Particle acceleration in the magnetotail Original Research Article

Very prominent particle acceleration occurs during current disruption in the magnetotail. Although particle acceleration is frequently attributed to magnetic reconnection alone, particle heating and acceleration can equally well be associated with plasma instabilities which can be unrelated to magnetic reconnection. In this paper, the characteristics of particle acceleration for a well observed current disruption event is examined in detail. It is found that particle acceleration during this current disruption event is consistent with that expected from the development of the cross-field current instability. Furthermore, observational evidence of magnetic reconnection not causing particle acceleration during this current disruption event is also found.