Magnetic reconnection structures in the boundary layer of an interplanetary magnetic cloud

An interplanetary magnetic diffusion region was detected by WIND during 0735-0850 UT on May 15, 1997 when the front boundary layer of a magnetic cloud passed through the spacecraft about 190 earth radii upstream of the earth. The main signals of magnetic reconnection processes are: (i) Flow reversal was detected at about 0810 UT. The counter-streaming flows have the speeds of about 65 and 41 km/s, respectively, with an angle of about 140 degree between them. (ii) Hall magnetic field was detected. The Hall fields -By and +By, perpendicular to the X-Z plane, with their magnitude up to -7.0 nT, are superposed upon a guide field about 12 nT. (iii) Alfvenic fluctuations are obviously intensified inside the reconnection region; at the front boundary of the reconnection region, a slow-mode-like discontinuity was detected.(iv) Ions are heated intensively inside the reconnection region, with their temperature three times higher than that ahead of the boundary layer; electrons are also heated, with a little enhan

Magnetic reconnection structures in the boundary layer of an interplanetary magnetic cloud

An interplanetary magnetic diffusion region was detected by WIND during 0735-0850 UT on May 15, 1997 when the front boundary layer of a magnetic cloud passed through the spacecraft about 190 earth radii upstream of the earth. The main signals of magnetic reconnection processes are: (i) Flow reversal was detected at about 0810 UT. The counter-streaming flows have the speeds of about 65 and 41 km/s, respectively, with an angle of about 140 degree between them. (ii) Hall magnetic field was detected. The Hall fields -By and +By, perpendicular to the X-Z plane, with their magnitude up to -7.0 nT, are superposed upon a guide field about 12 nT. (iii) Alfvenic fluctuations are obviously intensified inside the reconnection region; at the front boundary of the reconnection region, a slow-mode-like discontinuity was detected.(iv) Ions are heated intensively inside the reconnection region, with their temperature three times higher than that ahead of the boundary layer; electrons are also heated, with a little enhancement in their temperature. The above observations indicate that magnetic reconnection processes could take place in interplanetary space.