Volume 32 Issue 6
Nov.  2012
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XU Xiaojun, WEI Fengsi, FENG Xueshang. Characteristics of Reconnection Diffusion Region in the Solar Wind[J]. Chinese Journal of Space Science, 2012, 32(6): 778-784. doi: 10.11728/cjss2012.06.778
Citation: XU Xiaojun, WEI Fengsi, FENG Xueshang. Characteristics of Reconnection Diffusion Region in the Solar Wind[J]. Chinese Journal of Space Science, 2012, 32(6): 778-784. doi: 10.11728/cjss2012.06.778

Characteristics of Reconnection Diffusion Region in the Solar Wind

doi: 10.11728/cjss2012.06.778 cstr: 32142.14.cjss2012.06.778
  • Received Date: 2011-05-04
  • Rev Recd Date: 2011-11-18
  • Publish Date: 2012-11-15
  • A Petschek-like reconnection exhaust of extremely low plasma density was detected by ACE and WIND on 6 January 2007 near 1AU in the solar wind. The exhaust is characterized by an apparent Hall bipolar magnetic field, ion and electron density depletion layers and pitch angle distribution of low energy electrons anti-parallel to the direction of Hall current. Such features indicate a possible reconnection ion diffusion region in the solar wind. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to report direct detections of ion diffusion region associated with solar wind reconnection exhaust. Observations show that the associated reconnection is quasi-steady, almost anti-parallel merging (no guide field) and fast with a dimensionless reconnection rate of about 2%. Meanwhile, the diffusion region is bounded by a pair of slow-mode waves and the spatial width is up to 80 ion inertial lengths, performing large-scale characteristics of reconnection for large systems.

     

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