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Laboratory Observations of Electron Heating and Non-Maxwellian Distributions at the Kinetic Scale during
Peiyun Shi1, Prabhakar Srivastav1, M Hasan Barbhuiya1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for KINETIC Plasma Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA.
Abstract:
Non-Maxwellian electron velocity distribution functions composed of a warm bulk population and a cold beam are directly measured during electron-only reconnection with a strong out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field in a laboratory plasma. Electron heating is localized to the separatrix, and the electron temperature increases continuously along the separatrix. The measured gain in enthalpy flux is 70% of the incoming Poynting flux. The electron beams are oppositely directed on either side of the X point, and their velocities are comparable to, and scale with, the electron Alfvén speed. Particle-in-cell simulations are consistent with the measurements. The experimental results are consistent with, and go beyond, recent observations in the magnetosheath.
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