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Statistical Analysis of Ion Diffusion Region Characteristics Using Scalar Parameters
  • Anthony Rogers,
  • Charles Farrugia,
  • Roy Torbert
Anthony Rogers
University of New Hampshire Main Campus

Corresponding Author:ajr1022@wildcats.unh.edu

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Charles Farrugia
University of New Hampshire
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Roy Torbert
Univ New Hampshire
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Abstract

Scalar parameters of various aspects of magnetic reconnection offer easily comparable measures of the characteristics of the diffusion regions surrounding X-lines in a way arguably more general than other attributes which may depend on the coordinate system used. We performed a principal component analysis (PCA) of several scalar parameters including measures of relative magnetic field line (MFL) curvature, ion agyrotropy, energy conversion rate, electric field, and current density in the time spans surrounding and including independently identified ion diffusion regions (IDRs) observed by MMS in the geomagnetic tail. We find that relative MFL curvature is the most bold indicator of an IDR encounter while some more traditional measures vary comparatively little between IDRs and the regions adjacent to them when averaged across events. More granular statistics are also presented and discussed.