MMS Observations of Super Thin Electron-Scale Current Sheets in the
Earth's Magnetotail
Abstract
Strong flapping of the Current Sheet (CS) associated with the
propagation of high-velocity bulk flows allowed to observe the Super
Thin Current Sheet (STCS) in the magnetotail Plasma Sheet (PS). During
the interval of interest 111 crossings of the CS neutral line were
detected. In 95 crossings the STCSs with a current density J ≥ 20
nA/m2 were observed. A half-thickness
(LSTCS) of the STCSs was about a few electron
gyroradii or less. In a number of the STCSs the parameter of
adiabaticity (κe) was < 1.0 for
suprathermal electron population (> 1 keV). Our analysis
has shown that the electric current in such STCSs is carried by
unmagnetized electrons (κe < 1), and
the pressure balance is supported by the off-diagonal terms of their
pressure tensor. In this sense the underlying physics of the formation
of STCSs at electron scales by unmagnetized electrons is similar to the
mechanism of ion-scale thin CS formation by the quasi-adiabatic ions.
The low-energy population of magnetized electrons is also crucially
important since it keeps the STCS stable and allows their observation as
a quasi-stationary structure.
We compare the observed half-thickness of the STCS with that predicted
by a new kinetic theory (λ) considering the coupling between
ion-scale TCS and electron-scale STCS. We found a reasonable agreement
between both values: LSTCS ~ (0.3
– 1)λ. Further improvement in the theory taking into account the
dynamics of unmagnetized electrons may provide better agreement with
observations.