Affiliation:
1. Department of Physics University of Wisconsin‐Madison Madison WI USA
Abstract
AbstractAn earlier model of the electron distribution function accounts for the pressure anisotropy that develops in the inflow regions during anti‐parallel magnetic reconnection. However, the model is not applicable to the electron diffusion region (EDR), where the electron magnetic moments break as an adiabatic invariant. The earlier model is here generalized through the use of the current‐sheet adiabatic invariant of a 1D current layer, to become applicable also to the EDR. The new generalized model reproduces the main features of the EDR and its vicinity observed in a fully kinetic simulation, formally proving the 1D equilibrium relationship between the upstream electron pressure anisotropy and the EDR electron jets.
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)