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Hodographic approach for determining spacecraft trajectories through magnetic reconnection diffusion regions
Author(s) -
Shuster J. R.,
Argall M. R.,
Torbert R. B.,
Chen L.J.,
Farrugia C. J.,
Alm L.,
Wang S.,
Daughton W.,
Gershman D. J.,
Giles B. L.,
Russell C. T.,
Burch J. L.,
Pollock C. J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl072570
Subject(s) - magnetic reconnection , spacecraft , physics , magnetopause , trajectory , diffusion , computational physics , kinetic energy , geophysics , statistical physics , magnetic field , solar wind , classical mechanics , astronomy , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
We develop an algorithm that finds a trajectory through simulations of magnetic reconnection along which input Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft observations are matched. Using two‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell simulations of asymmetric reconnection, the method is applied to a magnetopause electron diffusion region (EDR) encountered by the MMS spacecraft to facilitate interpretation of the event based on fully kinetic models. The recently discovered crescent‐shaped electron velocity distributions measured by MMS in the EDR are consistent with simulation distributions at the corresponding time along the computed trajectory.