Influence of cold electrons on the Alfvénic double layers in the Earth's magnetosphere

Abstract

Cold ions of ionospheric origin have been observed in the Earth's magnetosphere, and it has been argued that these cold ions have greatly influenced the magnetospheric dynamics. In addition to cold ions, cold electrons are also observed in the aforesaid environment. Moreover, double layers have been detected by various spacecraft missions in the terrestrial magnetosphere. Specifically, these structures can occur inside the reconnection exhaust at the Earth's magnetopause, regulate the magnetic energy released during magnetic reconnection, and control electron and ion heating. In this article, we studied the formation of Alfvénic double layers (DLs) at the Earth's magnetopause in the presence of cold electrons using an analytical model. We found that the presence of cold electrons significantly decreases the amplitude of the DLs, thereby reducing the energy gained by the particles from the electric fields associated with the DLs. We also explored the role of DLs in cold plasma energization and compared our findings with the reported literature.