arXiv subjects

James A. Slavin

Publications and source records attributed to James A. Slavin.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Parker Solar Probe Observations of Compound Reconnection Exhaust Boundaries and Mirror-Mode Structures in the Near-Sun Heliospheric Current Sheet

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process that can drive rapid conversion of magnetic energy into plasma bulk flows, thermal heating, and particle acceleration in space and astrophysical plasmas. Classical reconnection theory predicts that the Alfvenic reconnection exhausts are bounded by pairs of slow-mode shocks. However, identifying and characterizing these shocks through in situ spacecraft observations remains a challenge. Here we report Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations of a reconnection exhaust embedded in the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) at a heliocentric distance of 12.2 R_O. The reconnection exhaust is bounded on both boundaries by compound magnetic structures rather than a pair of pure slow shocks. Each boundary consists of a rapidly evolving, steep inner slow shock, whose Mach numbers and shock-normal angles change significantly within several minutes, and an outer, gradual compound structure which comprises a slow shock and a rotational discontinuity. These slow shocks are quasi-perpendicular and are accompanied by enhanced proton perpendicular heating. Deep within the reconnection exhaust, high perpendicular temperature together with large plasma beta trigger mirror instability and generate mirror-mode structures. These observations provide new insights into the structure of reconnection exhaust boundaries and their role in energy conversion in the near-Sun plasma.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2026

Properties and Radial Evolution of Solar Wind Turbulence Near Mercury's Orbit

We present a comprehensive statistical study of the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence near Mercury's orbit using long-term magnetic field measurements from the MESSENGER mission. Owing to Mercury's highly elliptical orbit and the spacecraft's repeated, extended residence in the upstream solar wind, the data set provides more than 17,000 hours of observations, enabling robust statistics across well-defined heliocentric distance intervals (0.31-0.47 au). We find that inertial-range spectral slopes remain close to -3/2 throughout Mercury's orbit, showing no significant radial evolution. Combined with low magnetic compressibility, this result indicates a stable, predominantly Alfvenic inertial-range cascade already established here. In contrast, kinetic-range spectral slopes exhibit clear radial evolution, becoming progressively shallower with increasing heliocentric distance, highlighting the greater sensitivity of kinetic-scale turbulence to heliocentric conditions. The ion-scale spectral break frequency decreases with distance in the spacecraft frame, while its normalized form increases relative to the local proton cyclotron frequency, demonstrating that the break is not tied to proton cyclotron frequency but reflects evolving local plasma conditions. Magnetic compressibility shows a similar frequency dependence at all distances, with a subtle radial enhancement of compressive fluctuations at kinetic scales. Autocorrelation analysis reveals strong anisotropy, with the correlation times of field-aligned magnetic fluctuations increasing with heliocentric distance, while those of perpendicular fluctuations remain shorter and nearly invariant. Together, these results demonstrate a clear scale-dependent radial evolution of solar wind turbulence near Mercury-s orbit, providing new constraints on the development of kinetic processes in the inner heliosphere.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2025

Spectral Properties and Energy Injection in Mercury's Magnetotail Current Sheet

Mercury's magnetotail hosts a thin and highly dynamic current sheet (CS), where magnetic reconnection and strong fluctuations frequently occur. Here, we statistically analyze magnetic field power spectra across 370 magnetotail CSs observed by MESSENGER. About 20% of the events are quasi-laminar, showing single power-law spectra, whereas 80% are turbulent, exhibiting a spectral break separating inertial and kinetic ranges. A dawn-dusk asymmetry is identified: inertial-range slopes are systematically shallower on the dawnside, whereas kinetic-range slopes are steeper, indicating more developed turbulence there, consistent with the higher occurrence of reconnection-related processes on the dawnside. Component analysis shows that the transverse components, orthogonal to the tail-aligned principal field (BX), display shallow slopes near -1 in the inertial range, suggesting energy injection at ion scales rather than a classical inertial range. These results demonstrate that Mercury's unique plasma environment fundamentally reshapes the initiation of turbulence and the redistribution of energy in the magnetotail.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2024

Relativistic Electron Acceleration and the 'Ankle' Spectral Feature in Earth's Magnetotail Reconnection

Electrons are accelerated to high, non-thermal energies during explosive energy-release events in space, such as magnetic reconnection. However, the properties and acceleration mechanisms of relativistic electrons directly associated with reconnection X-line are not well understood. This study utilizes Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) measurements to analyze the flux and spectral features of sub-relativistic to relativistic (~ 80 to 560 keV) electrons during a magnetic reconnection event in Earth's magnetotail. This event provided a unique opportunity to measure the electrons directly energized by X-line as MMS stayed in the separatrix layer, where the magnetic field directly connects to the X-line, for approximately half of the observation period. Our analysis revealed that the fluxes of relativistic electrons were clearly enhanced within the separatrix layer, and the highest flux was directed away from the X-line, which suggested that these electrons originated directly from the X-line. Spectral analysis showed that these relativistic electrons deviated from the main plasma sheet population and exhibited an "ankle" feature similar to that observed in galactic cosmic rays. The contribution of "ankle" electrons to the total electron energy density increased from 0.1% to 1% in the separatrix layer, though the spectral slopes did not exhibit clear variations. Further analysis indicated that while these relativistic electrons originated from the X-line, they experienced a non-negligible degree of scattering during transport. These findings provide clear evidence that magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail can efficiently energize relativistic electrons directly at the X-line, providing new insights into the complex processes governing electron dynamics during magnetic reconnection.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

MESSENGER observations of Mercury's planetary ion escape rates and their dependence on true anomaly angle

This study investigates the escape of Mercury's sodium-group ions (Na+-group, including ions with m/q from 21 to 30 amu/e) and their dependence on true anomaly angle (TAA), i.e., Mercury's orbital phase around the Sun, using measurements from MESSENGER. The measurements are categorized into solar wind, magnetosheath, and magnetosphere, and further divided into four TAA intervals. Na+-group ions form escape plumes in the solar wind and magnetosheath, with higher fluxes along the solar wind's motional electric field. The total escape rates vary from 0.2 to 1 times 10^{25} atoms/s with the magnetosheath being the main escaping region. These rates exhibit a TAA dependence, peaking near the perihelion and similar during Mercury's remaining orbit. Despite Mercury's tenuous exosphere, Na+-group ions escape rate is comparable to other inner planets. This can be attributed to several processes, including that Na+-group ions may include several ion species, efficient photoionization frequency for elements within Na+-group, etc.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2022

MESSENGER observations of planetary ion enhancements at Mercury's northern magnetospheric cusp during Flux Transfer Event Showers

At Mercury, several processes can release ions and neutrals out of the planet's surface. Here we present enhancements of dayside planetary ions in the solar wind entry layer during flux transfer event (FTE) "showers" near Mercury's northern magnetospheric cusp. The FTE showers correspond to the intervals of intense magnetopause reconnection of Mercury's magnetosphere, which form a solar wind entry layer equatorward of the magnetospheric cusps. In this entry layer, solar wind ions are accelerated and move downward (i.e. planetward) toward the cusps, which sputter upward-moving planetary ions within 1 minute. The precipitation rate is enhanced by an order of magnitude during FTE showers and the neutral density of the exosphere can vary by >10% due to this FTE-driven sputtering. These in situ observations of enhanced planetary ions in the entry layer likely correspond to an escape channel of Mercury's planetary ions, and the large-scale variations of the exosphere observed on minute-timescales by Earth observatories. Comprehensive, future multi-point measurements made by BepiColombo will greatly enhance our understanding of the processes contributing to Mercury's dynamic exosphere and magnetosphere.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2021

Review of Mercury's Dynamic Magnetosphere: Post-MESSENGER Era and Comparative Magnetospheres

This review summarizes the research of Mercury's magnetosphere in the Post-MESSENGER era and compares its dynamics to those in other planetary magnetospheres, especially to those in Earth's magnetosphere. This review starts by introducing the planet Mercury, including its interplanetary environment, magnetosphere, exosphere, and conducting core. The frequent and intense magnetic reconnection on the dayside magnetopause, which is represented by the flux transfer event "shower", is reviewed on how they depend on magnetosheath plasma beta and magnetic shear angle across the magnetopause, following by how they contribute to the flux circulation and magnetosphere-surface-exosphere coupling. In the next, the progress of Mercury's magnetosphere under extreme solar events, including the core induction and the reconnection erosion on the dayside magnetosphere, the responses of the nightside magnetosphere, are reviewed. Then, the dawn-dusk properties of the plasma sheet, including the features of the ions, the structure of the current sheet, and the dynamics of magnetic reconnection, are summarized. The last topic reviews the particle energization in Mercury's magnetosphere, which includes the energization of the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves on the magnetopause boundaries, reconnection-generated magnetic structures, and the cross-tail electric field. In each chapter, the last section discusses the open questions related with each topic, which can be considered by the simulations and the future spacecraft mission. We close by summarizing the future BepiColombo opportunities, which is a joint mission between ESA and JAXA, and is en route to Mercury.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2019

Global Ten-Moment Multifluid Simulations of the Solar Wind Interaction with Mercury: From the Planetary Conducting Core to the Dynamic Magnetosphere

For the first time, we explore the tightly coupled interior-magnetosphere system of Mercury by employing a three-dimensional ten-moment multifluid model. This novel fluid model incorporates the non-ideal effects including the Hall effect, inertia, and tensorial pressures that are critical for collisionless magnetic reconnection; therefore, it is particularly well suited for investigating $collisionless$ magnetic reconnection in Mercury's magnetotail and at the planet's magnetopause. The model is able to reproduce the observed magnetic field vectors, field-aligned currents, and cross-tail current sheet asymmetry (beyond the MHD approach) and the simulation results are in good agreement with spacecraft observations. We also study the magnetospheric response of Mercury to a hypothetical extreme event with an enhanced solar wind dynamic pressure, which demonstrates the significance of induction effects resulting from the electromagnetically-coupled interior. More interestingly, plasmoids (or flux ropes) are formed in Mercury's magnetotail during the event, indicating the highly dynamic nature of Mercury's magnetosphere.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2019

3D Magnetic Reconnection with a spatially confined X-line extent -- Implications for Dipolarizing Flux Bundles and the Dawn-Dusk Asymmetry

Using 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we study magnetic reconnection with the x-line being spatially confined in the current direction. We include thick current layers to prevent reconnection at two ends of a thin current sheet that has a thickness on an ion inertial (di) scale. The reconnection rate and outflow speed drop significantly when the extent of the thin current sheet in the current direction is < O(10 di). When the thin current sheet extent is long enough, we find it consists of two distinct regions; an inactive region (on the ion-drifting side) exists adjacent to the active region where reconnection proceeds normally as in a 2D case. The extent of this inactive region is ~ O(10 di), and it suppresses reconnection when the thin current sheet extent is comparable or shorter. The time-scale of current sheet thinning toward fast reconnection can be translated into the spatial-scale of this inactive region; because electron drifts inside the ion diffusion region transport the reconnected magnetic flux, that drives outflows and furthers the current sheet thinning, away from this region. This is a consequence of the Hall effect in 3D. While this inactive region may explain the shortest possible azimuthal extent of dipolarizing flux bundles at Earth, it may also explain the dawn-dusk asymmetry observed at the magnetotail of Mercury, that has a global dawn-dusk extent much shorter than that of Earth.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2017

Global three-dimensional simulation of Earth's dayside reconnection using a two-way coupled magnetohydrodynamics with embedded particle-in-cell model: initial results

We perform a three-dimensional (3D) global simulation of Earth's magnetosphere with kinetic reconnection physics to study the flux transfer events (FTEs) and dayside magnetic reconnection with the recently developed magnetohydrodynamics with embedded particle-in-cell model (MHD-EPIC). During the one-hour long simulation, the FTEs are generated quasi-periodically near the subsolar point and move toward the poles. We find the magnetic field signature of FTEs at their early formation stage is similar to a `crater FTE', which is characterized by a magnetic field strength dip at the FTE center. After the FTE core field grows to a significant value, it becomes an FTE with typical flux rope structure. When an FTE moves across the cusp, reconnection between the FTE field lines and the cusp field lines can dissipate the FTE. The kinetic features are also captured by our model. A crescent electron phase space distribution is found near the reconnection site. A similar distribution is found for ions at the location where the Larmor electric field appears. The lower hybrid drift instability (LHDI) along the current sheet direction also arises at the interface of magnetosheath and magnetosphere plasma. The LHDI electric field is about 8 mV/m and its dominant wavelength relative to the electron gyroradius agrees reasonably with MMS observations.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2015

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 energy. 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 field. 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 Saturn. This counters the view of reconnection as a transient method of internal plasma loss at Saturn. 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.

astro-ph.EP↗