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Magnetic Reconnection in the Ionosphere of Mars: The Role of Collisions
Author(s) -
Cravens T. E.,
Fowler C. M.,
Brain D.,
Rahmati A.,
Xu S.,
Ledvina S. A.,
Andersson L.,
Renzaglia A. R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2020ja028036
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , ionosphere , magnetic reconnection , physics , geophysics , atmosphere of mars , astrobiology , interplanetary magnetic field , plasma , solar wind , martian , quantum mechanics
This paper evaluates the role of magnetic reconnection in the dayside ionosphere of Mars in the collisional regime and presents some relevant data from the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission. Magnetic reconnection is an important process operating in the solar corona, planetary magnetospheres, and astrophysical plasmas, but most of the literature focuses on collisionless plasmas. However, at Mars the reconnection should often occur in regions where collisions are important. Mars does not have a large‐scale global magnetic field; however, Mars has locally large magnetic fields associated with remnant crustal magnetization, particularly in the highland regions of the southern hemisphere. The crustal fields provide a “target” for reconnection both in the ionosphere and in the magnetotail of Mars. The current paper emphasizes the dayside ionosphere. Magnetic reconnection is associated with topological changes in the magnetic field and is also a source of energy for the plasma and can thus affect the ionospheric dynamics and ion loss at Mars. Both theoretical concepts and MAVEN particle and field data from several instruments are considered in this paper.