics of electrons associated with current systems observed near the diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause. Using pitch angle distributions (PAD) and magnetic curvature analysis, we demonstrate the occurrence of electron scattering in the curved magnetic field of the diffusion region down to energies of 20eV. We show that scattering occurs closer to the current sheet as the electron energy decreases. The scattering of Inflowing electrons, associated with field-aligned electrostatic potentials and Hall currents, produces a new population of scattered electrons with broader PAD which bounce back and forth in the exhaust. Except at the center of the diffusion region the two populations are collocated and appear to behave adiabatically: the inflowing electron PAD focuses inward (toward lower magnetic field), while the bouncing population PAD gradually peaks at 90 degrees away from the center (where it mirrors owing to higher magnetic field and probable field-aligned potentials).

Lavraud, B.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Fast Plasma Investigation for Magnetospheric Multiscale

The Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) was developed for flight on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to measure the differential directional flux of magnetospheric electrons and ions with unprecedented time resolution to resolve kinetic-scale plasma dynamics. This increased resolution has been accomplished by placing four dual 180-degree top hat spectrometers for electrons and four dual 180-degree top hat spectrometers for ions around the periphery of each of four MMS spacecraft. Using electrostatic field-of-view deflection, the eight spectrometers for each species together provide 4pi-sr-field-of-view with, at worst, 11.25-degree sample spacing. Energy/charge sampling is provided by swept electrostatic energy/charge selection over the range from 10 eVq to 30000 eVq. The eight dual spectrometers on each spacecraft are controlled and interrogated by a single block redundant Instrument Data Processing Unit, which in turn interfaces to the observatory's Instrument Suite Central Instrument Data processor. This paper described the design of FPI, its ground and in-flight calibration, its operational concept, and its data products.

Pollock, C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

A Global Upper Atmosphere Observatory Using of Lidar on the International Space Station

A concept for hosting a lidar facility for the upper atmosphere on the International Space Station (ISS) is presented and discussed. The concept is based on utilizing an existing Large Space Optics mirror having a 2.37-m aperture as the primary mirror in its receiver. This large aperture provides for hosting several transmitter systems to retrieve density, temperature, and wind measurements for several upper atmospheric species. Thus the concept provides for measurements over a wide altitude range (80-600 km), at various time and spatial resolutions, and hosting on the ISS provides nearly global coverage. The baseline concept includes transmitters and receivers for atomic oxygen (80-500 km), metastable helium (400-600 km), and sodium (80-110 km). The facility is conceived as being flexible such that other transmitter/receiver systems could be added to allow the possibility of other species to be studied, such as iron. The presentation discusses the transformative science that would be gained by such an observatory by combining the nearly global coverage afforded by the ISS orbit with the extension of powerful lidar techniques to high altitudes. The challenges in realizing such an observatory are discussed, as are current plans and partnerships to meet those challenges. The presentation also reports on the development status of several components, primarily various independent transmitter/receiver systems, that are under consideration for the baseline observatory. Several institutions are performing these developments.

Clemmons, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Magnetosheath-ionospheric plasma interactions in the cusp/cleft. 1: Observations of modulated injections and upwelling ion fluxes

In situ observations of the cusp/cleft are important as they allow a direct investigation of coupling solar wind energy to the ionosphere, plus they provide an opportunity for the remote sensing of the magnetopause. High time resolution observations from Dynamic Explorer 1 are used to investigate these processes. It is shown that in the spacecraft frame the injection is modulated or pulsating with a period of approximately 18-30 s with the injection duration possibly being as short as 6 s. This modulation indicates that there may be fast time scale and/or short scale length processes modulating the injection of the magnetosheath plasma across the magnetopause. In addition, the pulsating injection is seen to modulate the outflow of upwelling ionospheric ions to the magnetosphere. These upwelling ions are seen prior to the magnetosheath ion injection and therefore are not directly created by the injection. During the injection itself, the intensity of the upwelling ions is seen to dramatically decrease but their average energy increases. At end of the magnetosheath injections, the intensity of the upwelling ion flux is seen to increase to levels comparable to levels prior to the magnetosheath injection. On two occasions during the encounter, the particle fluxes are sufficiently high that enhanced downward flows of perpendicularly heated ions, of presumably ionospheric origin, are observed in association with a reduction in the intensity of the upwelling ions. These observations are probably the first detection of downward conics and suggest that there is momentum transfer between the magnetosheath and ionospheric ions. This momentum transfer eventually leads to an enhanced outflow of heated ionospheric plasma where their energy has been raised from a few tens of eV to a few hundred eV.

Winglee, R. M.↗