Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive an exclusion energy parameter EX providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell Demon, only high energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner-reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. The analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low density separatrix.
Keywords:
Physics (General)
Type:
GSFC-E-DAA-TN43252
,
Physical Review Letters (ISSN 0031-9007) (e-ISSN 1079-7114); 117; 18; 185101
Format:
application/pdf
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