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Direct observations of electron firehose fluctuations in the magnetic reconnection outflow
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  • Giulia Cozzani,
  • Yuri V. Khotyaintsev,
  • Daniel Bruce Graham,
  • Mats André
Giulia Cozzani
University of Helsinki

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yuri V. Khotyaintsev
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
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Daniel Bruce Graham
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
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Mats André
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
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Abstract

Electron temperature anisotropy-driven instabilities such as the electron firehose instability (EFI) are especially significant in space collisionless plasmas, where collisions are so scarce that wave-particle interactions are the leading mechanisms in the isotropization of the distribution function and energy transfer. Observational statistical studies provided convincing evidence in favor of the EFI constraining the electron distribution function and limiting the electron temperature anisotropy. Magnetic reconnection is characterized by regions of enhanced temperature anisotropy that could drive instabilities – including the electron firehose instability – affecting the particle dynamics and the energy conversion. However, in situ observations of the fluctuations generated by the EFI are still lacking and the interplay between magnetic reconnection and EFI is still largely unknown. In this study, we use high-resolution in situ measurements by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft to identify and investigate EFI fluctuations in the magnetic reconnection exhaust in the Earth’s magnetotail. We find that the wave properties of the observed fluctuations largely agree with theoretical predictions of the non-propagating EF mode. These findings are further supported by comparison with the linear kinetic dispersion relation. Our results demonstrate that the magnetic reconnection outflow can be the seedbed of EFI and provide the first direct in situ observations of EFI-generated fluctuations.