Research Article

Physics of Magnetopause Reconnection: A Study of the Combined Effects of Density Asymmetry, Velocity Shear, and Guide Field

Figure 17

The summary plot for the discussion on the -line motion. Different color indicates different cases (blue, black, and red for , 0, and 0.5). (a) versus . While is larger for larger in general, the -line motion can be opposite to the magnetosheath flow when is small and . (b) Comparison of with (solid circles) and with (open squares). The interpretation is that the electron effects set in with the nonzero guide field and can dominate to determine the direction of the -line motion when the shear flow effects are small.
202583.fig.0017a
(a)
202583.fig.0017b
(b)