# Observation of Inertial-range Energy Cascade within a Reconnection Jet in Earth's Magnetotail

Authors
Type
Preprint
Publication Date
Oct 05, 2020
Submission Date
Oct 05, 2020
Identifiers
DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slaa171
Source
arXiv
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## Abstract

Earth's magnetotail region provides a unique environment to study plasma turbulence. We investigate the turbulence developed in an exhaust produced by magnetic reconnection at the terrestrial magnetotail region. Magnetic and velocity spectra show broad-band fluctuations corresponding to the inertial range, with Kolmorogov $-5/3$ scaling, indicative of a well developed turbulent cascade. We examine the mixed, third-order structure functions, and obtain a linear scaling in the inertial range. This linear scaling of the third-order structure functions implies a scale-invariant cascade of energy through the inertial range. A Politano-Pouquet third-order analysis gives an estimate of the incompressive energy transfer rate of $\sim 10^{7}~\mathrm{J\,kg^{-1}\,s^{-1}}$. This is four orders of magnitude higher than the values typically measured in 1 AU solar wind, suggesting that the turbulence cascade plays an important role as a pathway of energy dissipation during reconnection events in the tail region.

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