TY - JOUR

T1 - A statistical survey of reconnection exhausts in the solar wind based on the Riemannian decay of current sheets

AU - Sasunov, Y.L.

AU - Semenov, V.S.

AU - Heyn, M.F.

AU - Erkaev, N.V.

AU - Kubyshkin, I.V.

AU - Slivka, K.Y.

AU - Korovinskiy, D.B.

AU - Khodachenko, M.L.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - We present a statistical study of the magnetic reconnection exhausts in solar wind.Observational data are compared with the analytical model based on the R iemann analysis of tangentialdiscontinuity decay forced by finite X-line reconnection of skewed magnetic fields. Statistical analysis isbased on 51 events of the solar wind reconnection listed in Phan et al. (2009). The best agreement of theobserved and analytically predicted values is achieved for the rotational angle of the tangential magneticfield component with correlation coefficient reaching the value of 0.97. The lowest correlation coefficientof 0.87 is obtained for the exhaust flow plasma temperature. It is found that proton temperature increasesat the exhaust boundary while electron temperature stays unchanged. This may indicate that heatingand acceleration processes operate on the proton scale. Exhaust boundaries are identified as tangentialdiscontinuities, except one particular event, where Alfvén discontinuity and slow shock were detectedinstead. Hence,

AB - We present a statistical study of the magnetic reconnection exhausts in solar wind.Observational data are compared with the analytical model based on the R iemann analysis of tangentialdiscontinuity decay forced by finite X-line reconnection of skewed magnetic fields. Statistical analysis isbased on 51 events of the solar wind reconnection listed in Phan et al. (2009). The best agreement of theobserved and analytically predicted values is achieved for the rotational angle of the tangential magneticfield component with correlation coefficient reaching the value of 0.97. The lowest correlation coefficientof 0.87 is obtained for the exhaust flow plasma temperature. It is found that proton temperature increasesat the exhaust boundary while electron temperature stays unchanged. This may indicate that heatingand acceleration processes operate on the proton scale. Exhaust boundaries are identified as tangentialdiscontinuities, except one particular event, where Alfvén discontinuity and slow shock were detectedinstead. Hence,

U2 - 10.1002/2015JA021504

DO - 10.1002/2015JA021504

M3 - Article

VL - 120

SP - 8194

EP - 8209

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

SN - 0148-0227

IS - 10

ER -