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Cluster Observations on Time‐of‐Flight Effect of Oxygen Ions in Magnetotail Reconnection Exhaust Region
Author(s) -
Wu T.,
Fu S. Y.,
Xie L.,
Zong Q.G.,
Zhou X. Z.,
Yue C.,
Sun W. J.,
Pu Z. Y.,
Xiong Y.,
Zhao S. J.,
Zhang H.,
Yu F. B.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2019gl085200
Subject(s) - physics , ion , magnetic reconnection , diffusion , magnetopause , cluster (spacecraft) , cutoff , spacecraft , atomic physics , astrophysics , computational physics , plasma , magnetosphere , astronomy , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
The D‐shaped ion velocity distribution generated by the time‐of‐flight (ToF) effect can be considered as an important characteristic of reconnection exhausts in the magnetopause and magnetotail reconnection processes. In this study, we reported the D‐shaped velocity distribution of O + ions produced by the ToF effect in the magnetotail reconnection exhaust based on the observations from the Cluster spacecraft. The observed cutoff velocity of O + ions is smaller than that of H + ions at the same time, which is different from the previous theoretical prediction. We suggested that the difference between the two cutoff velocities is probably due to O + ions having a larger reconnection diffusion region than H + ions. We also demonstrated a remote‐sensing method to estimate the spatial scale ratio between the O + and H + diffusion regions and the distance from the observation site to the center of the magnetotail reconnection region.