Crescent-shaped electron velocity distribution functions formed at the edges of plasma jets interacting with a tangential discontinuity
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Published:2018-11-14
Issue:6
Volume:36
Page:1521-1535
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ISSN:1432-0576
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Container-title:Annales Geophysicae
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Ann. Geophys.
Author:
Voitcu GabrielORCID, Echim MariusORCID
Abstract
Abstract. In this paper we discuss numerical simulations that illustrate a physical mechanism leading to the formation of crescent-shaped electron velocity distribution functions at the edges of a high-speed plasma jet impacting on a thin, steep and impenetrable tangential discontinuity with no magnetic shear. We use three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to compute the velocity distribution function of electrons in different areas of the plasma jet and at different phases of the interaction with the discontinuity. The simulation set-up corresponds to an idealized, yet relevant, magnetic configuration likely to be observed at the frontside magnetopause under the northward interplanetary magnetic field. The combined effect of the gradient-B drift and the remote sensing of large Larmor radius electrons leads to the formation of crescent-shaped electron velocity distribution functions. We provide examples of such distributions measured by a virtual satellite launched into the simulation domain.
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Space and Planetary Science,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Atmospheric Science,Geology,Astronomy and Astrophysics
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