In situ observations of a secondary magnetic island in an ion diffusion region and associated energetic electrons

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Apr 30;104(17):175003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.175003. Epub 2010 Apr 29.

Abstract

Numerical simulations have predicted that an extended current sheet may be unstable to secondary magnetic islands in the vicinity of the X line, and these islands can dramatically influence the reconnection rate. In this Letter, we present the first evidence of such a secondary island near the center of an ion diffusion region, which is consistent with the action of the secondary island instability occurring in the vicinity of the X line. The island is squashed in the z direction with a strong core magnetic field. Energetic electrons with anisotropic or field-aligned bidirectional fluxes are found in the ion diffusion region, and the enhancement of energetic electron fluxes is more obvious inside the secondary island.