Observations of Hall Reconnection Physics Far Downstream of the X Line.
Observations made using the Wind spacecraft of Hall magnetic fields in solar wind reconnection exhausts are presented. These observations are consistent with the generation of Hall fields by a narrow ion inertial scale current layer near the separatrix, which is confirmed with an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation that shows excellent agreement with observations. The Hall fields are observed thousands of ion inertial lengths downstream from the reconnection X line, indicating that narrow regions of kinetic dynamics can persist extremely far downstream.
The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
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Mistry
The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
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Eastwood
Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
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Haggerty
Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
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Shay
Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
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Phan
Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
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Hietala
Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA.
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Cassak