The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Letter. Cassini in situ observations of long-duration magnetic reconnection in Saturn’s magnetotail

Letter. Cassini in situ observations of long-duration magnetic reconnection in Saturn’s magnetotail
Letter. Cassini in situ observations of long-duration magnetic reconnection in Saturn’s magnetotail
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in solar system and astrophysical plasmas, through which stored magnetic energy associated with current sheets is converted into thermal, kinetic and wave energy1, 2, 3, 4. Magnetic reconnection is also thought to be a key process involved in shedding internally produced plasma from the giant magnetospheres at Jupiter and Saturn through topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field5, 6. The region where magnetic fields reconnect is known as the diffusion region and in this letter we report on the first encounter of the Cassini spacecraft with a diffusion region in Saturn’s magnetotail. The data also show evidence of magnetic reconnection over a period of 19?h revealing that reconnection can, in fact, act for prolonged intervals in a rapidly rotating magnetosphere. We show that reconnection can be a significant pathway for internal plasma loss at Saturn6. This counters the view of reconnection as a transient method of internal plasma loss at Saturn5, 7. These results, although directly relating to the magnetosphere of Saturn, have applications in the understanding of other rapidly rotating magnetospheres, including that of Jupiter and other astrophysical bodies.
1745-2473
268-271
Arridge, C.S.
cddea13c-2c2a-44c8-9607-309820a0fb0f
Eastwood, J.P.
2ad075de-b753-4335-9e05-c8c73b4d1800
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Poh, G.-K.
df6215c0-0a74-48d0-a6af-cca175053c2d
Slavin, J.A.
40c1eb46-992c-4bf4-be56-df0dcc75759a
Thomsen, M.F.
81992bfc-27a7-42f3-9e36-571ce61228a6
Andre, N.
726ff6cf-5887-4505-88b4-fe6038951fd6
Jia, X.
d4c719a7-fb60-480f-82b5-bbdd0f4ee6ca
Kidder, A.
cb78b617-58a8-410a-bef2-493f2547b5b6
Lamy, L.
aad11182-ba51-4937-99f3-cf983891abdd
Radioti, A.
0451be9e-9800-44fb-bb31-abb5fe00958a
Reisenfeld, D.B.
146943bf-0a2f-47a8-b1d3-208e2d0487b2
Sergis, N.
4f763399-5901-4bdc-9bc7-2a57140a9f80
Volwerk, M.
c933ef39-6c6b-4aea-b95f-0a2626121300
Walsh, A.P.
692928c3-bba9-4b1d-9a90-41eec5968b46
Zarka, P.
7451615e-ffa7-4bf5-a710-fb03ad7e08fa
Coates, A.J.
001723fc-7fd3-488c-88a2-a9c29d6509c4
Dougherty, M.K.
dfb81a1a-1b8d-4326-8416-5f66eb79e00a
Arridge, C.S.
cddea13c-2c2a-44c8-9607-309820a0fb0f
Eastwood, J.P.
2ad075de-b753-4335-9e05-c8c73b4d1800
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Poh, G.-K.
df6215c0-0a74-48d0-a6af-cca175053c2d
Slavin, J.A.
40c1eb46-992c-4bf4-be56-df0dcc75759a
Thomsen, M.F.
81992bfc-27a7-42f3-9e36-571ce61228a6
Andre, N.
726ff6cf-5887-4505-88b4-fe6038951fd6
Jia, X.
d4c719a7-fb60-480f-82b5-bbdd0f4ee6ca
Kidder, A.
cb78b617-58a8-410a-bef2-493f2547b5b6
Lamy, L.
aad11182-ba51-4937-99f3-cf983891abdd
Radioti, A.
0451be9e-9800-44fb-bb31-abb5fe00958a
Reisenfeld, D.B.
146943bf-0a2f-47a8-b1d3-208e2d0487b2
Sergis, N.
4f763399-5901-4bdc-9bc7-2a57140a9f80
Volwerk, M.
c933ef39-6c6b-4aea-b95f-0a2626121300
Walsh, A.P.
692928c3-bba9-4b1d-9a90-41eec5968b46
Zarka, P.
7451615e-ffa7-4bf5-a710-fb03ad7e08fa
Coates, A.J.
001723fc-7fd3-488c-88a2-a9c29d6509c4
Dougherty, M.K.
dfb81a1a-1b8d-4326-8416-5f66eb79e00a

Arridge, C.S., Eastwood, J.P. and Jackman, C.M. et al. (2016) Letter. Cassini in situ observations of long-duration magnetic reconnection in Saturn’s magnetotail. Nature Physics, 12, 268-271. (doi:10.1038/nphys3565).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in solar system and astrophysical plasmas, through which stored magnetic energy associated with current sheets is converted into thermal, kinetic and wave energy1, 2, 3, 4. Magnetic reconnection is also thought to be a key process involved in shedding internally produced plasma from the giant magnetospheres at Jupiter and Saturn through topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field5, 6. The region where magnetic fields reconnect is known as the diffusion region and in this letter we report on the first encounter of the Cassini spacecraft with a diffusion region in Saturn’s magnetotail. The data also show evidence of magnetic reconnection over a period of 19?h revealing that reconnection can, in fact, act for prolonged intervals in a rapidly rotating magnetosphere. We show that reconnection can be a significant pathway for internal plasma loss at Saturn6. This counters the view of reconnection as a transient method of internal plasma loss at Saturn5, 7. These results, although directly relating to the magnetosphere of Saturn, have applications in the understanding of other rapidly rotating magnetospheres, including that of Jupiter and other astrophysical bodies.

Text
Arridge_nature_diffusionregion.pdf - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy
Text
Cassini in situ observations of long duration magnetic.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
Download (5MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 15 October 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 November 2015
Published date: March 2016
Organisations: Astronomy Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 393563
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/393563
ISSN: 1745-2473
PURE UUID: c34b7e8c-638e-4072-ad75-915ce3ed8878
ORCID for C.M. Jackman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-7361

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Apr 2016 08:24
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 00:03

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: C.S. Arridge
Author: J.P. Eastwood
Author: C.M. Jackman ORCID iD
Author: G.-K. Poh
Author: J.A. Slavin
Author: M.F. Thomsen
Author: N. Andre
Author: X. Jia
Author: A. Kidder
Author: L. Lamy
Author: A. Radioti
Author: D.B. Reisenfeld
Author: N. Sergis
Author: M. Volwerk
Author: A.P. Walsh
Author: P. Zarka
Author: A.J. Coates
Author: M.K. Dougherty

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×