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Switch‐off slow shock/rotational discontinuity structures in collisionless magnetic reconnection: What to look for in satellite observations
Author(s) -
Innocenti M. E.,
Cazzola E.,
Mistry R.,
Eastwood J. P.,
Goldman M. V.,
Newman D. L.,
Markidis S.,
Lapenta G.
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 - 10.1002/2017gl073092
Subject(s) - physics , magnetic reconnection , solar wind , discontinuity (linguistics) , shock (circulatory) , anisotropy , computational physics , electron , plasma , ion , geophysics , optics , quantum mechanics , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics
In Innocenti et al. (2015) we have observed and characterized for the first time Petschek‐like switch‐off slow shock/rotational discontinuity (SO‐SS/RD) compound structures in a 2‐D fully kinetic simulation of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Observing these structures in the solar wind or in the magnetotail would corroborate the possibility that Petschek exhausts develop in collisionless media as a result of single X point collisionless reconnection. Here we highlight their signatures in simulations with the aim of easing their identification in observations. The most notable signatures include a four‐peaked ion current profile in the out‐of‐plane direction, associated ion distribution functions, increased electron and ion anisotropy downstream the SS, and increased electron agyrotropy downstream the RDs.