Electron Heating by Parallel Electric Fields in Magnetotail Reconnection

2024/12/13 by Louis Richard, Y. V. Khotyaintsev, Richard, Louis +13 · 2 citations
Engineering · #FOS: Physical sciences #Plasma Diagnostics and Applications #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Space Physics (physics.space-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2412.10188

openalex publication_date 2024/12/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We investigate electron heating by magnetic-field-aligned electric fields (E_∥) during anti-parallel magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. Using a statistical sample of 140 reconnection outflows, we infer the acceleration potential associated with E_∥ from the shape of the electron velocity distribution functions. We show that heating by E_∥ in the reconnection outflow can reach up to ten times the inflow electron temperature. We demonstrate that the magnitude of the acceleration potential scales with the inflow Alfvén and electron thermal speeds to maintain quasi-neutrality in the reconnection region. Our results suggest that, as the inflow plasma parameter β_e∞ increases, E_∥ becomes increasingly important to the ion-to-electron energy partition associated with magnetic reconnection.

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