Triggering the Magnetopause Reconnection by Solar Wind Discontinuities

Magnetic reconnection is one of the most universal processes in space plasma that is responsible for charged particle acceleration and the mixing and heating of plasma populations. In this paper we consider a triggering process of reconnection that is driven by interaction of two discontinuities: solar wind rotational discontinuity and tangential discontinuity at Earth’s magnetospheric boundary, the magnetopause. Combining multispacecraft measurements and global hybrid simulations, we show that solar wind discontinuities may drive the magnetopause reconnection and cause the mixing of the solar wind and magnetosphere plasmas around the magnetopause, well downstream of the solar wind flow. Since large-amplitude discontinuities are frequently observed in the solar wind and predicted for various stellar winds, our results of reconnection driven by the discontinuity–discontinuity interaction may have a broad application beyond the magnetosphere.