Exact Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria for asymmetric current sheets
Abstract
The NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale mission has made in-situ diffusion region and kinetic-scale resolution measurements of asymmetric magnetic reconnection for the first time [Burch et al., 2016], in the Earth’s magnetopause. The principal theoretical tool currently used to model collisionless asymmetric reconnection is particle-in-cell simulations. Many particle-in-cell simulations of asymmetric collisionless reconnection start from an asymmetric Harris-type magnetic field, but with distribution functions that are not exact equilibrium solutions of the Vlasov equation. We present new and exact equilibrium solutions of the Vlasov-Maxwell system that are self-consistent with one-dimensional asymmetric current sheets, with an asymmetric Harris-type magnetic field profile, plus a constant non-zero guide field. The distribution functions can be represented as a combination of four shifted Maxwellian distribution functions. This equilibrium describes a magnetic field configuration with more freedom than the previously known exact solution [Alpers, 1969], and has different bulk flow properties.
Citation
Allanson , O , Wilson , F , Neukirch , T , Liu , Y-H & Hodgson , J D B 2017 , ' Exact Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria for asymmetric current sheets ' , Geophysical Research Letters , vol. 44 , no. 17 , pp. 8685-8695 . https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074168
Publication
Geophysical Research Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0094-8276Type
Journal item
Description
Funding: Science and Technology Facilities Council Consolidated Grant Nos. ST/K000950/1 and ST/N000609/1 (O.A., T.N., J.D.B.H.and F.W.), the Science and Technology Facilities Council Doctoral Training Grant No. ST/K502327/1 (O.A. and J.D.B.H), the Natural Environment Research Council Grant No. NE/P017274/1 (Rad-Sat) (O.A.)Collections
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