Electron Crescent Distributions as a Manifestation of Diamagnetic Drift in an Electron-Scale Current Sheet: Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations Using New 7.5 ms Fast Plasma Investigation Moments.
A C RagerJ C DorelliDaniel J GershmanV UritskyLevon A AvanovRoy B TorbertJames L BurchRobert E ErgunJ EgedalC SchiffJ R ShusterBarbara L GilesW R PatersonC J PollockRobert J StrangewayChristopher T RussellBenoit LavraudV N CoffeyYoshifumi SaitoPublished in: Geophysical research letters (2018)
We report Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of electron pressure gradient electric fields near a magnetic reconnection diffusion region using a new technique for extracting 7.5 ms electron moments from the Fast Plasma Investigation. We find that the deviation of the perpendicular electron bulk velocity from E × B drift in the interval where the out-of-plane current density is increasing can be explained by the diamagnetic drift. In the interval where the out-of-plane current is transitioning to in-plane current, the electron momentum equation is not satisfied at 7.5 ms resolution.