MMS Detects: “Gigantic spike in Parallel Electric Field”

[Solar]

Hello. Parallel Electric Fields in “non-ideal plasma” discussed at approximately 16:00 in the following link:

“… with all the particles traveling up and down magnetic field any sort of electric field that would be created parallel to the magnetic field would be immediately shorted out.”

(...)

“So, there was a period of time where it was thought that parallel electric fields were nonexistent in Nature. However that is not true. We have seen multiple observations of parallel electric fields in what is called non-ideal plasma…”

(...)

“… and at the moment of the sharpest change in magnetic field we see this gigantic spike in parallel electric field. One-hundred and 30 millivolts per which is maybe ten times what we expected to see.” – Source: FM15 Press Conference NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale MMS mission Understanding our space environ

And:

Using FIELDS observations, Goodrich is looking for one of the smoking guns of magnetic reconnection, called a parallel electric field.

“What we’re looking for is an alignment of electric and magnetic fields,” said Goodrich. “This condition is impossible with a simplified understanding of plasma, but magnetic reconnection is anything but simple.”

In the simplest view of plasma — known as ideal plasma — the charged particles spinning along magnetic field lines carry enough current to instantaneously short out any electric field parallel to the magnetic field. But in actuality, plasma doesn't ever behave quite that simply, so scientists must consider a more detailed, complex version of the physics to understand how and why reconnection is able to occur. Such rigorous models — known as non-ideal plasmas — open up the possibility for the creation of gaps in these zooming charged particles, allowing parallel electric fields to form for an observable length of time. – Nasa’s MMS Delivers Promising Results

And:

We report observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites of parallel electric fields associated with magnetic reconnection in the sub-solar region of Earth’s magnetopause. E|| events near the electron diffusion region have amplitudes on the order of 100 mV/m, which are significantly larger than predicted for an anti-parallel reconnection electric field. This article addresses a specific type of E|| events, which appear as large-amplitude, near unipolar spikes that are associated with tangled, reconnected magnetic fields. These E|| events are primarily in or near a current layer near the separatrix and are interpreted to be double layers that may be responsible for secondary reconnection in tangled magnetic fields or flux ropes. These results are telling of the #D nature of magnetopause reconnection and indicate that the magnetopause reconnection may be often patchy and/or drive turbulence along the separatrix that results in flux ropes and/or tangled magnetic fields. - MMS Observations of Parallel Electric Fields Associated with Magnetic Reconnection – R. E. Ergun, K. A. Goodrich et al

Just stopped by to share. If desirous of more docs Google this phrase without the quotation marks - “MMS+parallel electric field”.

Enjoy

[Zyxzevn]

It is hard to figure out what they mean with "parallel electric fields".

It seems that they mean that the magnetic field is in the same direction as the electrical field.

This can happen easily if your current goes into the same direction as the magnetic field.
For example when lightning strikes near the magnetic north pole.
Or when the magnetic field changes and spreads out.
It could also be that they found strong electric fields where they thought were "magnetic flux lines".
A common mistake made by astronomers that do not understand basic electromagnetism.

[comingfrom]

Thanks for that, Solar.

"Double layer" implies two. Two layers.
But layers of what?
Layers of electric field.
Parallel electric fields.

And all this is to figure out magnetic reconnection?
Oh the iony.

"If you ask what causes space weather... its magnetic reconnection. That's what causes space weather."
Jim Burch, Principal Investigator.
at 3:06 in the video

Paul

[seasmith]

~
Their picture:


\

10 April 2017
ESA's Cluster mission is challenging the current view of magnetic reconnection – the breaking and immediate rearrangement of magnetic field lines in the collision of two plasma flows. According to a new study, most of the energy dissipated during a reconnection event is not released at the crossings, or X-lines, between the two plasma flows but rather in swirling vortices, or O-lines, where magnetic field lines bundle up and spiral together. The new finding, which contradicts the accepted consensus, is an important step in the process of understanding the mechanisms that accelerate particles in space plasma.

http://sci.esa.int/cluster/58994-o-mark ... onnection/

[Zyxzevn]

"If you ask what causes space weather... its magnetic reconnection. That's what causes space weather."
Jim Burch, Principal Investigator.
at 3:06 in the video

Yes, it is unicorns...

..
ESA's Cluster mission is challenging the current view of magnetic reconnection..
..

Challenge accepted.

If you are trying to measure it, you can see that magnetic reconnection wrong indeed.
Magnetic "flux lines" are physically impossible, and are just electric currents.

Each new discovery simply shows:
1) how bad the mainstream theories are.
2) how biased the mainstream scientists are.

[comingfrom]

~
Their picture:


\

10 April 2017
ESA's Cluster mission is challenging the current view of magnetic reconnection – the breaking and immediate rearrangement of magnetic field lines in the collision of two plasma flows. According to a new study, most of the energy dissipated during a reconnection event is not released at the crossings, or X-lines, between the two plasma flows but rather in swirling vortices, or O-lines, where magnetic field lines bundle up and spiral together. The new finding, which contradicts the accepted consensus, is an important step in the process of understanding the mechanisms that accelerate particles in space plasma.

http://sci.esa.int/cluster/58994-o-mark ... onnection/

They were very careful not to indicate what are the x-lines and what are the o-lines in any of their 4 diagrams.
The x-lines seem to be obvious just from looking, except, they will become o-lines as soon as disconnection occurs.

The comments are as of blind men stabbing in the dark.

The new finding, which is in stark contradiction to the present-day consensus, suggests that something profound is missing from the current understanding of magnetic reconnection.

and

"This is a leap forward in our investigation of how particles are accelerated during magnetic reconnection," concludes Philippe Escoubet, Cluster Project Scientist at ESA.

It is a leap forward, when an observation shows that your theory is profoundly wrong, but I'm sure they are not seeing the leap forward that way.

~Paul

[Solar]

Hoping the link for this next reference works, I had some trouble with it. Highly recommended keeper doc from 2002 that underscores these latest detections. If this .pdf doc opens for you make sure to save it:

ABSTRACT

Magnetic-field aligned electric fields play an important role in the dynamics of magnetized plasmas. They allow decoupling of plasma elements by violation of the frozen field condition, breakdown of equipotential mapping, efficient acceleration of charged particles and rapid release of magnetic energy. In the collisionless plasmas that occupy most of the universe they used to be assumed nonexistent. A major consequence of the in situ measurements of the space age was the recognition that such electric fields do exist in the collisionless space plasma in spite of the absence of collisional friction. Indications of their existence came even from ground observations, but the final proof rests on the overwhelming evidence accumulated by in situ observations. These include observations of a number of characteristic features of particle distribution functions, various active experiments and direct measurements of electric fields. A number of mechanisms that can support magnetic field aligned electric fields have been identified. They include wave turbulence, solitary structures, magnetic mirrors, electric double layers and dynamic trapping. Some of them have been observationally confirmed to be important in the auroral process, but their relative roles are still not well known. - Magnetic-field aligned electric fields in collisionless space plasmas – a brief review - Carl-Gunne Fälthammar

Additional article:

At least, that is the conventional wisdom. But that’s not what the authors’ analysis shows. Instead, the intense blasts of energy may come from a different kind of magnetic reconnection, one not as often shown in textbooks: so-called O lines, where the approaching field lines spiral and swirl together, as if caught in a whirlpool.
(…)
… instead of seeing the highest current levels at X lines as expected, the team found most of the greatest current spikes to be near O lines. At the X lines, the current was almost nonexistent. -
For Magnetic Reconnection Energy, O—not X—Might Mark the Spot

And:

A cartoon portraying "magnetic islands" in tokamak as rotating magnetic areas within the sheaths of the topographical "O-Lines" of .... is that a filament?

Observations of Fluctuations that Grow Together with Deceleration of Rotation: A Comparison of Helical and Tokamak Plasmas

And:

Another article and accompanying cartoon portraying "magnetic reconnection in the current sheet" between sheaths aka "O-Lines": First direct evidence in space of magnetic reconnection in turbulent plasma - ESA

Opinion: Like other probes before them that have detected this dynamic in the Earth's Aurora, Cluster and now MMS, are flying through the generative apex of what can be described as the Plasma Electrodynamic equivalent of the initiation of a Cosmic "Static Spark" between dynamic (rotating/moving/merging) areas of plasma at different electric potentials.

Whether as exploding double-layers or "magnetic reconnection" said Cosmic "Sparks" and their filamentary "Arcs" between celestial bodies can cover huge distances:

"We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions," explains plasma physicist Jack Scudder of the University of Iowa. "They're places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun's atmosphere 93 million miles away." – NASA: Hidden Portals in Earth's Magnetic Field

A capacitor stores electrical charge up to a point, and then lets go, like a dam breaking. It’s called dielectric breakdown, and sparks are the result; sparks are the flood of current through the dam. Lightning is one example of a spark we’ve all seen, but there are several types of electric discharge to consider.

Each type represents a flow of current, electrons and/or ions in an electric field. What primarily differentiates the type of discharge are polarity and surface features of the electrodes, the voltage and current density, and the medium the current travels through. - The Maars of Pinacate, Part Two