DOI

  • Elin Eriksson
  • Andris Vaivads
  • Daniel B. Graham
  • Andrey Divin
  • Yuri V. Khotyaintsev
  • Emiliya Yordanova
  • Mats André
  • Barbara L. Giles
  • Craig J. Pollock
  • Christopher T. Russell
  • Olivier Le Contel
  • Roy B. Torbert
  • Robert E. Ergun
  • Per Arne Lindqvist
  • James L. Burch

We present observations of electron energization within a sub-ion-scale magnetosheath current sheet (CS). A number of signatures indicate ongoing reconnection, including the thickness of the CS (∼0.7 ion inertial length), nonzero normal magnetic field, Hall magnetic fields with electrons carrying the Hall currents, and electron heating. We observe localized electron acceleration and heating parallel to the magnetic field at the edges of the CS. Electrostatic waves observed in these regions have low phase velocity and small wave potentials and thus cannot provide the observed acceleration and heating. Instead, we find that the electrons are accelerated by a parallel potential within the separatrix regions. Similar acceleration has been reported based on magnetopause and magnetotail observations. Thus, despite the different plasma conditions in magnetosheath, magnetopause, and magnetotail, the acceleration mechanism and corresponding heating of electrons is similar.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8081-8090
Number of pages10
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume45
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Aug 2018

    Research areas

  • electron acceleration, electron heating, magnetic reconnection, magnetosheath, Magnetospheric Multiscale

    Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

ID: 42555690