| Session Details | |
| Section | ST - Solar & Terrestrial Sciences |
| Session Title | Magnetic Reconnection at Electron Scale: Observations and Simulations |
| Main Convener | Dr. Huishan Fu (Beihang University, China) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Quanming Lu (University of Science and Technology of China, China) Dr. Meng Zhou (Nanchang University, China) Prof. Masahiro Hoshino (The University of Tokyo, Japan) Dr. James Burch (Southwest Research Institute, United States) |
| Session Description | Magnetic reconnection—the fundamental plasma process converting magnetic energy into particles’ kinetic and thermal energy—is believed to initiate at electron scale (in the electron diffusion region), develop at ion scale (in the ion diffusion region), and finally affect the MHD-scale dynamics of plasmas. During the past few decades, the ion- and MHD-scale dynamics of magnetic reconnection have been widely investigated, by using both spacecraft measurements (e.g., Cluster, THEMIS, Getotail) and computer simulations (e.g., MHD simulation, Hybrid simulation), leaving the electron-scale dynamics of magnetic reconnection that is essentially related to the trigger of the process as an unsolved problem. To investigate the electron-scale dynamics, multiple spacecraft must form a tetrahedron with size comparable to the electron inertial length, and the computer should be fast enough to allow the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations at large proton-to-electron mass ratio. The recent supercomputer (e.g., Sunway TaihuLight) and NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission make this come true. Particularly, during the two magnetopause phases (September 2015 – February 2016 and September 2016 – January 2017) and one magnetotail phase (May 2017 – October 2017) of MMS, the spacecraft captured quite many reconnection events at electron scale. This provides a good opportunity to address the issue. This session solicits presentations focusing on the electron-scale dynamics of magnetic reconnection. We encourage submission of the recent results based on MMS measurements and PIC simulations. We also expect submission of the results based on other missions such as THEMIS, Cluster, GEOTAIL etc, and other simulation models such as MHD, hybrid etc, as this can provide a cross-scale understating of magnetic reconnection process. |