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Spacecraft Observations and Analytic Theory of Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions in Asymmetric Magnetic
J Egedal1, A Le2, W Daughton2
1Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Abstract:
Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive an exclusion energy parameter E_{X} providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell demon, only high-energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low-density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. The analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low-density separatrix.
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