Orientation of X Lines in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection-Mass Ratio Dependency

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yi-Hsin; Hesse, M.; Kuznetsova, M.

2015-01-01

Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the X line orientation of magnetic reconnection in an asymmetric configuration. A spatially localized perturbation is employed to induce a single X line, which has sufficient freedom to choose its orientation in three-dimensional systems. The effect of ion to electron mass ratio is investigated, and the X line appears to bisect the magnetic shear angle across the current sheet in the large mass ratio limit. The orientation can generally be deduced by scanning through the corresponding 2-D simulations to find the reconnection plane that maximizes the peak reconnection electric field. The deviation from the bisection angle in the lower mass ratio limit is consistent with the orientation shift of the most unstable linear tearing mode in an electron-scale current sheet.

Effects of the reconnection electric field on crescent electron distribution functions in asymmetric guide field reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Bessho, N.; Chen, L. J.; Hesse, M.; Wang, S.

2017-12-01

In asymmetric reconnection with a guide field in the Earth's magnetopause, electron motion in the electron diffusion region (EDR) is largely affected by the guide field, the Hall electric field, and the reconnection electric field. The electron motion in the EDR is neither simple gyration around the guide field nor simple meandering motion across the current sheet. The combined meandering motion and gyration has essential effects on particle acceleration by the in-plane Hall electric field (existing only in the magnetospheric side) and the out-of-plane reconnection electric field. We analyze electron motion and crescent-shaped electron distribution functions in the EDR in asymmetric guide field reconnection, and perform 2-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to elucidate the effect of reconnection electric field on electron distribution functions. Recently, we have analytically expressed the acceleration effect due to the reconnection electric field on electron crescent distribution functions in asymmetric reconnection without a guide field (Bessho et al., Phys. Plasmas, 24, 072903, 2017). We extend the theory to asymmetric guide field reconnection, and predict the crescent bulge in distribution functions. Assuming 1D approximation of field variations in the EDR, we derive the time period of oscillatory electron motion (meandering + gyration) in the EDR. The time period is expressed as a hybrid of the meandering period and the gyro period. Due to the guide field, electrons not only oscillate along crescent-shaped trajectories in the velocity plane perpendicular to the antiparallel magnetic fields, but also move along parabolic trajectories in the velocity plane coplanar with magnetic field. The trajectory in the velocity space gradually shifts to the acceleration direction by the reconnection electric field as multiple bounces continue. Due to the guide field, electron distributions for meandering particles are bounded by two paraboloids (or hyperboloids) in the

The physical foundation of the reconnection electric field

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, M.; Liu, Y.-H.; Chen, L.-J.; Bessho, N.; Wang, S.; Burch, J. L.; Moretto, T.; Norgren, C.; Genestreti, K. J.; Phan, T. D.; Tenfjord, P.

2018-03-01

Magnetic reconnection is a key charged particle transport and energy conversion process in environments ranging from astrophysical systems to laboratory plasmas [Yamada et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 603-664 (2010)]. Magnetic reconnection facilitates plasma transport by establishing new connections of magnetic flux tubes, and it converts, often explosively, energy stored in the magnetic field to kinetic energy of charged particles [J. L. Burch and J. F. Drake, Am. Sci. 97, 392-299 (2009)]. The intensity of the magnetic reconnection process is measured by the reconnection electric field, which regulates the rate of flux tube connectivity changes. The change of magnetic connectivity occurs in the current layer of the diffusion zone, where the plasma transport is decoupled from the transport of magnetic flux. Here we report on computer simulations and analytic theory to provide a self-consistent understanding of the role of the reconnection electric field, which extends substantially beyond the simple change of magnetic connections. Rather, we find that the reconnection electric field is essential to maintain the current density in the diffusion region, which would otherwise be dissipated by a set of processes. Natural candidates for current dissipation are the average convection of current carriers away from the reconnection region by the outflow of accelerated particles, or the average rotation of the current density by the magnetic field reversal in the vicinity. Instead, we show here that the current dissipation is the result of thermal effects, underlying the statistical interaction of current-carrying particles with the adjacent magnetic field. We find that this interaction serves to redirect the directed acceleration of the reconnection electric field to thermal motion. This thermalization manifests itself in form of quasi-viscous terms in the thermal energy balance of the current layer. This collisionless viscosity, found in the pressure evolution equation

Solar wind energy and electric field transfer to the Earth's magnetosphere VIA magnetopause reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, W.D.; Gonzalez, A.L.C.

1981-01-01

Some general expressions for the convection and parallel electric fields as well as for the energy transfer, due to magnetopause reconnection, are derived using a nose-reconnection model that takes into account the presence of the clefts. For the case of equal geomagnetic and magnetosheath field amplitudes, the expression for the power dissipated by the convection electric field reduces to the substorm parameter e widely discussed in the recent literature. This result suggests that magnetopause reconnection is defined at the nose with a tilted reconnection line, but that the convection electric field is related only to the dawn-dusk component of the reconnection electric field, as defined at high latitudes

Current-Sheet Formation and Reconnection at a Magnetic X Line in Particle-in-Cell Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Black, C.; Antiochos, S. K.; Hesse, M.; Karpen, J. T.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Zenitani, S.

2011-01-01

The integration of kinetic effects into macroscopic numerical models is currently of great interest to the heliophysics community, particularly in the context of magnetic reconnection. Reconnection governs the large-scale energy release and topological rearrangement of magnetic fields in a wide variety of laboratory, heliophysical, and astrophysical systems. We are examining the formation and reconnection of current sheets in a simple, two-dimensional X-line configuration using high-resolution particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The initial minimum-energy, potential magnetic field is perturbed by excess thermal pressure introduced into the particle distribution function far from the X line. Subsequently, the relaxation of this added stress leads self-consistently to the development of a current sheet that reconnects for imposed stress of sufficient strength. We compare the time-dependent evolution and final state of our PIC simulations with macroscopic magnetohydrodynamic simulations assuming both uniform and localized electrical resistivities (C. R. DeVore et al., this meeting), as well as with force-free magnetic-field equilibria in which the amount of reconnection across the X line can be constrained to be zero (ideal evolution) or optimal (minimum final magnetic energy). We will discuss implications of our results for understanding magnetic-reconnection onset and cessation at kinetic scales in dynamically formed current sheets, such as those occurring in the solar corona and terrestrial magnetotail.

Shift of the Magnetopause Reconnection Line to the Winter Hemisphere Under Southward IMF Conditions: Geotail and MMS Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kitamura, N.; Hasegawa, H.; Saito, Y.; Shinohara, I.; Yokota, S.; Nagai, T.; Pollock, C. J.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Dorelli, J. C.;

Spreading Speed of Magnetopause Reconnection X-Lines Using Ground-Satellite Coordination

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Ying; Walsh, Brian M.; Nishimura, Yukitoshi; Angelopoulos, Vassilis; Ruohoniemi, J. Michael; McWilliams, Kathryn A.; Nishitani, Nozomu

2018-01-01

Conceptual and numerical models predict that magnetic reconnection starts at a localized region and then spreads out of the reconnection plane. At the Earth's magnetopause this spreading would occur primarily in local time along the boundary. Different simulations have found the spreading to occur at different speeds such as the Alfvén speed and speed of the current carriers. We use conjugate Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft and Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar measurements to observationally determine the X-line spreading speed at the magnetopause. THEMIS probes the reconnection parameters locally, and SuperDARN tracks the reconnection development remotely. Spreading speeds under different magnetopause boundary conditions are obtained and compared with model predictions. We find that while spreading under weak guide field could be explained by either the current carriers or the Alfvén waves, spreading under strong guide field is consistent only with the current carriers.

General connected and reconnected fields in plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Mahajan, Swadesh M.; Asenjo, Felipe A.

2018-02-01

For plasma dynamics, more encompassing than the magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) approximation, the foundational concepts of "magnetic reconnection" may require deep revisions because, in the larger dynamics, magnetic field is no longer connected to the fluid lines; it is replaced by more general fields (one for each plasma specie) that are weighted combination of the electromagnetic and the thermal-vortical fields. We study the two-fluid plasma dynamics plasma expressed in two different sets of variables: the two-fluid (2F) description in terms of individual fluid velocities, and the one-fluid (1F) variables comprising the plasma bulk motion and plasma current. In the 2F description, a Connection Theorem is readily established; we show that, for each specie, there exists a Generalized (Magnetofluid/Electro-Vortic) field that is frozen-in the fluid and consequently remains, forever, connected to the flow. This field is an expression of the unification of the electromagnetic, and fluid forces (kinematic and thermal) for each specie. Since the magnetic field, by itself, is not connected in the first place, its reconnection is never forbidden and does not require any external agency (like resistivity). In fact, a magnetic field reconnection (local destruction) must be interpreted simply as a consequence of the preservation of the dynamical structure of the unified field. In the 1F plasma description, however, it is shown that there is no exact physically meaningful Connection Theorem; a general and exact field does not exist, which remains connected to the bulk plasma flow. It is also shown that the helicity conservation and the existence of a Connected field follow from the same dynamical structure; the dynamics must be expressible as an ideal Ohm's law with a physical velocity. This new perspective, emerging from the analysis of the post MHD physics, must force us to reexamine the meaning as well as our understanding of magnetic reconnection.

Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Song; Huang, Shiyong; Zhou, Meng; Ni, Binbin; Deng, Xiaohua

2018-03-01

It has been shown that the guide field substantially modifies the structure of the reconnection layer. For instance, the Hall magnetic and electric fields are distorted in guide field reconnection compared to reconnection without guide fields (i.e., anti-parallel reconnection). In this paper, we performed 2.5-D electromagnetic full particle simulation to study the electric field structures in magnetic reconnection under different initial guide fields (Bg). Once the amplitude of a guide field exceeds 0.3 times the asymptotic magnetic field B0, the traditional bipolar Hall electric field is clearly replaced by a tripolar electric field, which consists of a newly emerged electric field and the bipolar Hall electric field. The newly emerged electric field is a convective electric field about one ion inertial length away from the neutral sheet. It arises from the disappearance of the Hall electric field due to the substantial modification of the magnetic field and electric current by the imposed guide field. The peak magnitude of this new electric field increases linearly with the increment of guide field strength. Possible applications of these results to space observations are also discussed.

Tripolar electric field Structure in guide field magnetic reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Fu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available It has been shown that the guide field substantially modifies the structure of the reconnection layer. For instance, the Hall magnetic and electric fields are distorted in guide field reconnection compared to reconnection without guide fields (i.e., anti-parallel reconnection. In this paper, we performed 2.5-D electromagnetic full particle simulation to study the electric field structures in magnetic reconnection under different initial guide fields (Bg. Once the amplitude of a guide field exceeds 0.3 times the asymptotic magnetic field B0, the traditional bipolar Hall electric field is clearly replaced by a tripolar electric field, which consists of a newly emerged electric field and the bipolar Hall electric field. The newly emerged electric field is a convective electric field about one ion inertial length away from the neutral sheet. It arises from the disappearance of the Hall electric field due to the substantial modification of the magnetic field and electric current by the imposed guide field. The peak magnitude of this new electric field increases linearly with the increment of guide field strength. Possible applications of these results to space observations are also discussed.

The location and rate of dayside reconnection during an interval of southward interplanetary magnetic field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pinnock

2003-07-01

Full Text Available Using ionospheric data from the SuperDARN radar network and a DMSP satellite we obtain a comprehensive description of the spatial and temporal pattern of day-side reconnection. During a period of southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF, the data are used to determine the location of the ionospheric projection of the dayside magnetopause reconnection X-line. From the flow of plasma across the projected X-line, we derive the reconnection rate across 7 h of longitude and estimate it for the total length of the X-line footprint, which was found to be 10 h of longitude. Using the Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model, the ionospheric data are mapped to the magnetopause, in order to provide an estimate of the extent of the reconnection X-line. This is found to be ~ 38 RE in extent, spanning the whole dayside magnetopause from dawn to dusk flank. Our results are compared with previously reported encounters by the Equator-S and Geotail spacecraft with a reconnecting magnetopause, near the dawn flank, for the same period. The SuperDARN observations allow the satellite data to be set in the context of the whole magnetopause reconnection X-line. The total potential associated with dayside reconnection was ~ 150 kV. The reconnection signatures detected by the Equator-S satellite mapped to a region in the ionosphere showing continuous flow across the polar cap boundary, but the reconnection rate was variable and showed a clear spatial variation, with a distinct minimum at 14:00 magnetic local time which was present throughout the 30-min study period.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; magnetosphere-ionoshere interactions – Space plasma physics (magnetic reconnection

Different FTE signatures generated by the bursty single X line reconnection and the multiple X line reconnection at the dayside magnetopause

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, D.Q.; Lee, L.C.; Ma, Z.W.

1991-01-01

Magnetic signatures associated with the time-dependent magnetic reconnection processes at the dayside magnetopause are studied based on two-dimensional compressible MHD simulations. In the simulations, magnetic and plasma signatures resemblant to the observed flux transfer events (FTEs) can be generated either by the magnetic bulges formed during the bursty single X line reconnection (BSXR) or by the magnetic islands (flux tubes) formed during the multiple X line reconnection (MXR). It is found that the FTE magnetic signatures are not exhibited on the magnetospheric side if the FTEs are due to the BSXR process and B m /B s ≥ 1.7, where B m and B s are the magnetic field strength in the magnetosheath and in the magnetosphere, respectively. On the other hand, the bipolar FTE signatures can be detected on both the magnetosphere and magnetosheath sides if the FTEs are caused by the MXR process and B m /B s ≤ 2.6. When B m /B s > 2.6, the bipolar FTE signatures in the magnetosphere site become too small to be detected even if magnetic islands are formed during the MXR process. Futhermore, for B m /B s > 1, the region for the detection of FTE signatures in the magnetospheric side is smaller than that in the magnetosheath side. Since at the dayside magnetopause the typical value of B m /B s is 1-3, the simulation results indicate that more FTE signatures can be detected in the magnetosheath side than in the magnetosphere. It is also found that the MXR process often generates a clear bipolar B n signature while the BSXR process tends to produce FTEs with a monopolar B n signature near the reconnection region and a highly asymmetric bipolar B n signature away from the reconnection region

Resistive instabilities and field line reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, R.B.

1980-05-01

A review is given of the linear theory of reconnection for a plane current layer. The three basic modes are the Rippling Mode, the Gravitational Interchange Mode, and the Tearing Mode. A derivation is given of the magnetic field energy which provides the driving force for the tearing mode. The necessary concepts for the analysis of tearing modes in cylindrical geometry are introduced. The equations governing tearing mode evolution in a tokamak are expanded to lowest order in the inverse aspect ratio. The tearing mode in a toroidal device is closely related to the ideal magnetohydrodynamic kink mode, and this relationship is stressed in the derivations of the linear growth rates for modes with poloidal model number m > 2 and for the quite different m = 1 mode. The nonlinear theory of tearing mode development and the implications of this theory for the understanding of toroidal magnetic confinement devices is reviewed

MMS Observations of Large Guide Field Symmetric Reconnection Between Colliding Reconnection Jets at the Center of a Magnetic Flux Rope at the Magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

Oieroset, M.; Phan, T. D.; Haggerty, C.; Shay, M. A.; Eastwood, J. P.; Gershman, D. J.; Drake, J. F.; Fujimoto, M.; Ergun, R. E.; Mozer, F. S.;

Magnetic reconnection in nontoroidal plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boozer, Allen H.

2005-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a major issue in solar and astrophysical plasmas. The mathematical result that the evolution of a magnetic field with only point nulls is always locally ideal limits the nature of reconnection in nontoroidal plasmas. Here it is shown that the exponentially increasing separation of neighboring magnetic field lines, which is generic, tends to produce rapid magnetic reconnection if the length of the field lines is greater than about 20 times the exponentiation, or Lyapunov, length

Remote Sensing of the Reconnection Electric Field From In Situ Multipoint Observations of the Separatrix Boundary

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, T. K. M.; Nakamura, R.; Varsani, A.; Genestreti, K. J.; Baumjohann, W.; Liu, Y.-H.

2018-05-01

A remote sensing technique to infer the local reconnection electric field based on in situ multipoint spacecraft observation at the reconnection separatrix is proposed. In this technique, the increment of the reconnected magnetic flux is estimated by integrating the in-plane magnetic field during the sequential observation of the separatrix boundary by multipoint measurements. We tested this technique by applying it to virtual observations in a two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation of magnetic reconnection without a guide field and confirmed that the estimated reconnection electric field indeed agrees well with the exact value computed at the X-line. We then applied this technique to an event observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission when crossing an energetic plasma sheet boundary layer during an intense substorm. The estimated reconnection electric field for this event is nearly 1 order of magnitude higher than a typical value of magnetotail reconnection.

The response of the day side magnetosphere--ionosphere system to time-varying field line reconnection at the magnetopause. II. Erosion event of March 27, 1968

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reid, G.C.; Holzer, T.E.

1975-01-01

The circuit analogy for the response of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere system to changes in day side field line reconnection rate is applied to real conditions and is used to calculate the expected variation in magnetopause position during the erosion event described by Aubry et al. (1970). Generally good agreement between observation and theory is found. The role of the dawn-dusk electric field responsible for magnetospheric convection is examined in some detail and is treated in the circuit analogy as the field due to an external generator connected across the circuit. It is found that the erosion process requires two distinct time constants for a proper description: (1) the time needed for magnetosheath plamsa to travel down the freshly reconnected field lines to the ionosphere and (2) roughly, the time required for the foot of a reconnected field line to travel one quarter of the total noon-midnight dimension of the polar cap. The second time constant is the dominant one and is not related to the ionospheric conductivity, as has been suggested previously. Examination of high-latitude magnetograms obtained during the erosion event discussed shows that the electric field oscillations predicted by the theory and observed by the spacecraft in terms of oscillations in the magnetopause position are also reflected in osci []lations in ionospheric current flow

Spatial Evolution of Electrostatic Solitary Waves along Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer Adjacent to the Magnetic Reconnection X-Line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Shi-You; Zhang Shi-Feng; Cai Hong; Deng Xiao-Hua

2012-01-01

Analysis on the spatial structure of electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) along the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) near an on-going magnetic reconnection X-line is performed. Most of the ESWs in the PSBL of R3 region near reconnection X-line are propagating earthwards away from the reconnecting site. An analysis of their spatial structure shows that, when ESWs propagate along the ambient field in the PSBL, outwards from the magnetic reconnection X-line, their amplitude will finally attenuate and thus the electron hole will fade away but their spatial scale remains unchanged. However, the spatial structure of propagating ESWs evolves from 1-D-like to 2-D-like though totally in a 1-D structure. (geophysics, astronomy, and astrophysics)

Relativistic reconnection in near critical Schwinger field

Science.gov (United States)

Schoeffler, Kevin; Grismayer, Thomas; Fonseca, Ricardo; Silva, Luis; Uzdensky, Dmitri

2017-10-01

Magnetic reconnection in relativistic pair plasma with QED radiation and pair-creation effects in the presence of strong magnetic fields is investigated using 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The simulations are performed with the QED module of the OSIRIS framework that includes photon emission by electrons and positrons and single photon decay into pairs (non-linear Breit-Wheeler). We investigate the effectiveness of reconnection as a pair- and gamma-ray production mechanism across a broad range of reconnecting magnetic fields, including those approaching the critical quantum (Schwinger) field, and we also explore how the radiative cooling and pair-production processes affect reconnection. We find that in the extreme field regime, the magnetic energy is mostly converted into radiation rather than into particle kinetic energy. This study is a first concrete step towards better understanding of magnetic reconnection as a possible mechanism powering gamma-ray flares in magnetar magnetospheres.

Reconnection at the earth's magnetopause - Magnetic field observations and flux transfer events

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, C. T.

1984-01-01

Theoretical models of plasma acceleration by magnetic-field-line reconnection at the earth magnetopause and the high-resolution three-dimensional plasma measurements obtained with the ISEE satellites are compared and illustrated with diagrams, graphs, drawings, and histograms. The history of reconnection theory and the results of early satellite observations are summarized; the thickness of the magnetopause current layer is discussed; problems in analyzing the polarization of current-layer rotation are considered; and the flux-transfer events responsible for periods of patchy reconnection are characterized in detail. The need for further observations and refinements of the theory to explain the initiation of reconnection and identify the mechanism determining whether it is patchy or steady-state is indicated.

Interchange Slip-Running Reconnection and Sweeping SEP-Beams

Science.gov (United States)

Masson, S.; Aulanier, G.; Pariat, E.; Klein, K.-L.

2011-01-01

We present a new model to explain how particles, accelerated at a reconnection site that is not magnetically connected to the Earth, could eventually propagate along the well-connected open flux tube. Our model is based on the results of a low-beta resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulation of a three-dimensional line-tied and initially current-free bipole, that is embedded in a non-uniform open potential field. The topology of this configuration is that of an asymmetric coronal null-point, with a closed fan surface and an open outer spine. When driven by slow photospheric shearing motions, field lines, initially fully anchored below the fan dome, reconnect at the null point, and jump to the open magnetic domain. This is the standard interchange mode as sketched and calculated in 2D. The key result in 3D is that, reconnected open field lines located in the vicinity of the outer spine, keep reconnecting continuously, across an open quasi-separatrix layer, as previously identified for non-open-null-point reconnection. The apparent slipping motion of these field lines leads to form an extended narrow magnetic flux tube at high altitude. Because of the slip-running reconnection, we conjecture that if energetic particles would be travelling through, or be accelerated inside, the diffusion region, they would be successively injected along continuously reconnecting field lines that are connected farther and farther from the spine. At the scale of the full Sun, owing to the super-radial expansion of field lines below 3 solar radius, such energetic particles could easily be injected in field lines slipping over significant distances, and could eventually reach the distant flux tube that is well-connected to the Earth.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL ASYMMETRIC RECONNECTION AND APPLICATION TO A PHYSICAL MECHANISM OF PENUMBRAL MICROJETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakamura, Naoki; Shibata, Kazunari; Isobe, Hiroaki

2012-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) component reconnection, where reconnecting field lines are not perfectly anti-parallel, is studied with a 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulation. In particular, we consider the asymmetry of the field strength of the reconnecting field lines. As the asymmetry increases, the generated reconnection jet tends to be parallel to stronger field lines. This is because weaker field lines have higher gas pressure in the initial equilibrium, and hence the gas pressure gradient along the reconnected field lines is generated, which accelerates the field-aligned plasma flow. This mechanism may explain penumbral microjets and other types of jets that are parallel to magnetic field lines.

MMS Observations of Electron-Scale Filamentary Currents in the Reconnection Exhaust and Near the X Line

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, T. D.; Eastwood, J. P.; Cassak, P. A.; Oieroset, M.; Gosling, J. T.; Gershman, D. J.; Mozer, F. S.; Shay, M. A.; Fujimoto, M.; Daughton, W.;

Driving reconnection in sheared magnetic configurations with forced fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Pongkitiwanichakul, Peera; Makwana, Kirit D.; Ruffolo, David

2018-02-01

We investigate reconnection of magnetic field lines in sheared magnetic field configurations due to fluctuations driven by random forcing by means of numerical simulations. The simulations are performed with an incompressible, pseudo-spectral magnetohydrodynamics code in 2D where we take thick, resistively decaying, current-sheet like sheared magnetic configurations which do not reconnect spontaneously. We describe and test the forcing that is introduced in the momentum equation to drive fluctuations. It is found that the forcing does not change the rate of decay; however, it adds and removes energy faster in the presence of the magnetic shear structure compared to when it has decayed away. We observe that such a forcing can induce magnetic reconnection due to field line wandering leading to the formation of magnetic islands and O-points. These reconnecting field lines spread out as the current sheet decays with time. A semi-empirical formula is derived which reasonably explains the formation and spread of O-points. We find that reconnection spreads faster with stronger forcing and longer correlation time of forcing, while the wavenumber of forcing does not have a significant effect. When the field line wandering becomes large enough, the neighboring current sheets with opposite polarity start interacting, and then the magnetic field is rapidly annihilated. This work is useful to understand how forced fluctuations can drive reconnection in large scale current structures in space and astrophysical plasmas that are not susceptible to reconnection.

Influence of a guide field on collisionless driven reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horiuchi, Ritoku; Usami, Shunsuke; Ohtani, Hiroaki

2014-01-01

The influence of a guide field on collisionless driven reconnection is investigated by means of two-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulation in an open system. In a quasi-steady state when reconnection electric field evolves fully, a current layer evolves locally in a narrow kinetic region and its scale decreases in proportion to an electron meandering scale as the guide field is intensified. Here, the meandering scale stands for an average spatial scale of nongyrotropic motions in the vicinity of the reconnection point. Force terms associated with off-diagonal components of electron and ion pressure tensors, which are originating from nongyrotropic motions of charged particles, becomes dominant at the reconnection point and sustain the reconnection electric field even when the guide field is strong. It is also found that thermalization of both ions and electrons is suppressed by the guide field. For the weak guide field, an electron nonthermal component is significantly created through a fast outburst from the kinetic region, while for the strong guide field, an ion nonthermal component is generated through the acceleration by an in-plane electric field near the magnetic separatrix. (author)

Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Kuznetsova, Masha [Heliophysics Science Division, Code 670, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (United States); Zenitani, Seiji [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo (Japan); Birn, Joachim [Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado 80301 (United States)

2013-06-15

Asymmetric reconnection is being investigated by means of particle-in-cell simulations. The research has two foci: the direction of the reconnection line in configurations with nonvanishing magnetic fields; and the question why reconnection can be faster if a guide field is added to an otherwise unchanged asymmetric configuration. We find that reconnection prefers a direction, which maximizes the available magnetic energy, and show that this direction coincides with the bisection of the angle between the asymptotic magnetic fields. Regarding the difference in reconnection rates between planar and guide field models, we demonstrate that a guide field can provide essential confinement for particles in the reconnection region, which the weaker magnetic field in one of the inflow directions cannot necessarily provide.

Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Kuznetsova, Masha; Zenitani, Seiji; Birn, Joachim

2013-01-01

Asymmetric reconnection is being investigated by means of particle-in-cell simulations. The research has two foci: the direction of the reconnection line in configurations with nonvanishing magnetic fields; and the question why reconnection can be faster if a guide field is added to an otherwise unchanged asymmetric configuration. We find that reconnection prefers a direction, which maximizes the available magnetic energy, and show that this direction coincides with the bisection of the angle between the asymptotic magnetic fields. Regarding the difference in reconnection rates between planar and guide field models, we demonstrate that a guide field can provide essential confinement for particles in the reconnection region, which the weaker magnetic field in one of the inflow directions cannot necessarily provide

Aspects of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection in Asymmetric Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Zeitani, Seiji; Kuznetsova, Masha; Birn, Joachim

2013-01-01

Asymmetric reconnection is being investigated by means of particle-in-cell simulations. The research has two foci: the direction of the reconnection line in configurations with non-vanishing magnetic fields; and the question why reconnection can be faster if a guide field is added to an otherwise unchanged asymmetric configuration. We find that reconnection prefers a direction, which maximizes the available magnetic energy, and show that this direction coincides with the bisection of the angle between the asymptotic magnetic fields. Regarding the difference in reconnection rates between planar and guide field models, we demonstrate that a guide field can provide essential confinement for particles in the reconnection region, which the weaker magnetic field in one of the inflow directions cannot necessarily provide.

Thick Escaping Magnetospheric Ion Layer in Magnetopause Reconnection with MMS Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Nagai, T.; Kitamura, N.; Hasagawa, H.; Shinohara, I.; Yokota, S.; Saito, Y.; Nakamura, R.; Giles, B. L.; Pollock, C.; Moore, T. E.;

Energization and Transport in 3D Kinetic Simulations of MMS Magnetopause Reconnection Site Encounters with Varying Guide Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Le, A.; Daughton, W. S.; Ohia, O.; Chen, L. J.; Liu, Y. H.

2017-12-01

We present 3D fully kinetic simulations of asymmetric reconnection with plasma parameters matching MMS magnetopause diffusion region crossings with varying guide fields of 0.1 [Burch et al., Science (2016)], 0.4 [Chen et al. JGR (2017)], and 1 [Burch and Phan, GRL (2016] of the reconnecting sheath field. Strong diamagnetic drifts across the magnetopause current sheet drive lower-hybrid drift instabilities (LHDI) over a range of wavelengths [Daughton, PoP (2003); Roytershteyn et al., PRL (2012)] that develop into a turbulent state. Magnetic field tracing diagnostics are employed to characterize the turbulent magnetic geometry and to evaluate the global reconnection rate. The contributions to Ohm's law are evaluated field line by field line, including time-averaged diagnostics that allow the quantification of anomalous resistivity and viscosity. We examine how fluctuating electric fields and chaotic magnetic field lines contribute to particle mixing across the separatrix, and we characterize the accelerated electron distributions that form under varying magnetic shear or guide field. The LHDI turbulence is found to strongly enhance transport and parallel electron heating in 3D compared to 2D, particularly along the magnetospheric separatrix [Le et al., GRL (2017)]. The PIC simulation results are compared to MMS observations.

Reconnection of magnetic lines in an ideal fluid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grad, H.

1978-04-01

The rate of reconnection of magnetic lines at an X-point, also growth of a ''tearing'' configuration have always been related to the presence of resistivity or other dissipative mechanisms. These phenomena, exhibiting nonconservation of magnetic line topology, are shown to occur in an ideal, nondissipative fluid, thereby violating beliefs, theorems, and calculations of over a century

Ulysses Observations of Tripolar Guide-Magnetic Field Perturbations Across Solar Wind Reconnection Exhausts

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, S.; Peng, B.; Markidis, S.; Gosling, J. T.; McComas, D. J.; Lapenta, G.; Newman, D. L.

2014-12-01

We report observations from 15 solar wind reconnection exhausts encountered along the Ulysses orbit beyond 4 AU in 1996-1999 and 2002-2005. The events, which lasted between 17 and 45 min, were found at heliospheric latitudes between -36o and 21o with one event detected as high as 58o. All events shared a common characteristic of a tripolar guide-magnetic field perturbation being detected across the observed exhausts. The signature consists of an enhanced guide field magnitude within the exhaust center and two regions of significantly depressed guide-fields adjacent to the center region. The events displayed magnetic field shear angles as low as 37o with a mean of 89o. This corresponds to a strong external guide field relative to the anti-parallel reconnecting component of the magnetic field with a mean ratio of 1.3 and a maximum ratio of 3.1. A 2-D kinetic reconnection simulation for realistic solar wind conditions reveals that tripolar guide fields form at current sheets in the presence of multiple X-lines as two magnetic islands interact with one another for such strong guide fields. The Ulysses observations are also compared with the results of a 3-D kinetic simulation of multiple flux ropes in a strong guide field.

Rapid reconnection of flux lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samain, A.

1982-01-01

The rapid reconnection of flux lines in an incompressible fluid through a singular layer of the current density is discussed. It is shown that the liberated magnetic energy must partially appear in the form of plasma kinetic energy. A laminar structure of the flow is possible, but Alfven velocity must be achieved in eddies of growing size at the ends of the layer. The gross structure of the flow and the magnetic configuration may be obtained from variational principles. (author)

Electron cyclotron maser instability (ECMI in strong magnetic guide field reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. A. Treumann

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The ECMI model of electromagnetic radiation from electron holes is shown to be applicable to spontaneous magnetic reconnection. We apply it to reconnection in strong current-aligned magnetic guide fields. Such guide fields participate only passively in reconnection, which occurs in the antiparallel components to both sides of the guide-field-aligned current sheets with current carried by kinetic Alfvén waves. Reconnection generates long (the order of hundreds of electron inertial scales electron exhaust regions at the reconnection site X point, which are extended perpendicular to the current and the guide fields. Exhausts contain a strongly density-depleted hot electron component and have properties similar to electron holes. Exhaust electron momentum space distributions are highly deformed, exhibiting steep gradients transverse to both the reconnecting and guide fields. Such properties suggest application of the ECMI mechanism with the fundamental ECMI X-mode emission beneath the nonrelativistic guide field cyclotron frequency in localized source regions. An outline of the mechanism and its prospects is given. Potential applications are the kilometric radiation (AKR in auroral physics, solar radio emissions during flares, planetary emissions and astrophysical scenarios (radiation from stars and compact objects involving the presence of strong magnetic fields and field-aligned currents. Drift of the exhausts along the guide field maps the local field and plasma properties. Escape of radiation from the exhaust and radiation source region still poses a problem. The mechanism can be studied in 2-D particle simulations of strong guide field reconnection which favours 2-D, mapping the deformation of the electron distribution perpendicular to the guide field, and using it in the numerical calculation of the ECMI growth rate. The mechanism suggests also that reconnection in general may become a source of the ECMI with or without guide fields. This is

Electron cyclotron maser instability (ECMI) in strong magnetic guide field reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Treumann, Rudolf A.; Baumjohann, Wolfgang

2017-08-01

The ECMI model of electromagnetic radiation from electron holes is shown to be applicable to spontaneous magnetic reconnection. We apply it to reconnection in strong current-aligned magnetic guide fields. Such guide fields participate only passively in reconnection, which occurs in the antiparallel components to both sides of the guide-field-aligned current sheets with current carried by kinetic Alfvén waves. Reconnection generates long (the order of hundreds of electron inertial scales) electron exhaust regions at the reconnection site X point, which are extended perpendicular to the current and the guide fields. Exhausts contain a strongly density-depleted hot electron component and have properties similar to electron holes. Exhaust electron momentum space distributions are highly deformed, exhibiting steep gradients transverse to both the reconnecting and guide fields. Such properties suggest application of the ECMI mechanism with the fundamental ECMI X-mode emission beneath the nonrelativistic guide field cyclotron frequency in localized source regions. An outline of the mechanism and its prospects is given. Potential applications are the kilometric radiation (AKR) in auroral physics, solar radio emissions during flares, planetary emissions and astrophysical scenarios (radiation from stars and compact objects) involving the presence of strong magnetic fields and field-aligned currents. Drift of the exhausts along the guide field maps the local field and plasma properties. Escape of radiation from the exhaust and radiation source region still poses a problem. The mechanism can be studied in 2-D particle simulations of strong guide field reconnection which favours 2-D, mapping the deformation of the electron distribution perpendicular to the guide field, and using it in the numerical calculation of the ECMI growth rate. The mechanism suggests also that reconnection in general may become a source of the ECMI with or without guide fields. This is of particular

Magnetic reconnection and self-organized plasma systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, Hantao

2000-01-01

In this paper the recent results from the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) at PPPL are discussed along with their relationship to observations from solar flares, the magnetosphere, and current carrying pinch discharges such as tokamaks, reversed field pinches, spheromaks and field reversed configurations. It is found that the reconnection speed decreases as the angle of merging field lines decreases, consistent with the well-established observation in the dayside magnetosphere. This observation can also provide a qualitative interpretation of a generally observed trend in pinch plasmas, namely that magnetic field diffuses (or reconnects) faster when magnetic shear is larger. A recently conceived research project, SPIRIT (Self-organized Plasma with Induction, Reconnection, and Injection Techniques), will also be discussed. (author)

Ion distributions in a two-dimensional reconnection field geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curran, D.B.; Goertz, C.K.; Whelan, T.A.

1987-01-01

ISEE observations have shown trapped ion distributions in the magnetosphere along with streaming ion distributions in the magnetosheath. The more energetic ion beams are found to exist further away from the magnetopause than lower-energy ion beams. In order to understand these properties of the data, we have taken a simple two-dimensional reconnection model which contains a neutral line and an azimuthal electric field and compared its predictions with the experimental data of September 8, 1978. Our model explains trapped particles in the magnetosphere due to nonadiabatic mirroring in the magnetosheath and streaming ions in the magnetosheath due to energization at the magnetopause. The model also shows the higher-energy ions extending further into the magnetosheath, away from the magnetopause than the lower-energy ions. This suggests the ion data of September 8, 1978 are consistent with a reconnection geometry. Copyright American Geophysical Union 1987

Dipolarization Fronts from Reconnection Onset

Science.gov (United States)

Sitnov, M. I.; Swisdak, M. M.; Merkin, V. G.; Buzulukova, N.; Moore, T. E.

2012-12-01

Dipolarization fronts observed in the magnetotail are often viewed as signatures of bursty magnetic reconnection. However, until recently spontaneous reconnection was considered to be fully prohibited in the magnetotail geometry because of the linear stability of the ion tearing mode. Recent theoretical studies showed that spontaneous reconnection could be possible in the magnetotail geometries with the accumulation of magnetic flux at the tailward end of the thin current sheet, a distinctive feature of the magnetotail prior to substorm onset. That result was confirmed by open-boundary full-particle simulations of 2D current sheet equilibria, where two magnetotails were separated by an equilibrium X-line and weak external electric field was imposed to nudge the system toward the instability threshold. To investigate the roles of the equilibrium X-line, driving electric field and other parameters in the reconnection onset process we performed a set of 2D PIC runs with different initial settings. The investigated parameter space includes the critical current sheet thickness, flux tube volume per unit magnetic flux and the north-south component of the magnetic field. Such an investigation is critically important for the implementation of kinetic reconnection onset criteria into global MHD codes. The results are compared with Geotail visualization of the magnetotail during substorms, as well as Cluster and THEMIS observations of dipolarization fronts.

Energy flux due to electromagnetic fluctuations during guide field magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuwahata, Akihiro; Inomoto, Michiaki; Ono, Yasushi; Yanai, Ryoma

2016-01-01

Large electromagnetic fluctuations inside the current sheet and large reconnection electric fields are observed during fast magnetic reconnection in the presence of a guide field. The fluctuations transport 2.5% of the dissipated magnetic energy from the reconnection region. Although the energy gains of the ions and electrons are approximately 60% and 12%, respectively, of the dissipated magnetic energy after the fast reconnection, the energy of fluctuations is not comparable to their energy gains. The fluctuations do not directly contribute to the energy conversion but might cause the fast reconnection leading to the rapid release of magnetic energy. (author)

Magnetic field reconnection at the dayside magnetopause

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rijnbeek, R.P.

1992-01-01

Magnetic field reconnection is a fundamental energy conversion process, and the energy liberated during this process gives rise to phenomena which can be observed in space and laboratory plasmas. At the dayside magnetopause reconnection results in a coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. Manifestations of this include large disturbances in the magnetic field known as flux transfer events, and accelerated plasma flows along the magnetopause. Progress has been made in the development of a physical model incorporating such phenomena, aided by experimental data from various spacecraft missions

Exploration of a possible cause of magnetic reconfiguration/reconnection due to generation, rather than annihilation, of magnetic field in a nun-uniform thin current sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y. C.; Lyu, L. H.

2014-12-01

Magnetic reconfiguration/reconnection plays an important role on energy and plasma transport in the space plasma. It is known that magnetic field lines on two sides of a tangential discontinuity can connect to each other only at a neutral point, where the strength of the magnetic field is equal to zero. Thus, the standard reconnection picture with magnetic field lines intersecting at the neutral point is not applicable to the component reconnection events observed at the magnetopause and in the solar corona. In our early study (Yu, Lyu, & Wu, 2011), we have shown that annihilation of magnetic field near a thin current sheet can lead to the formation of normal magnetic field component (normal to the current sheet) to break the frozen-in condition and to accelerate the reconnected plasma flux, even without the presence of a neutral point. In this study, we examine whether or not a generation, rather than annihilation, of magnetic field in a nun-uniform thin current sheet can also lead to reconnection of plasma flux. Our results indicate that a non-uniform enhancement of electric current can yield formation of field-aligned currents. The normal-component magnetic field generated by the field-aligned currents can yield reconnection of plasma flux just outside the current-enhancement region. The particle motion that can lead to non-uniform enhancement of electric currents will be discussed.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Satellites Observations of Parallel Electric Fields Associated with Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Ergun, R. E.; Goodrich, K. A.; Wilder, F. D.; Holmes, J. C.; Stawarz, J. E.; Eriksson, S.; Sturner, A. P.; Malaspina, D. M.; Usanova, M. E.; Torbert, R. B.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Burch, J. L.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Pollock, C. J.; Giles, B. L.; Hesse, M.; Chen, L. J.; Lapenta, G.; Goldman, M. V.; Newman, D. L.; Schwartz, S. J.; Eastwood, J. P.; Phan, T. D.; Mozer, F. S.; Drake, J.; Shay, M. A.; Cassak, P. A.; Nakamura, R.; Marklund, G.

2016-06-01

We report observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites of parallel electric fields (E∥ ) associated with magnetic reconnection in the subsolar region of the Earth's magnetopause. E∥ events near the electron diffusion region have amplitudes on the order of 100 mV /m , which are significantly larger than those predicted for an antiparallel reconnection electric field. This Letter addresses specific types of E∥ events, which appear as large-amplitude, near unipolar spikes that are associated with tangled, reconnected magnetic fields. These E∥ events are primarily in or near a current layer near the separatrix and are interpreted to be double layers that may be responsible for secondary reconnection in tangled magnetic fields or flux ropes. These results are telling of the three-dimensional nature of magnetopause reconnection and indicate that magnetopause reconnection may be often patchy and/or drive turbulence along the separatrix that results in flux ropes and/or tangled magnetic fields.

Self-reinforcing process of the reconnection electric field in the electron diffusion region and onset of collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Quanming; Lu San; Huang Can; Wu Mingyu; Wang Shui

2013-01-01

The onset of collisionless magnetic reconnection is considered to be controlled by electron dynamics in the electron diffusion region, where the reconnection electric field is balanced mainly by the off-diagonal electron pressure tensor term. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are employed in this paper to investigate the self-reinforcing process of the reconnection electric field in the electron diffusion region, which is found to grow exponentially. A theoretical model is proposed to demonstrate such a process in the electron diffusion region. In addition the reconnection electric field in the pileup region, which is balanced mainly by the electromotive force term, is also found to grow exponentially and its growth rate is twice that in the electron diffusion region. (paper)

Why fast magnetic reconnection is so prevalent

Science.gov (United States)

Boozer, Allen H.

2018-02-01

Evolving magnetic fields are shown to generically reach a state of fast magnetic reconnection in which magnetic field line connections change and magnetic energy is released at an Alfvénic rate. This occurs even in plasmas with zero resistivity; only the finiteness of the mass of the lightest charged particle, an electron, is required. The speed and prevalence of Alfvénic or fast magnetic reconnection imply that its cause must be contained within the ideal evolution equation for magnetic fields, , where is the velocity of the magnetic field lines. For a generic , neighbouring magnetic field lines develop a separation that increases exponentially, as \\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E(\\ell ,t)}$ with the distance along a line. This exponentially enhances the sensitivity of the evolution to non-ideal effects. An analogous effect, the importance of stirring to produce a large-scale flow and enhance mixing, has been recognized by cooks through many millennia, but the importance of the large-scale flow to reconnection is customarily ignored. In part this is due to the sixty-year focus of recognition theory on two-coordinate models, which eliminate the exponential enhancement that is generic with three coordinates. A simple three-coordinate model is developed, which could be used to address many unanswered questions.

Nonlinear response of a neoclassical four-field magnetic reconnection model to localized current drive

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazzaro, E.; Comisso, L.; Valdettaro, L.

2010-01-01

In tokamaks magnetic islands arise from an unstable process of tearing and reconnecting of helical field lines across rational surfaces. After a linear stage the magnetic instability develops through three characteristic nonlinear stages where increasingly complex topological alterations occur in the form of the magnetic islands. The problem of response of reconnection process to the injection of an external current suitably localized is addressed using a four-field model in a plane slab plasma, with a novel extension to account consistently of the relevant neoclassical effects, such as bootstrap current and pressure anisotropy. The results found have implications on the interpretation of the possible mechanism of present day experimental results on neoclassical tearing modes as well as on the concepts for their control or avoidance.

Dynamics of a reconnection-driven runaway ion tail in a reversed field pinch plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson, J. K., E-mail: jkanders@wisc.edu; Kim, J.; Bonofiglo, P. J.; Capecchi, W.; Eilerman, S.; Nornberg, M. D.; Sarff, J. S.; Sears, S. H. [Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

2016-05-15

While reconnection-driven ion heating is common in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, the underlying mechanisms for converting magnetic to kinetic energy remain not fully understood. Reversed field pinch discharges are often characterized by rapid ion heating during impulsive reconnection, generating an ion distribution with an enhanced bulk temperature, mainly perpendicular to magnetic field. In the Madison Symmetric Torus, a subset of discharges with the strongest reconnection events develop a very anisotropic, high energy tail parallel to magnetic field in addition to bulk perpendicular heating, which produces a fusion neutron flux orders of magnitude higher than that expected from a Maxwellian distribution. Here, we demonstrate that two factors in addition to a perpendicular bulk heating mechanism must be considered to explain this distribution. First, ion runaway can occur in the strong parallel-to-B electric field induced by a rapid equilibrium change triggered by reconnection-based relaxation; this effect is particularly strong on perpendicularly heated ions which experience a reduced frictional drag relative to bulk ions. Second, the confinement of ions varies dramatically as a function of velocity. Whereas thermal ions are governed by stochastic diffusion along tearing-altered field lines (and radial diffusion increases with parallel speed), sufficiently energetic ions are well confined, only weakly affected by a stochastic magnetic field. High energy ions traveling mainly in the direction of toroidal plasma current are nearly classically confined, while counter-propagating ions experience an intermediate confinement, greater than that of thermal ions but significantly less than classical expectations. The details of ion confinement tend to reinforce the asymmetric drive of the parallel electric field, resulting in a very asymmetric, anisotropic distribution.

Magnetic field, reconnection, and particle acceleration in extragalactic jets

Science.gov (United States)

Romanova, M. M.; Lovelace, R. V. E.

1992-01-01

Extra-galactic radio jets are investigated theoretically taking into account that the jet magnetic field is dragged out from the central rotating source by the jet flow. Thus, magnetohydrodynamic models of jets are considered with zero net poloidal current and flux, and consequently a predominantly toroidal magnetic field. The magnetic field naturally has a cylindrical neutral layer. Collisionless reconnection of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the neutral layer acts to generate a non-axisymmetric radial magnetic field. In turn, axial shear-stretching of reconnected toroidal field gives rise to a significant axial magnetic field if the flow energy-density is larger than the energy-density of the magnetic field. This can lead to jets with an apparent longitudinal magnetic field as observed in the Fanaroff-Riley class II jets. In the opposite limit, where the field energy-density is large, the field remains mainly toroidal as observed in Fanaroff-Riley class I jets. Driven collisionless reconnection at neutral layers may lead to acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies in the weak electrostatic field of the neutral layer. A simple model is discussed for particle acceleration at neutral layers in electron/positron and electron/proton plasmas.

The auroral and ionospheric flow signatures of dual lobe reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Imber

2006-11-01

Full Text Available We present the first substantial evidence for the occurrence of dual lobe reconnection from ionospheric flows and auroral signatures. The process of dual lobe reconnection refers to an interplanetary magnetic field line reconnecting with lobe field lines in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Two bursts of sunward plasma flow across the noon portion of the open/closed field line boundary (OCB, indicating magnetic flux closure at the dayside, were observed in SuperDARN radar data during a period of strongly northward IMF. The OCB is identified from spacecraft, radar backscatter, and auroral observations. In order for dual lobe reconnection to take place, we estimate that the interplanetary magnetic field clock angle must be within ±10° of zero (North. The total flux crossing the OCB during each burst is small (1.8% and 0.6% of the flux contained within the polar cap for the two flows. A brightening of the noon portion of the northern auroral oval was observed as the clock angle passed through zero, and is thought to be due to enhanced precipitating particle fluxes due to the occurrence of reconnection at two locations along the field line. The number of solar wind protons captured by the flux closure process was estimated to be ~2.5×1030 (4 tonnes by mass, sufficient to populate the cold, dense plasma sheet observed following this interval.

Cluster observations of continuous reconnection at the magnetopause under steady interplanetary magnetic field conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. D. Phan

2004-07-01

Full Text Available On 26 January 2001, the Cluster spacecraft detected high-speed plasma jets at multiple crossings of the high-latitude duskside magnetopause (MP and boundary layer (BL over a period of more than 2h. The 4 spacecraft combined spent more than half of this time in the MP/BL and jets were observed whenever a spacecraft was in the MP. These observations were made under steady southward and dawnward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF conditions. The magnetic shear across the local MP was ~100° and β~1 in the adjacent magnetosheath. The jet velocity is in remarkable agreement with reconnection prediction throughout the entire interval, except for one crossing that had no ion measurements inside the current layer. The flow speed measured in the deHoffmann Teller frame is 90% of the Alfvén speed on average for the 10 complete MP current layer crossings that are resolved by the ion measurements. These findings strongly suggest that reconnection was continuously active for more than two hours. The jets were directed persistently in the same northward and anti-sunward direction, implying that the X-line was always below the spacecraft. This feature is inconsistent with patchy and random reconnection or convecting multiple X-lines. The majority of MP/BL crossings in this two-hour interval were partial crossings, implying that they are caused by bulges sliding along the MP, not by inward-outward motion of a uniformly thin MP/BL. The presence of the bulges suggests that, although reconnection is continuously active under steady IMF conditions, its rate may be modulated. The present investigation also reveals that (1 the predicted ion D-shaped distributions are absent in all reconnection jets on this day, (2 the electric field fluctuations are larger in the reconnecting MP than in the magnetosheath proper, but their amplitudes never exceed 20mV/m, (3 the ion-electron differential motion is ~20km/s for the observed MP current density of ~50nA/m2 (∇× B, thus

The effect of guide-field and boundary conditions on collisionless magnetic reconnection in a stressed X-point collapse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Graf von der Pahlen, J.; Tsiklauri, D. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom)

2014-01-15

Works of Tsiklauri and Haruki [Phys. Plasmas 15, 102902 (2008); 14, 112905 (2007)] are extended by inclusion of the out-of-plane magnetic (guide) field. In particular, magnetic reconnection during collisionless, stressed X-point collapse for varying out-of-plane guide-fields is studied using a kinetic, 2.5D, fully electromagnetic, relativistic particle-in-cell numerical code. For zero guide-field, cases for both open and closed boundary conditions are investigated, where magnetic flux and particles are lost and conserved, respectively. It is found that reconnection rates, out-of-plane currents and density in the X-point increase more rapidly and peak sooner in the closed boundary case, but higher values are reached in the open boundary case. The normalized reconnection rate is fast: 0.10-0.25. In the open boundary case it is shown that an increase of guide-field yields later onsets in the reconnection peak rates, while in the closed boundary case initial peak rates occur sooner but are suppressed. The reconnection current changes similarly with increasing guide-field; however for low guide-fields the reconnection current increases, giving an optimal value for the guide-field between 0.1 and 0.2 times the in-plane field in both cases. Also, in the open boundary case, it is found that for guide-fields of the order of the in-plane magnetic field, the generation of electron vortices occurs. Possible causes of the vortex generation, based on the flow of decoupled particles in the diffusion region and localized plasma heating, are discussed. Before peak reconnection onset, oscillations in the out-of-plane electric field at the X-point are found, ranging in frequency from approximately 1 to 2 ω{sub pe} and coinciding with oscillatory reconnection. These oscillations are found to be part of a larger wave pattern in the simulation domain. Mapping the out-of-plane electric field along the central lines of the domain over time and applying a 2D Fourier transform reveal that

ON THE NATURE OF RECONNECTION AT A SOLAR CORONAL NULL POINT ABOVE A SEPARATRIX DOME

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pontin, D. I.; Priest, E. R.; Galsgaard, K.

2013-01-01

Three-dimensional magnetic null points are ubiquitous in the solar corona and in any generic mixed-polarity magnetic field. We consider magnetic reconnection at an isolated coronal null point whose fan field lines form a dome structure. Using analytical and computational models, we demonstrate several features of spine-fan reconnection at such a null, including the fact that substantial magnetic flux transfer from one region of field line connectivity to another can occur. The flux transfer occurs across the current sheet that forms around the null point during spine-fan reconnection, and there is no separator present. Also, flipping of magnetic field lines takes place in a manner similar to that observed in the quasi-separatrix layer or slip-running reconnection

MMS observations of guide field reconnection at the interface between colliding reconnection jets inside flux rope-like structures at the magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

Oieroset, M.; Phan, T.; Haggerty, C. C.; Shay, M.; Eastwood, J. P.; Gershman, D. J.; Drake, J. F.; Fujimoto, M.; Ergun, R.; Mozer, F.; Oka, M.; Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.; Wang, S.; Chen, L. J.; Swisdak, M.; Pollock, C. J.; Dorelli, J.; Fuselier, S. A.; Lavraud, B.; Kacem, I.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Saito, Y.; Avanov, L. A.; Paterson, W. R.; Strangeway, R. J.; Schwartz, S. J.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Malakit, K.

2017-12-01

The formation and evolution of magnetic flux ropes is of critical importance for a number of collisionless plasma phenomena. At the dayside magnetopause flux rope-like structures can form between two X-lines. The two X-lines produce converging plasma jets. At the interface between the colliding jets a compressed current sheet can form, which in turn can undergo reconnection. We present MMS observations of the exhaust and diffusion region of such reconnection.

Total magnetic reconnection during a tokamak major disruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goetz, J.A.

1990-09-01

Magnetic reconnection has long been considered to be the cause of sawtooth oscillations and major disruptions in tokamak experiments. Experimental confirmation of reconnection models has been hampered by the difficulty of direct measurement of reconnection, which would involve tracing field lines for many transits around the tokamak. Perhaps the most stringent test of reconnection in a tokamak involves measurement of the safety factor q. Reconnection arising from a single helical disturbance with mode numbers m and n should raise q to m/n everywhere inside of the original resonant surface. Total reconnection should also flatten the temperature and current density profiles inside of this surface. Disruptive instabilities have been studied in the Tokapole 2, a poloidal divertor tokamak. When Tokapole 2 is operated in the material limiter configuration, a major disruption results in current termination as in most tokamaks. However, when operated in the magnetic limiter configuration current termination is suppressed and major disruptions appear as giant sawtooth oscillations. The objective of this thesis is to determine if total reconnection is occurring during major disruptions. To accomplish this goal, the poloidal magnetic field has been directly measured in Tokapole 2 with internal magnetic coils. A full two-dimensional measurement over the central current channel has been done. From these measurements, the poloidal magnetic flux function is obtained and the magnetic surfaces are plotted. The flux-surface-averaged safety factor is obtained by integrating the local magnetic field line pitch over the experimentally obtained magnetic surface

Fire Hose Instability in the Multiple Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Alexandrova, A.; Retino, A.; Divin, A. V.; Le Contel, O.; Matteini, L.; Breuillard, H.; Deca, J.; Catapano, F.; Cozzani, G.; Nakamura, R.; Panov, E. V.; Voros, Z.

2017-12-01

We present observations of multiple reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. In particular, we observe an ion temperature anisotropy characterized by large temperature along the magnetic field, between the two active X-lines. The anisotropy is associated with right-hand polarized waves at frequencies lower than the ion cyclotron frequency and propagating obliquely to the background magnetic field. We show that the observed anisotropy and the wave properties are consistent with linear kinetic theory of fire hose instability. The observations are in agreement with the particle-in-cell simulations of multiple reconnection. The results suggest that the fire hose instability can develop during multiple reconnection as a consequence of the ion parallel anisotropy that is produced by counter-streaming ions trapped between the X-lines.

An Electromagnetic Drift Instability in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) and its Importance for Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell Kulsrud; Hantao Ji; Will Fox; Masaaki Yamada

2005-01-01

The role which resistivity plays in breaking magnetic field lines, heating the plasma, and plasma field slippage during magnetic reconnection is discussed. Magnetic fluctuations are observed in the MRX (Magnetic Reconnection Experiment) that are believed to provide resistive friction or wave resistivity. A localized linear theory has been proposed for their origin as an obliquely propagating Lower Hybrid Drift Instability. In this paper, the linear theory of the instability is summarized, and the resulting heating and slippage are calculated from quasi-linear theory. Making use of measured amplitudes of the magnetic fluctuations in the MRX the amount of these effects is estimated. Within the experimental uncertainties they are shown to be quite important for the magnetic reconnection process

Toward laboratory torsional spine magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Chesny, David L.; Orange, N. Brice; Oluseyi, Hakeem M.; Valletta, David R.

2017-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental energy conversion mechanism in nature. Major attempts to study this process in controlled settings on Earth have largely been limited to reproducing approximately two-dimensional (2-D) reconnection dynamics. Other experiments describing reconnection near three-dimensional null points are non-driven, and do not induce any of the 3-D modes of spine fan, torsional fan or torsional spine reconnection. In order to study these important 3-D modes observed in astrophysical plasmas (e.g. the solar atmosphere), laboratory set-ups must be designed to induce driven reconnection about an isolated magnetic null point. As such, we consider the limited range of fundamental resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic parameters of dynamic laboratory plasmas that are necessary to induce the torsional spine reconnection (TSR) mode characterized by a driven rotational slippage of field lines - a feature that has yet to be achieved in operational laboratory magnetic reconnection experiments. Leveraging existing reconnection models, we show that within a 3$ apparatus, TSR can be achieved in dense plasma regimes ( 24~\\text{m}-3$ ) in magnetic fields of -1~\\text{T}$ . We find that MHD and kinetic parameters predict reconnection in thin current sheets on time scales of . While these plasma regimes may not explicitly replicate the plasma parameters of observed astrophysical phenomena, studying the dynamics of the TSR mode within achievable set-ups signifies an important step in understanding the fundamentals of driven 3-D magnetic reconnection and the self-organization of current sheets. Explicit control of this reconnection mode may have implications for understanding particle acceleration in astrophysical environments, and may even have practical applications to fields such as spacecraft propulsion.

From vortex reconnections to quantum turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lipniacki, T.

2001-01-01

An alternative approach to quantum turbulence is proposed in order to derive the evolution equation for vortex line-length density. Special attention is paid to reconnections of vortex lines. The summed line-length change ΔS of two vortex lines resulting from the reconnection (in the presence of counterflow V ns ) can be approximated in the form: δS=-at 1/2 +bV ns 2 t 3/2 , with a>0, b≥0, at least until δS≤0. For steady-state turbulence, the average line-length change left angle ΔS right angle between reconnections has to be zero. If, for a given value of the counterflow, the line density is smaller than the equilibrium one, the reconnections occur less frequently and left angle ΔS right angle becomes positive and the line density grows until the equilibrium is restored. When the line-density is too large, the reconnections are more frequent, the lines shorten between reconnections and the line density gets smaller. The time derivative of the total line density is proportional to the reconnection frequency multiplied by the average line-length change due to a single reconnection. The evolution equation obtained in the proposed approach resembles the alternative Vinen equation. (orig.)

Inertial-Range Reconnection in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence and in the Solar Wind.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalescu, Cristian C; Shi, Yi-Kang; Eyink, Gregory L; Drivas, Theodore D; Vishniac, Ethan T; Lazarian, Alexander

2015-07-10

In situ spacecraft data on the solar wind show events identified as magnetic reconnection with wide outflows and extended "X lines," 10(3)-10(4) times ion scales. To understand the role of turbulence at these scales, we make a case study of an inertial-range reconnection event in a magnetohydrodynamic simulation. We observe stochastic wandering of field lines in space, breakdown of standard magnetic flux freezing due to Richardson dispersion, and a broadened reconnection zone containing many current sheets. The coarse-grain magnetic geometry is like large-scale reconnection in the solar wind, however, with a hyperbolic flux tube or apparent X line extending over integral length scales.

"Diffusion" region of magnetic reconnection: electron orbits and the phase space mixing

Science.gov (United States)

Kropotkin, Alexey P.

2018-05-01

The nonlinear dynamics of electrons in the vicinity of magnetic field neutral lines during magnetic reconnection, deep inside the diffusion region where the electron motion is nonadiabatic, has been numerically analyzed. Test particle orbits are examined in that vicinity, for a prescribed planar two-dimensional magnetic field configuration and with a prescribed uniform electric field in the neutral line direction. On electron orbits, a strong particle acceleration occurs due to the reconnection electric field. Local instability of orbits in the neighborhood of the neutral line is pointed out. It combines with finiteness of orbits due to particle trapping by the magnetic field, and this should lead to the effect of mixing in the phase space, and the appearance of dynamical chaos. The latter may presumably be viewed as a mechanism producing finite conductivity in collisionless plasma near the neutral line. That conductivity is necessary to provide violation of the magnetic field frozen-in condition, i.e., for magnetic reconnection to occur in that region.

A fully magnetohydrodynamic simulation of three-dimensional non-null reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pontin, D.I.; Galsgaard, K.; Hornig, G.; Priest, E.R.

2005-01-01

A knowledge of the nature of fully three-dimensional magnetic reconnection is crucial in understanding a great many processes in plasmas. It has been previously shown that in the kinematic regime the evolution of magnetic flux in three-dimensional reconnection is very different from two dimensions. In this paper a numerical fully magnetohydrodynamic simulation is described, in which this evolution is investigated. The reconnection takes place in the absence of a magnetic null point, and the nonideal region is localized in the center of the domain. The effect of differently prescribed resistivities is considered. The magnetic field is stressed by shear boundary motions, and a current concentration grows within the volume. A stagnation-point flow develops, with strong outflow jets emanating from the reconnection region. The behavior of the magnetic flux matches closely that discovered in the kinematic regime. In particular, it is found that no unique field line velocity exists, and that as a result field lines change their connections continually and continuously throughout the nonideal region. In order to describe the motion of magnetic flux within the domain, it is therefore necessary to use two different field line velocities. The importance of a component of the electric field parallel to the magnetic field is also demonstrated

Particle-in-cell simulations of asymmetric guide-field reconnection: quadrupolar structure of Hall magnetic field

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, R. G.; Alves, M. V.; Barbosa, M. V. G.

2017-12-01

One of the most important processes that occurs in Earth's magnetosphere is known as magnetic reconnection (MR). This process can be symmetric or asymmetric, depending basically on the plasma density and magnetic field in both sides of the current sheet. A good example of symmetric reconnection in terrestrial magnetosphere occurs in the magnetotail, where these quantities are similar on the north and south lobes. In the dayside magnetopause MR is asymmetric, since the plasma regimes and magnetic fields of magnetosheath and magnetosphere are quite different. Symmetric reconnection has some unique signatures. For example, the formation of a quadrupolar structure of Hall magnetic field and a bipolar Hall electric field that points to the center of the current sheet. The different particle motions in the presence of asymmetries change these signatures, causing the quadrupolar pattern to be distorted and forming a bipolar structure. Also, the bipolar Hall electric field is modified and gives rise to a single peak pointing toward the magnetosheat, considering an example of magnetopause reconnection. The presence of a guide-field can also distort the quadrupolar pattern, by giving a shear angle across the current sheet and altering the symmetric patterns, according to previous simulations and observations. Recently, a quadrupolar structure was observed in an asymmetric guide-field MR event using MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) mission data [Peng et al., JGR, 2017]. This event shows clearly that the density asymmetry and the guide-field were not sufficient to form signatures of asymmetric reconnection. Using the particle-in-cell code iPIC3D [Markidis et al, Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 2010] with the MMS data from this event used to define input parameters, we found a quadrupolar structure of Hall magnetic field and a bipolar pattern of Hall electric field in ion scales, showing that our results are in an excellent agreement with the MMS observations. To our

Reconstruction of a large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W.-L. Teh

2009-02-01

Full Text Available We recover two-dimensional (2-D magnetic field and flow field configurations from three spacecraft encounters with a single large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind, using a new reconstruction method (Sonnerup and Teh, 2008 based on the ideal single-fluid MHD equations in a steady-state, 2-D geometry. The reconstruction is performed in the rest frame of the X-line, where the flow into, and the plasma jetting within, the exhaust region are clearly visible. The event was first identified by Phan et al. (2006 in the ACE, Cluster, and Wind data sets; they argued that quasi-steady reconnection persisted for over 2 h at a long (390 R_E X-line. The reconnection exhaust is sandwiched between two discontinuities, both of which contain elements of intermediate- and slow-mode behavior; these elements are co-located rather than being spatially separated. These composite discontinuities do not satisfy the coplanarity condition or the standard MHD jump conditions. For all three spacecraft, the Walén regression line slope was positive (negative for the leading (trailing discontinuity. Our MHD reconstruction shows that: (1 the X-line orientation was close to the bisector of the overall magnetic shear angle and exhibited a slow rotating motion toward the Sun-Earth line; (2 the X-line moved earthward, dawnward, and southward; (3 the reconnection electric field was small (~0.02 mV/m on average and gradually decreased from the first crossing (ACE to the last (Wind. The magnetic field and flow field configurations recovered from ACE and Cluster are similar while those recovered from Wind also include a magnetic island and an associated vortex. Reconnection persisted for at least 2.4 h involving inflow into the exhaust region from its two sides. Time-dependence in the reconnection electric fields seen by ACE and Wind indicates local temporal variations in the field configuration. In addition to the reconstruction results, we

Reconstruction of a large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teh, W.L.; Sonnerup, B.U.Oe.; Hu, Q.; Farrugia, C.J.

2009-01-01

We recover two-dimensional (2-D) magnetic field and flow field configurations from three spacecraft encounters with a single large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind, using a new reconstruction method (Sonnerup and Teh, 2008) based on the ideal single-fluid MHD equations in a steady-state, 2-D geometry. The reconstruction is performed in the rest frame of the X-line, where the flow into, and the plasma jetting within, the exhaust region are clearly visible. The event was first identified by Phan et al. (2006) in the ACE, Cluster, and Wind data sets; they argued that quasi-steady reconnection persisted for over 2 h at a long (390 R E ) X-line. The reconnection exhaust is sandwiched between two discontinuities, both of which contain elements of intermediate- and slow-mode behavior; these elements are co-located rather than being spatially separated. These composite discontinuities do not satisfy the coplanarity condition or the standard MHD jump conditions. For all three spacecraft, the Walen regression line slope was positive (negative) for the leading (trailing) discontinuity. Our MHD reconstruction shows that: (1) the X-line orientation was close to the bisector of the overall magnetic shear angle and exhibited a slow rotating motion toward the Sun-Earth line; (2) the X-line moved earthward, dawnward, and southward; (3) the reconnection electric field was small (∝0.02 mV/m on average) and gradually decreased from the first crossing (ACE) to the last (Wind). The magnetic field and flow field configurations recovered from ACE and Cluster are similar while those recovered from Wind also include a magnetic island and an associated vortex. Reconnection persisted for at least 2.4 h involving inflow into the exhaust region from its two sides. Time-dependence in the reconnection electric fields seen by ACE and Wind indicates local temporal variations in the field configuration. In addition to the reconstruction results, we provide a description and

Reconstruction of a large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W.-L. Teh

2009-02-01

Full Text Available We recover two-dimensional (2-D magnetic field and flow field configurations from three spacecraft encounters with a single large-scale reconnection exhaust structure in the solar wind, using a new reconstruction method (Sonnerup and Teh, 2008 based on the ideal single-fluid MHD equations in a steady-state, 2-D geometry. The reconstruction is performed in the rest frame of the X-line, where the flow into, and the plasma jetting within, the exhaust region are clearly visible. The event was first identified by Phan et al. (2006 in the ACE, Cluster, and Wind data sets; they argued that quasi-steady reconnection persisted for over 2 h at a long (390 RE X-line. The reconnection exhaust is sandwiched between two discontinuities, both of which contain elements of intermediate- and slow-mode behavior; these elements are co-located rather than being spatially separated. These composite discontinuities do not satisfy the coplanarity condition or the standard MHD jump conditions. For all three spacecraft, the Walén regression line slope was positive (negative for the leading (trailing discontinuity. Our MHD reconstruction shows that: (1 the X-line orientation was close to the bisector of the overall magnetic shear angle and exhibited a slow rotating motion toward the Sun-Earth line; (2 the X-line moved earthward, dawnward, and southward; (3 the reconnection electric field was small (~0.02 mV/m on average and gradually decreased from the first crossing (ACE to the last (Wind. The magnetic field and flow field configurations recovered from ACE and Cluster are similar while those recovered from Wind also include a magnetic island and an associated vortex. Reconnection persisted for at least 2.4 h involving inflow into the exhaust region from its two sides. Time-dependence in the reconnection electric fields seen by ACE and Wind indicates local temporal variations in the field configuration. In addition to the reconstruction results, we provide a description

Influence of pinches on magnetic reconnection in turbulent space plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Lapenta, Giovanni; Markidis, Stefano; Divin, Andrey

A generally accepted scenario of magnetic reconnection in space plasmas is the breakage of magnetic field lines in X-points. In laboratory, reconnection is widely studied in pinches, current channels embedded into twisted magnetic fields. No model of magnetic reconnection in space plasmas considers both null-points and pinches as peers. We have performed a particle-in-cell simulation of magnetic reconnection in a three-dimensional configuration where null-points are present nitially, and Z-pinches are formed during the simulation. The X-points are relatively stable, and no substantial energy dissipation is associated with them. On contrary, turbulent magnetic reconnection in the pinches causes the magnetic energy to decay at a rate of approximately 1.5 percent per ion gyro period. Current channels and twisted magnetic fields are ubiquitous in turbulent space plasmas, so pinches can be responsible for the observed high magnetic reconnection rates.

About 'reconnection' in a collisionless plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pellat, R.

1979-01-01

Two kinds of mechanisms have been advertised for magnetic field line reconnection in plasmas: a slow diffusive process, proposed by Parker and Sweet (1958), related to the Tearing mode and field line stochasticity; an Alfenic flow, with a fast merging rate, the so-called Petschek theory. The present author considers both mechanisms successively and emphasizes the yet unsolved theoretical difficulties. (Auth.)

Three-dimensional modeling of electron quasiviscous dissipation in guide-field magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesse, Michael; Kuznetsova, Masha; Schindler, Karl; Birn, Joachim

2005-01-01

A numerical study of guide-field magnetic reconnection in a three-dimensional model is presented. Starting from an initial, perturbed, force-free current sheet, it is shown that reconnection develops to an almost translationally invariant state, where magnetic perturbations are aligned primarily along the main current flow direction. An analysis of guide-field and electron flow signatures indicates behavior that is very similar to earlier, albeit not three-dimensional, simulations. Furthermore, a detailed investigation of electron pressure nongyrotropies in the central diffusion region confirms the major role the associated dissipation process plays in establishing the reconnection electric field

An electromagnetic drift instability in the magnetic reconnection experiment and its importance for magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulsrud, Russell; Ji Hantao; Fox, William; Yamada, Masaaki

2005-01-01

The role which resistivity plays in breaking magnetic field lines, heating the plasma, and plasma-field slippage during magnetic reconnection is discussed. Magnetic fluctuations are observed in the MRX (magnetic reconnection experiment) [M. Yamada, H. Ji, S. Hsu, T. Carter, R. Kulsrud, N. Bertz, F. Jobes, Y. Ono, and F. Perkins, Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)] that are believed to provide resistive friction or wave resistivity. A localized linear theory has been proposed for their origin as an obliquely propagating lower hybrid drift instability. In this paper, the linear theory of the instability is summarized, and the resulting heating and slippage are calculated from quasilinear theory. Making use of measured amplitudes of the magnetic fluctuations in the MRX, the amount of these effects is estimated. Within the experimental uncertainties they are shown to be quite important for the magnetic reconnection process

Evidence for magnetic field reconnection at the earth's magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

Sonnerup, B. U. O.; Paschmann, G.; Papamastorakis, I.; Sckopke, N.; Haerendel, G.; Bame, S. J.; Asbridge, J. R.; Gosling, J. T.; Russell, C. T.

1981-01-01

Eleven Northern Hemisphere crossings of the dayside magnetopause by the ISEE spacecraft are examined to test the hypothesis that the large plasma flow speeds observed in the magnetopause and boundary layer are the result of the plasma acceleration intrinsic to the magnetic field reconnection process. In several cases energetic magnetospheric particles with the proper flow anisotropy, and in one case, reflected magnetosheath particles, were observed outside the magnetopause but adjacent to it. All results support the reconnection hypothesis. The energetic particles were also used to identify the outer separatrix surface, in one case of which is was possible to conclude from its location relative to the magnetopause that the reconnection site was in the vicinity of the equatorial plane rather than in the cusp. The electric field tangential to the magnetopause is inferred to be in the 0.4-2.8 mV/m range.

Particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection with a non-uniform guide field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, F.; Neukirch, T.; Harrison, M. G.; Hesse, M.; Stark, C. R.

2016-01-01

Results are presented of a first study of collisionless magnetic reconnection starting from a recently found exact nonlinear force-free Vlasov–Maxwell equilibrium. The initial state has a Harris sheet magnetic field profile in one direction and a non-uniform guide field in a second direction, resulting in a spatially constant magnetic field strength as well as a constant initial plasma density and plasma pressure. It is found that the reconnection process initially resembles guide field reconnection, but that a gradual transition to anti-parallel reconnection happens as the system evolves. The time evolution of a number of plasma parameters is investigated, and the results are compared with simulations starting from a Harris sheet equilibrium and a Harris sheet plus constant guide field equilibrium.

Relation of astrophysical turbulence and magnetic reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazarian, A. [Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Eyink, Gregory L. [Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Vishniac, E. T. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 (Canada)

2012-01-15

Astrophysical fluids are generically turbulent and this must be taken into account for most transport processes. We discuss how the preexisting turbulence modifies magnetic reconnection and how magnetic reconnection affects the MHD turbulent cascade. We show the intrinsic interdependence and interrelation of magnetic turbulence and magnetic reconnection, in particular, that strong magnetic turbulence in 3D requires reconnection and 3D magnetic turbulence entails fast reconnection. We follow the approach in Eyink et al.[Astrophys. J. 743, 51 (2011)] to show that the expressions of fast magnetic reconnection in A. Lazarian and E. T. Vishniac [Astrophys. J. 517, 700 (1999)] can be recovered if Richardson diffusion of turbulent flows is used instead of ordinary Ohmic diffusion. This does not revive, however, the concept of magnetic turbulent diffusion which assumes that magnetic fields can be mixed up in a passive way down to a very small dissipation scales. On the contrary, we are dealing the reconnection of dynamically important magnetic field bundles which strongly resist bending and have well defined mean direction weakly perturbed by turbulence. We argue that in the presence of turbulence the very concept of flux-freezing requires modification. The diffusion that arises from magnetic turbulence can be called reconnection diffusion as it based on reconnection of magnetic field lines. The reconnection diffusion has important implications for the continuous transport processes in magnetized plasmas and for star formation. In addition, fast magnetic reconnection in turbulent media induces the First order Fermi acceleration of energetic particles, can explain solar flares and gamma ray bursts. However, the most dramatic consequence of these developments is the fact that the standard flux freezing concept must be radically modified in the presence of turbulence.

Global dynamics of magnetic reconnection in VINETA II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bohlin, Hannes

2014-12-12

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process where a change in field line connectivity occurs in a current sheet at the boundary between regions of opposing magnetic fields. In this process, energy stored in the magnetic field is converted into kinetic and thermal energy, which provides a source of plasma heating and energetic particles. Magnetic reconnection plays a key role in many space and laboratory plasma phenomena, e.g. solar flares, Earth's magnetopause dynamics and instabilities in tokamaks. A new linear device (VINETAII) has been designed for the study of the fundamental physical processes involved in magnetic reconnection. The plasma parameters are such that magnetic reconnection occurs in a collision-dominated regime. A plasma gun creates a localized current sheet, and magnetic reconnection is driven by modulating the plasma current and the magnetic field structure. The plasma current is shown to flow in response to a combination of an externally induced electric field and electrostatic fields in the plasma, and is highly affected by axial sheath boundary conditions. Further, the current is changed by an additional axial magnetic field (guide field), and the current sheet geometry was demonstrated to be set by a combination of magnetic mapping and cross-field plasma diffusion. With increasing distance from the plasma gun, magnetic mapping results in an increase of the current sheet length and a decrease of the width. The control parameter is the ratio of the guide field to the reconnection magnetic field strength. Cross-field plasma diffusion leads to a radial expansion of the current sheet at low guide fields. Plasma currents are also observed in the azimuthal plane and were found to originate from a combination of the field-aligned current component and the diamagnetic current generated by steep in-plane pressure gradients in combination with the guide field. The reconnection rate, defined via the inductive electric field, is shown to be

Localized Oscillatory Energy Conversion in Magnetopause Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Burch, J. L.; Ergun, R. E.; Cassak, P. A.; Webster, J. M.; Torbert, R. B.; Giles, B. L.; Dorelli, J. C.; Rager, A. C.; Hwang, K.-J.; Phan, T. D.; Genestreti, K. J.; Allen, R. C.; Chen, L.-J.; Wang, S.; Gershman, D.; Le Contel, O.; Russell, C. T.; Strangeway, R. J.; Wilder, F. D.; Graham, D. B.; Hesse, M.; Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M.; Price, L. M.; Shay, M. A.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Pollock, C. J.; Denton, R. E.; Newman, D. L.

2018-02-01

Data from the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale mission are used to investigate asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the dayside boundary between the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind. High-resolution measurements of plasmas and fields are used to identify highly localized ( 15 electron Debye lengths) standing wave structures with large electric field amplitudes (up to 100 mV/m). These wave structures are associated with spatially oscillatory energy conversion, which appears as alternatingly positive and negative values of J · E. For small guide magnetic fields the wave structures occur in the electron stagnation region at the magnetosphere edge of the electron diffusion region. For larger guide fields the structures also occur near the reconnection X-line. This difference is explained in terms of channels for the out-of-plane current (agyrotropic electrons at the stagnation point and guide field-aligned electrons at the X-line).

Field dipolarization in Saturn's magnetotail with planetward ion flows and energetic particle flow bursts: Evidence of quasi-steady reconnection.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackman, C M; Thomsen, M F; Mitchell, D G; Sergis, N; Arridge, C S; Felici, M; Badman, S V; Paranicas, C; Jia, X; Hospodarksy, G B; Andriopoulou, M; Khurana, K K; Smith, A W; Dougherty, M K

2015-05-01

We present a case study of an event from 20 August (day 232) of 2006, when the Cassini spacecraft was sampling the region near 32 R S and 22 h LT in Saturn's magnetotail. Cassini observed a strong northward-to-southward turning of the magnetic field, which is interpreted as the signature of dipolarization of the field as seen by the spacecraft planetward of the reconnection X line. This event was accompanied by very rapid (up to ~1500 km s -1 ) thermal plasma flow toward the planet. At energies above 28 keV, energetic hydrogen and oxygen ion flow bursts were observed to stream planetward from a reconnection site downtail of the spacecraft. Meanwhile, a strong field-aligned beam of energetic hydrogen was also observed to stream tailward, likely from an ionospheric source. Saturn kilometric radiation emissions were stimulated shortly after the observation of the dipolarization. We discuss the field, plasma, energetic particle, and radio observations in the context of the impact this reconnection event had on global magnetospheric dynamics.

On the Occurrence of Magnetic Reconnection Along the Dawn and Dusk Magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

Petrinec, S. M.; Burch, J. L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Trattner, K. J.; Gomez, R. G.; Giles, B. L.; Pollock, C.; Russell, C. T.; Strangeway, R. J.

2017-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is recognized as the primary process by which bulk solar wind plasma is able to enter the magnetosphere. The amount of plasma and energy transport is affected by the reconnection rate along the reconnection line as well as the spatial extent of the reconnection line. These parameters are in turn influenced by parameters such as the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), the dipole tilt angle of the Earth, and the local change in plasma beta between the magnetosheath and magnetosphere. Local variations of magnetosheath parameters are influenced by the character of the standing bow shock upstream of the observing location; i.e., there is greater variation downstream of the quasi-parallel shock than downstream of the quasi-perpendicular shock. Observations from the MMS mission are used to examine the occurrence of quasi-steady magnetic reconnection along the dawn and dusk regions of the magnetopause, and to determine the influence of local magnetosheath variations on the characteristics of the extended reconnection line.

Counterstreaming ions as evidence of magnetic reconnection in the recovery phase of substorms at the kinetic level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Tsugunobu; Nakamura, Masao; Shinohara, Iku; Fujimoto, Masaki; Saito, Yoshifumi; Mukai, Toshifumi

2002-01-01

Counterstreaming ions embedded in hot isotropic ions are found at the front of fast earthward plasma flows in the recovery phase of substorms in the Earth's magnetotail. The counterstreaming ions are present only when the northward component of the magnetic field increases in the equatorial plane. Hybrid simulations of magnetic reconnection have been carried out. It is found that counterstreaming ions form in the leading edge of jetting plasmas produced with magnetic reconnection, where the magnetic field lines pile up due to the pre-existing stationary plasmas. These counterstreaming ions originate from cold ions on the northern and southern tail lobe field lines, and earthward transport of the reconnected field lines makes these cold ions flow into the equatorial plane. The present observations provide strong evidence of magnetic reconnection in the recovery phase of substorms at the kinetic level

The Response Time of the Magnetopause Reconnection Location to Changes in the Solar Wind: MMS Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Trattner, K. J.; Burch, J. L.; Ergun, R.; Fuselier, S. A.; Gomez, R. G.; Grimes, E. W.; Lewis, W. S.; Mauk, B.; Petrinec, S. M.; Pollock, C. J.

2016-01-01

Reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause is the mechanism by which magnetic fields in different regions change topology to create open magnetic field lines that allow energy, mass, and momentum to flow into the magnetosphere. It is the primary science goal of the recently launched MMS mission to unlock the mechanism of magnetic reconnection with a novel suite of plasma and field instruments. This study investigates several magnetopause crossings in the vicinity of the X-line on 19 September 2015 and compares the observed X-line location with predictions from the Maximum Magnetic Shear model. Rotations of the interplanetary magnetic field OMF) during the magnetopause crossings together with the close proximity of the four MMS satellites are used to determine the response time of the reconnection X-line location to changes in the IMF. The reconnection location exhibits a continuous motion during slow changes in the IMF but a delayed response to sudden changes in the IMF.

Turbulent transport in 2D collisionless guide field reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz, P. A.; Büchner, J.; Kilian, P.

2017-02-01

Transport in hot and dilute, i.e., collisionless, astrophysical and space, plasmas is called "anomalous." This transport is due to the interaction between the particles and the self-generated turbulence by their collective interactions. The anomalous transport has very different and not well known properties compared to the transport due to binary collisions, dominant in colder and denser plasmas. Because of its relevance for astrophysical and space plasmas, we explore the excitation of turbulence in current sheets prone to component- or guide-field reconnection, a process not well understood yet. This configuration is typical for stellar coronae, and it is created in the laboratory for which a 2.5D geometry applies. In our analysis, in addition to the immediate vicinity of the X-line, we also include regions outside and near the separatrices. We analyze the anomalous transport properties by using 2.5D Particle-in-Cell code simulations. We split off the mean slow variation (in contrast to the fast turbulent fluctuations) of the macroscopic observables and determine the main transport terms of the generalized Ohm's law. We verify our findings by comparing with the independently determined slowing-down rate of the macroscopic currents (due to a net momentum transfer from particles to waves) and with the transport terms obtained by the first order correlations of the turbulent fluctuations. We find that the turbulence is most intense in the "low density" separatrix region of guide-field reconnection. It is excited by streaming instabilities, is mainly electrostatic and "patchy" in space, and so is the associated anomalous transport. Parts of the energy exchange between turbulence and particles are reversible and quasi-periodic. The remaining irreversible anomalous resistivity can be parametrized by an effective collision rate ranging from the local ion-cyclotron to the lower-hybrid frequency. The contributions to the parallel and the perpendicular (to the magnetic

Fast reconnection of magnetic fields in a plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, P.N.

1983-01-01

Reconnection process of magnetic fields in a plasma is analytically studied by perturbing the boundary conditions on a slab of incompressible plasma with a resonant surface inside. It is found, for small resistivity, that the reconnection takes place on Alfven time scale and continues into a slow time scale t 1 = eta/sup 1/3/t. Both time scales are faster than the usual tearing time scale. Furthermore, the plasma evolves globally from its initial equilibrium on the slow time scale and settles down to a different final equilibrium

Scaling the energy conversion rate from magnetic field reconnection to different bodies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mozer, F. S.; Hull, A.

2010-01-01

Magnetic field reconnection is often invoked to explain electromagnetic energy conversion in planetary magnetospheres, stellar coronae, and other astrophysical objects. Because of the huge dynamic range of magnetic fields in these bodies, it is important to understand energy conversion as a function of magnetic field strength and related parameters. It is conjectured theoretically and shown experimentally that the energy conversion rate per unit area in reconnection scales as the cube of an appropriately weighted magnetic field strength divided by the square root of an appropriately weighted density. With this functional dependence, the energy release in flares on the Sun, the large and rapid variation of the magnetic flux in the tail of Mercury, and the apparent absence of reconnection on Jupiter and Saturn, may be understood. Electric fields at the perihelion of the Solar Probe Plus mission may be tens of V/m.

Electron and ion distribution functions in magnetopause reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S.; Chen, L. J.; Bessho, N.; Hesse, M.; Kistler, L. M.; Torbert, R. B.; Mouikis, C.; Pollock, C. J.

2015-12-01

We investigate electron and ion velocity distribution functions in dayside magnetopause reconnection events observed by the Cluster and MMS spacecraft. The goal is to build a spatial map of electron and ion distribution features to enable the indication of the spacecraft location in the reconnection structure, and to understand plasma energization processes. Distribution functions, together with electromagnetic field structures, plasma densities, and bulk velocities, are organized and compared with particle-in-cell simulation results to indicate the proximities to the reconnection X-line. Anisotropic features in the distributions of magnetospheric- and magnetosheath- origin electrons at different locations in the reconnection inflow and exhaust are identified. In particular, parallel electron heating is observed in both the magnetosheath and magnetosphere inflow regions. Possible effects of the guide field strength, waves, and upstream density and temperature asymmetries on the distribution features will be discussed.

Energy Dissipation and Dynamics in Large Guide Field Turbulence Driven Reconnection at the Magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

TenBarge, J. M.; Shay, M. A.; Sharma, P.; Juno, J.; Haggerty, C. C.; Drake, J. F.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Hakim, A.

2017-12-01

Turbulence and magnetic reconnection are the primary mechanisms responsible for the conversion of stored magnetic energy into particle energy in many space and astrophysical plasmas. The magnetospheric multiscale mission (MMS) has given us unprecedented access to high cadence particle and field data of turbulence and magnetic reconnection at earth's magnetopause. The observations include large guide field reconnection events generated within the turbulent magnetopause. Motivated by these observations, we present a study of large guide reconnection using the fully kinetic Eulerian Vlasov-Maxwell component of the Gkeyll simulation framework, and we also employ and compare with gyrokinetics to explore the asymptotically large guide field limit. In addition to studying the configuration space dynamics, we leverage the recently developed field-particle correlations to diagnose the dominant sources of dissipation and compare the results of the field-particle correlation to other energy dissipation measures.

Estimates of magnetotail reconnection rate based on IMAGE FUV and EISCAT measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Østgaard

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Dayside merging between the interplanetary and terrestrial magnetic fields couples the solar wind electric field to the Earth's magnetosphere, increases the magnetospheric convection and results in efficient transport of solar wind energy into the magnetosphere. Subsequent reconnection of the lobe magnetic field in the magnetotail transports energy into the closed magnetic field region. Combining global imaging and ground-based radar measurements, we estimate the reconnection rate in the magnetotail during two days of an EISCAT campaign in November-December 2000. Global images from the IMAGE FUV system guide us to identify ionospheric signatures of the open-closed field line boundary observed by the two EISCAT radars in Tromsø (VHF and on Svalbard (ESR. Continuous radar and optical monitoring of the open-closed field line boundary is used to determine the location, orientation and velocity of the open-closed boundary and the ion flow velocity perpendicular to this boundary. The magnetotail reconnection electric field is found to be a bursty process that oscillates between 0mV/m and 1mV/m with ~10-15min periods. These ULF oscillations are mainly due to the motion of the open-closed boundary. In situ measurements earthward of the reconnection site in the magnetotail by Geotail show similar oscillations in the duskward electric field. We also find that bursts of increased magnetotail reconnection do not necessarily have any associated auroral signatures. Finally, we find that the reconnection rate correlates poorly with the solar wind electric field. This indicates that the magnetotail reconnection is not directly driven, but is an internal magnetospheric process. Estimates of a coupling efficiency between the solar wind electric field and magnetotail reconnection only seem to be relevant as averages over long time intervals. The oscillation mode at 1mHz corresponds to the internal cavity mode with additional lower frequencies, 0.5 and 0.8m

Compact toroid formation using barrier fields and controlled reconnection in the TRX-1 field reversed theta pinch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, A.L.; Armstrong, W.T.

1982-01-01

TRX-1 is a new 20 cm diameter, 1-m long field reversed theta pinch with a magnetic field swing of 10 kG in 3 μsec. It employs z discharge preionization and octopole barrier fields to maximize flux trapping on first half cycle operation. Cusp coils are used at the theta pinch ends to delay reconnection and fast mirror coils are used to trigger reconnection at a time designed to maximize axial heating efficiency and toroid lifetime. These controls are designed to study toroid formation methods which are claimed to be especially efficient by Russian experimenters. Studies have been conducted on flux trapping efficiency, triggered reconnection, and equilibrium and lifetime

Review of recent experiments on magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, M.

1995-02-01

The present paper reviews recent laboratory experiments on magnetic reconnection. Examples will be drawn from electron current sheet experiments, merging spheromaks, and from high temperature tokamak plasmas with the Lundquist numbers exceeding 10 7 . These recent laboratory experiments create an environment which satisfies the criteria for MHD plasma and in which the global boundary conditions can be controlled externally. Experiments with fully three dimensional reconnection are now possible. In the most recent TFTR tokamak discharges, Motional Stark effect (MSE) data have verified the existence of a partial reconnection. In the experiment of spheromak merging, a new plasma acceleration parallel to the neutral line has been indicated. Together with the relationship of these observations to the analysis of magnetic reconnection in space and in solar flares, important physics issues such as global boundary conditions, local plasma parameters, merging angle of the field lines, and the 3-D aspects of the reconnection are discussed

Experimental verification of the role of electron pressure in fast magnetic reconnection with a guide field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fox, W.; Sciortino, F.; Stechow, A. von; Jara-Almonte, J.

2017-01-01

We report detailed laboratory observations of the structure of a reconnection current sheet in a two-fluid plasma regime with a guide magnetic field. We observe and quantitatively analyze the quadrupolar electron pressure variation in the ion-diffusion region, as originally predicted by extended magnetohydrodynamics simulations. The projection of the electron pressure gradient parallel to the magnetic field contributes significantly to balancing the parallel electric field, and the resulting cross-field electron jets in the reconnection layer are diamagnetic in origin. Furthermore, these results demonstrate how parallel and perpendicular force balance are coupled in guide field reconnection and confirm basic theoretical models of the importance of electron pressure gradients for obtaining fast magnetic reconnection.

Unraveling the Nature of Steady Magnetopause Reconnection Versus Flux Transfer Events

Science.gov (United States)

Raeder, J.

2002-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mode of energy and momentum transfer from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. It is known to occur in different forms depending on solar wind and magnetospheric conditions. In particular, steady reconnection can be distinguished from pulse-like reconnection events which are also known as Flux Transfer Events (FTEs). The formation mechanism of FTEs and their contolling factors remain controversial. We use global MHD simulations of Earth's magnetosphere to show that for southward IMF conditions: a) steady reconnection preferentially occurs without FTEs when the stagnation flow line nearly coincides with the X-line location, which requires small dipole tilt and nearly due southward IMF, b) FTEs occur when the flow/field symmetry is broken, which requires either a large dipole tilt and/or a substantial east-west component of the IMF, c) the predicted spacecraft signature and the repetition frequency of FTEs in the simulations agrees very well with typical observations, lending credibility to the the model, d) the fundamental process that leads to FTE formation is multiple X-line formation caused by the flow and field patterns in the magnetosheath and requires no intrinsic plasma property variations like variable resistivity, e) if the dipole tilt breaks the symmetry FTEs occur only in the winter hemisphere whereas the reconnection signatures in the summer hemisphere are steady with no bipolar FTE-like signatures, f) if the IMF east-west field component breaks the symmetry FTEs occur in both hemispheres, and g) FTE formation depends on sufficient resolution and low diffusion in the model -- coarse resolution and/or high diffusivity lead to flow-through reconnection signatures that appear unphysical given the frequent observation of FTEs.

Estimation of tail reconnection lines by AKR onsets and plasmoid entries observed with GEOTAIL spacecraft

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murata, Takeshi; Matsumoto, Hiroshi; Kojima, Hirotsugu

1995-01-01

We estimate the location of the reconnection line and plasmoid size in the geomagnetic tail using data from the Plasma Wave Instrument onboard the GEOTAIL spacecraft. We first compare AKR onset events with high energy particle observations at geosynchronous orbit. We determine the plasmoid ejection (re-connection) time by the AKR enhancement only when it corrresponds to energetic particle enhancement within five minutes. The traveling time of the plasmoid from the X-line to the spacecraft is calculated by the difference in time of the AKR onset and that of the plasmoid encounter with GEOTAIL. Assuming the plasmoid propagates with the Alfven velocity in the tail lobe as MHD simulations predict, we estimate the location of the reconnection line in 11 events. The results show that the most probable location of the plasmoid edge is distributed around Χ = -60 R E in the GSE coordinates. The estimated size of the plasmoids ranges from 10 to 50 R E in the χ direction. If we apply this result to the alternative plasmoid model in which the evolution of the tearing instability causes the generation of plasmoids, the X-line should be approximately at χ = -35 R E . 15 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

Reconnection on the Sun

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-05-01

Because the Sun is so close, it makes an excellent laboratory to study processes we cant examinein distant stars. One openquestion is that of how solar magnetic fields rearrange themselves, producing the tremendous releases of energy we observe as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).What is Magnetic Reconnection?Magnetic reconnection occurs when a magnetic field rearranges itself to move to a lower-energy state. As field lines of opposite polarity reconnect, magnetic energy is suddenly converted into thermal and kinetic energy.This processis believed to be behind the sudden releases of energy from the solar surface in the form of solar flares and CMEs. But there are many different models for how magnetic reconnection could occur in the magnetic field at the Suns surface, and we arent sure which one of these reconnection types is responsible for the events we see.Recently, however, several studies have been published presenting some of the first observational support of specific reconnection models. Taken together, these observations suggest that there are likely several different types of reconnection happening on the solar surface. Heres a closer look at two of these recent publications:A pre-eruption SDO image of a flaring region (b) looks remarkably similar to a 3D cartoon for typical breakout configuration (a). Click for a closer look! [Adapted from Chen et al. 2016]Study 1:Magnetic BreakoutLed by Yao Chen (Shandong University in China), a team of scientists has presented observations made by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) of a flare and CME event that appears to have been caused by magnetic breakout.In the magnetic breakout model, a series of loops in the Suns lower corona are confined by a surrounding larger loop structure called an arcade higher in the corona. As the lower loops push upward, reconnection occurs in the upper corona, removing the overlying, confining arcade. Without that extra confinement, the lower coronal loops expand upward

Field-aligned currents during northward interplanetary magnetic field: Morphology and causes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vennerstrøm, Susanne; Moretto, T.; Rastatter, L.

2005-01-01

[1] We present the results of a global MHD simulation of solar wind magnetosphere interaction during northward IMF. In particular, we emphasize the effect of the IMF By component on the reconnection geometry and the mapping along field lines to the polar ionosphere, through field-aligned currents....... We find that the existence and geometry of the polar cap is closely connected to the IMF By component. During strictly northward IMF the simulated magnetosphere can remain essentially closed because the solar wind field lines reconnect in both hemispheres, thereby creating newly reconnected closed...... both on open and closed field lines and are created by the shear of the newly reconnected field lines against the mantle field as they are convected tailward by the solar wind. When the IMF rotates from northward toward east, the magnetospheric mapping regions of the NBZ currents likewise rotates...

Model of magnetic reconnection in space and astrophysical plasmas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boozer, Allen H. [Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)

2013-03-15

Maxwell's equations imply that exponentially smaller non-ideal effects than commonly assumed can give rapid magnetic reconnection in space and astrophysical plasmas. In an ideal evolution, magnetic field lines act as stretchable strings, which can become ever more entangled but cannot be cut. High entanglement makes the lines exponentially sensitive to small non-ideal changes in the magnetic field. The cause is well known in popular culture as the butterfly effect and in the theory of deterministic dynamical systems as a sensitive dependence on initial conditions, but the importance to magnetic reconnection is not generally recognized. Two-coordinate models are too constrained geometrically for the required entanglement, but otherwise the effect is general and can be studied in simple models. A simple model is introduced, which is periodic in the x and y Cartesian coordinates and bounded by perfectly conducting planes in z. Starting from a constant magnetic field in the z direction, reconnection is driven by a spatially smooth, bounded force. The model is complete and could be used to study the impulsive transfer of energy between the magnetic field and the ions and electrons using a kinetic plasma model.

Model of magnetic reconnection in space and astrophysical plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boozer, Allen H.

2013-01-01

Maxwell's equations imply that exponentially smaller non-ideal effects than commonly assumed can give rapid magnetic reconnection in space and astrophysical plasmas. In an ideal evolution, magnetic field lines act as stretchable strings, which can become ever more entangled but cannot be cut. High entanglement makes the lines exponentially sensitive to small non-ideal changes in the magnetic field. The cause is well known in popular culture as the butterfly effect and in the theory of deterministic dynamical systems as a sensitive dependence on initial conditions, but the importance to magnetic reconnection is not generally recognized. Two-coordinate models are too constrained geometrically for the required entanglement, but otherwise the effect is general and can be studied in simple models. A simple model is introduced, which is periodic in the x and y Cartesian coordinates and bounded by perfectly conducting planes in z. Starting from a constant magnetic field in the z direction, reconnection is driven by a spatially smooth, bounded force. The model is complete and could be used to study the impulsive transfer of energy between the magnetic field and the ions and electrons using a kinetic plasma model.

Asymmetry of the Ion Diffusion Region Hall Electric and Magnetic Fields during Guide Field Reconnection: Observations and Comparison with Simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eastwood, J. P.; Shay, M. A.; Phan, T. D.; Oieroset, M.

2010-01-01

In situ measurements of magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail are presented showing that even a moderate guide field (20% of the reconnecting field) considerably distorts ion diffusion region structure. The Hall magnetic and electric fields are asymmetric and shunted away from the current sheet; an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation is found to be in excellent agreement with the data. The results show the importance of correctly accounting for the effects of the magnetic shear when attempting to identify and study magnetic reconnection diffusion regions in nature.

Experimental investigation of the trigger problem in magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katz, Noam; Egedal, Jan; Fox, Will; Le, Ari; Vrublevskis, Arturs; Bonde, Jeff

2011-01-01

Magnetic reconnection releases magnetic energy not only in steady state, but also in time-dependent and often explosive events. Here, we investigate the trigger mechanism for this explosive release by using a toroidal experiment in the strong guide-field regime. We observe spontaneous reconnection events with exponentially growing reconnection rates, and we characterize the full 3D dynamics of these events using multiple internal probes. The reconnection is asymmetric: it begins at one toroidal location and propagates around in both directions. The spontaneous onset is facilitated by an interaction between the x-line current channel and a global mode, which appears in the electrostatic potential. It is this mode which breaks axisymmetry and enables a localized decrease in x-line current. We apply a simple model - which relies on ion polarization currents for current continuity - to reproduce the exponential growth and compute the growth rate. The result agrees well with the experimental growth rate.

Electron-inertia effects on driven magnetic field reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Salti, N.; Shivamoggi, B.K.

2003-01-01

Electron-inertia effects on the magnetic field reconnection induced by perturbing the boundaries of a slab of plasma with a magnetic neutral surface inside are considered. Energetics of the tearing mode dynamics with electron inertia which controls the linearized collisionless magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are considered with a view to clarify the role of the plasma pressure in this process. Cases with the boundaries perturbed at rates slow or fast compared with the hydromagnetic evolution rate are considered separately. When the boundaries are perturbed at a rate slow compared with the hydromagnetic evolution rate and fast compared with the resistive diffusion rate, the plasma response for early times is according to ideal MHD. A current sheet formation takes place at the magnetic neutral surface for large times in the ideal MHD stage and plasma becomes motionless. The subsequent evolution of the current sheet is found to be divided into two distinct stages: (i) the electron-inertia stage for small times (when the current sheet is very narrow); (ii) the resistive-diffusion stage for large times. The current sheet mainly undergoes exponential damping in the electron-inertia regime while the bulk of the diffusion happens in the resistivity regime. For large times of the resistive-diffusion stage when plasma flow is present, the current sheet completely disappears and the magnetic field reconnection takes place. When the boundaries are perturbed at a rate fast compared even with the hydromagnetic evolution rate, there is no time for the development of a current sheet and the magnetic field reconnection has been found not to take place

Frequently Occurring Reconnection Jets from Sunspot Light Bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Hui; Yurchyshyn, Vasyl; Peter, Hardi; Solanki, Sami K.; Young, Peter R.; Ni, Lei; Cao, Wenda; Ji, Kaifan; Zhu, Yingjie; Zhang, Jingwen; Samanta, Tanmoy; Song, Yongliang; He, Jiansen; Wang, Linghua; Chen, Yajie

2018-02-01

Solid evidence of magnetic reconnection is rarely reported within sunspots, the darkest regions with the strongest magnetic fields and lowest temperatures in the solar atmosphere. Using the world’s largest solar telescope, the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope, we detect prevalent reconnection through frequently occurring fine-scale jets in the Hα line wings at light bridges, the bright lanes that may divide the dark sunspot core into multiple parts. Many jets have an inverted Y-shape, shown by models to be typical of reconnection in a unipolar field environment. Simultaneous spectral imaging data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph show that the reconnection drives bidirectional flows up to 200 km s‑1, and that the weakly ionized plasma is heated by at least an order of magnitude up to ∼80,000 K. Such highly dynamic reconnection jets and efficient heating should be properly accounted for in future modeling efforts of sunspots. Our observations also reveal that the surge-like activity previously reported above light bridges in some chromospheric passbands such as the Hα core has two components: the ever-present short surges likely to be related to the upward leakage of magnetoacoustic waves from the photosphere, and the occasionally occurring long and fast surges that are obviously caused by the intermittent reconnection jets.

Effects of electron inertia in collisionless magnetic reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrés, Nahuel, E-mail: nandres@iafe.uba.ar; Gómez, Daniel [Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, CC. 67, suc. 28, 1428, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Univrsidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón I, 1428, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Martin, Luis; Dmitruk, Pablo [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Univrsidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón I, 1428, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2014-07-15

We present a study of collisionless magnetic reconnection within the framework of full two-fluid MHD for a completely ionized hydrogen plasma, retaining the effects of the Hall current, electron pressure and electron inertia. We performed 2.5D simulations using a pseudo-spectral code with no dissipative effects. We check that the ideal invariants of the problem are conserved down to round-off errors. Our numerical results confirm that the change in the topology of the magnetic field lines is exclusively due to the presence of electron inertia. The computed reconnection rates remain a fair fraction of the Alfvén velocity, which therefore qualifies as fast reconnection.

Escape of high-energy oxygen ions through magnetopause reconnection under northward IMF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Kasahara

2008-12-01

Full Text Available During a storm recovery phase on 15 May 2005, the Geotail spacecraft repeatedly observed high-energy (>180 keV oxygen ions in the dayside magnetosheath near the equatorial plane. We focused on the time period from 11:20 UT to 13:00 UT, when Geotail observed the oxygen ions and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF was constantly northward. The magnetic reconnection occurrence northward and duskward of Geotail is indicated by the Walén analysis and convective flows in the magnetopause boundary layer. Anisotropic pitch angle distributions of ions suggest that high-energy oxygen ions escaped from the northward of Geotail along the reconnected magnetic field lines. From the low-energy particle precipitation in the polar cap observed by DMSP, which is consistent with magnetic reconnection occurring between the magnetosheath field lines and the magnetospheric closed field lines, we conclude that these oxygen ions are of ring current origin. Our results thus suggest a new escape route of oxygen ions during northward IMF. In the present event, this escape mechanism is more dominant than the leakage via the finite Larmor radius effect across the dayside equatorial magnetopause.

Global reconnection topology as inferred from plasma observations inside Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. B. Bavassano Cattaneo

2010-04-01

Full Text Available During a long lasting period of northward interplanetary magnetic field and high solar wind speed (above 700 km/s, the Cluster spacecraft go across a number of very large rolled-up Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH vortices at the dusk magnetopause, close to the terminator. The peculiarity of the present event is a particular sequence of ions and electrons distribution functions observed repeatedly inside each vortex. In particular, whenever Cluster crosses the current layer inside the vortices, multiple field-aligned ion populations appear, suggesting the occurrence of reconnection. In addition, the ion data display a clear velocity filter effect both at the leading and at the trailing edge of each vortex. This effect is not present in the simultaneous electron data. Unlike other KH studies reported in the literature in which reconnection occurs within the vortices, in the present event the observations are not compatible with local reconnection, but are accounted for by lobe reconnection occurring along an extended X-line at the terminator in the Southern Hemisphere. The reconnected field lines "sink" across the magnetopause and then convect tailward-duskward where they become embedded in the vortices. Another observational evidence is the detected presence of solar wind plasma on the magnetospheric side of the vortices, which confirms unambiguously the occurrence of mass transport across the magnetopause already reported in the literature. The proposed reconnection scenario accounts for all the observational aspects, regarding both the transport process and the kinetic signatures.

Plasma and Energetic Particle Behaviors During Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection at the Magnetopause

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S. H.; Zhang, H.; Zong, Q.-G.; Otto, A.; Sibeck, D. G.; Wang, Y.; Glassmeier, K.-H.; Daly, P.W.; Reme, H.

2014-01-01

The factors controlling asymmetric reconnection and the role of the cold plasma population in the reconnection process are two outstanding questions. We present a case study of multipoint Cluster observations demonstrating that the separatrix and flow boundary angles are greater on the magnetosheath than on the magnetospheric side of the magnetopause, probably due to the stronger density than magnetic field asymmetry at this boundary. The motion of cold plasmaspheric ions entering the reconnection region differs from that of warmer magnetosheath and magnetospheric ions. In contrast to the warmer ions, which are probably accelerated by reconnection in the diffusion region near the subsolar magnetopause, the colder ions are simply entrained by ??×?? drifts at high latitudes on the recently reconnected magnetic field lines. This indicates that plasmaspheric ions can sometimes play only a very limited role in asymmetric reconnection, in contrast to previous simulation studies. Three cold ion populations (probably H+, He+, and O+) appear in the energy spectrum, consistent with ion acceleration to a common velocity.

Turbulence in Three Dimensional Simulations of Magnetopause Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Drake, J. F.; Price, L.; Swisdak, M.; Burch, J. L.; Cassak, P.; Dahlin, J. T.; Ergun, R.

2017-12-01

We present two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of the 16 October 2015 MMS magnetopause reconnection event. While the two-dimensional simulation is laminar, turbulence develops at both the x-line and along the magnetic separatrices in the three-dimensional simulation. This turbulence is electromagnetic in nature, is characterized by a wavevector k given by kρ e ˜(m_e/m_i)0.25 with ρ e the electron Larmor radius, and appears to have the ion pressure gradient as its source of free energy. Taken together, these results suggest the instability is a variant of the lower-hybrid drift instability. The turbulence produces electric field fluctuations in the out-of-plane direction (the direction of the reconnection electric field) with an amplitude of around ± 10 mV/m, which is much greater than the reconnection electric field of around 0.1 mV/m. Such large values of the out-of-plane electric field have been identified in the MMS data. The turbulence in the simulation controls the scale lengths of the density profile and current layers in asymmetric reconnection, driving them closer to √ {ρ eρ_i } than the ρ e or de scalings seen in 2D reconnection simulations, where de is the electron inertial length. The turbulence is strong enough to make the magnetic field around the reconnection island chaotic and produces both anomalous resistivity and anomalous viscosity. Each contribute significantly to breaking the frozen-in condition in the electron diffusion region. The crescent-shaped features in velocity space seen both in MMS observations and in two-dimensional simulations survive, even in the turbulent environment of the three-dimensional system. We compare and contrast these results to a three-dimensional simulation of the 8 December 2015 MMS magnetopause reconnection event in which the reconnecting and out-of-plane guide fields are comparable. LHDI is still present in this event, although its appearance is modified by the presence of the guide

Intermittent bursts induced by double tearing mode reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Lai; Wang, Zheng-Xiong

2014-06-01

Reversed magnetic shear (RMS) configuration is assumed to be the steady-state operation scenario for the future advanced tokamaks like International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. In this work, we numerically discover a phenomenon of violent intermittent bursts induced by self-organized double tearing mode (DTM) reconnection in the RMS configuration during the very long evolution, which may continuously lead to annular sawtooth crashes and thus badly impact the desired steady-state operation of the future advanced RMS tokamaks. The key process of the intermittent bursts in the off-axis region is similar to that of the typical sawtooth relaxation oscillation in the positive magnetic shear configuration. It is interestingly found that in the decay phase of the DTM reconnection, the zonal field significantly counteracts equilibrium field to make the magnetic shear between the two rational surfaces so weak that the residual self-generated vortices of the previous DTM burst are able to trigger a reverse DTM reconnection by curling the field lines.

Intermittent bursts induced by double tearing mode reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei, Lai; Wang, Zheng-Xiong

2014-01-01

Reversed magnetic shear (RMS) configuration is assumed to be the steady-state operation scenario for the future advanced tokamaks like International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. In this work, we numerically discover a phenomenon of violent intermittent bursts induced by self-organized double tearing mode (DTM) reconnection in the RMS configuration during the very long evolution, which may continuously lead to annular sawtooth crashes and thus badly impact the desired steady-state operation of the future advanced RMS tokamaks. The key process of the intermittent bursts in the off-axis region is similar to that of the typical sawtooth relaxation oscillation in the positive magnetic shear configuration. It is interestingly found that in the decay phase of the DTM reconnection, the zonal field significantly counteracts equilibrium field to make the magnetic shear between the two rational surfaces so weak that the residual self-generated vortices of the previous DTM burst are able to trigger a reverse DTM reconnection by curling the field lines

Intermittent bursts induced by double tearing mode reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Lai; Wang, Zheng-Xiong, E-mail: zxwang@dlut.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Beams of the Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024 (China)

2014-06-15

Reversed magnetic shear (RMS) configuration is assumed to be the steady-state operation scenario for the future advanced tokamaks like International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. In this work, we numerically discover a phenomenon of violent intermittent bursts induced by self-organized double tearing mode (DTM) reconnection in the RMS configuration during the very long evolution, which may continuously lead to annular sawtooth crashes and thus badly impact the desired steady-state operation of the future advanced RMS tokamaks. The key process of the intermittent bursts in the off-axis region is similar to that of the typical sawtooth relaxation oscillation in the positive magnetic shear configuration. It is interestingly found that in the decay phase of the DTM reconnection, the zonal field significantly counteracts equilibrium field to make the magnetic shear between the two rational surfaces so weak that the residual self-generated vortices of the previous DTM burst are able to trigger a reverse DTM reconnection by curling the field lines.

Flux quanta, magnetic field lines, merging – some sub-microscale relations of interest in space plasma physics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. A. Treumann

2011-06-01

Full Text Available We clarify the notion of magnetic field lines in plasma by referring to sub-microscale (quantum mechanical particle dynamics. It is demonstrated that magnetic field lines in a field of strength B carry single magnetic flux quanta Φ0=h/e. The radius of a field line in the given magnetic field B is calculated. It is shown that such field lines can merge and annihilate only over the length ℓ∥ of their strictly anti-parallel sections, for which case we estimate the power generated. The length ℓ∥ becomes a function of the inclination angle θ of the two merging magnetic flux tubes (field lines. Merging is possible only in the interval 12πθ≤π. This provides a sub-microscopic basis for "component reconnection" in classical macro-scale reconnection. We also find that the magnetic diffusion coefficient in plasma appears in quanta D0m=eΦ0/me=h/me. This lets us conclude that the bulk perpendicular plasma resistivity is limited and cannot be less than η0⊥=μ0eΦ0/me=μ0h/me~10−9 Ohm m. This resistance is an invariant.

Observations of significant flux closure by dual lobe reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Imber

2007-07-01

Full Text Available We present an interval of dual lobe reconnection during which interplanetary magnetic field lines are captured by the magnetosphere by reconnecting at high latitudes in both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres. This event was identified using measurements of the ionospheric convection flow and observations of the aurora using the SuperDARN radars and the IMAGE spacecraft. A cusp spot, characteristic of northward IMF, is clearly visible for a 30 min period enabling the ionospheric footprint of the Northern Hemisphere merging gap to be accurately determined. During the interval a strong burst of sunward flow across the dayside open/closed field line boundary (OCB is observed, which we interpret as the reconfiguration of the magnetosphere following a burst of reconnection. Noon-midnight and dawn-dusk keograms of the aurora show that the polar cap shrinks during the interval indicating that a large amount of flux was closed by the reconnection. Using the SuperDARN potential maps it is possible to calculate that the amount of flux closed during the interval is 0.13 GWb which represents approximately 10% of the pre-existing polar cap. The number of ions captured by the burst of dual lobe reconnection was calculated to be ~2.2×1031, more than sufficient to populate a cold, dense plasma sheet. That a dense plasma sheet was not subsequently observed is discussed in terms of subsequent changes in the IMF.

Particle acceleration at a reconnecting magnetic separator

Science.gov (United States)

Threlfall, J.; Neukirch, T.; Parnell, C. E.; Eradat Oskoui, S.

2015-02-01

Context. While the exact acceleration mechanism of energetic particles during solar flares is (as yet) unknown, magnetic reconnection plays a key role both in the release of stored magnetic energy of the solar corona and the magnetic restructuring during a flare. Recent work has shown that special field lines, called separators, are common sites of reconnection in 3D numerical experiments. To date, 3D separator reconnection sites have received little attention as particle accelerators. Aims: We investigate the effectiveness of separator reconnection as a particle acceleration mechanism for electrons and protons. Methods: We study the particle acceleration using a relativistic guiding-centre particle code in a time-dependent kinematic model of magnetic reconnection at a separator. Results: The effect upon particle behaviour of initial position, pitch angle, and initial kinetic energy are examined in detail, both for specific (single) particle examples and for large distributions of initial conditions. The separator reconnection model contains several free parameters, and we study the effect of changing these parameters upon particle acceleration, in particular in view of the final particle energy ranges that agree with observed energy spectra.

Fundamental limitation of a two-dimensional description of magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Firpo, Marie-Christine

2014-10-01

For magnetic reconnection to be possible, the electrons have at some point to ``get free from magnetic slavery,'' according to von Steiger's formulation. Stochasticity may be considered as one possible ingredient through which this may be realized in the magnetic reconnection process. It will be argued that non-ideal effects may be considered as a ``hidden'' way to introduce stochasticity. Then it will be shown that there exists a generic intrinsic stochasticity of magnetic field lines that does not require the invocation of non-ideal effects but cannot show up in effective two-dimensional models of magnetic reconnection. Possible implications will be discussed in the frame of tokamak sawteeth that form a laboratory prototype of magnetic reconnection.

Localized Electron Heating by Strong Guide-Field Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xuehan; Sugawara, Takumichi; Inomoto, Michiaki; Yamasaki, Kotaro; Ono, Yasushi; UTST Team

2015-11-01

Localized electron heating of magnetic reconnection was studied under strong guide-field (typically Bt 15Bp) using two merging spherical tokamak plasmas in Univ. Tokyo Spherical Tokamak (UTST) experiment. Our new slide-type two-dimensional Thomson scattering system documented for the first time the electron heating localized around the X-point. The region of high electron temperature, which is perpendicular to the magnetic field, was found to have a round shape with radius of 2 [cm]. Also, it was localized around the X-point and does not agree with that of energy dissipation term Et .jt . When we include a guide-field effect term Bt / (Bp + αBt) for Et .jt where α =√{ (vin2 +vout2) /v∥2 } , the energy dissipation area becomes localized around the X-point, suggesting that the electrons are accelerated by the reconnection electric field parallel to the magnetic field and thermalized around the X-point. This work was supported by JSPS A3 Foresight Program ``Innovative Tokamak Plasma Startup and Current Drive in Spherical Torus,'' a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellows 15J03758.

Electron Jet of Asymmetric Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Graham, D. B.; Norgren, C.; Eriksson, E.; Li, W.; Johlander, A.; Vaivads, A.; Andre, M.; Pritchett, P. L.; Retino, A.;

Super-Alfvénic Propagation and Damping of Reconnection Onset Signatures

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma Pyakurel, P.; Shay, M. A.; Haggerty, C. C.; Parashar, T. N.; Drake, J. F.; Cassak, P. A.; Gary, S. Peter

2018-01-01

The quadrupolar out-of-plane Hall magnetic field generated during collisionless reconnection propagates away from the x line as a kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW). While it has been shown that this KAW carries substantial Poynting flux and propagates super-Alfvenically, how this KAW damps as it propagates away from the x line is not well understood. In this study, this damping is examined using kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of antiparallel symmetric magnetic reconnection in a one-dimensional current sheet equilibrium. In the reconnection simulations, the KAW wave vector has a typical magnitude comparable to an inverse fluid Larmor radius (effectively an inverse ion Larmor radius) and a direction of 85-89° relative to the local magnetic field. We find that the damping of the reconnection KAW is consistent with linear Landau damping results from a numerical Vlasov dispersion solver. This knowledge allows us to generalize our damping predictions to regions in the magnetotail and solar corona where the magnetic geometry can be approximated as a current sheet. For the magnetotail, the KAW from reconnection will not damp away before propagating the approximately 20 Earth radii associated with global magnetotail distances. For the solar corona, on the other hand, these KAWs will completely damp before reaching the distances comparable to the flare loop length.

On the cessation of magnetic reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hesse

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Kinetic simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection are used to study the effect on the reconnection rate of ion density enhancements in the inflow region. The goal of the investigation is to study a candidate mechanism for the slow-down of magnetic reconnection. The calculations involve either proton or oxygen additions in the inflow region, initially located at two distances from the current sheet. Protons are found to be much more tightly coupled into the evolution of the reconnecting system and, therefore, they effect an immediate slowdown of the reconnection process, as soon as the flux tubes they reside on become involved. Oxygen, on the other hand, has, within the limits of the calculations, a much less pronounced effect on the reconnection electric field. The difference is attributed to the lack of tight coupling to the magnetic field of the oxygen populations. Last, a study of proton and oxygen acceleration finds that protons respond primarily to the reconnection electric field, whereas the main oxygen electric field is achieved by Hall-type electric fields at the plasma sheet boundary. Key words. Space plasma physics (magnetic reconnection; numerical simulation studies; numerical simulation studies

Interplay between electric fields generated by reconnection and by secondary processes

Science.gov (United States)

Lapenta, G.; Innocenti, M. E.; Pucci, F.; Cazzola, E.; Berchem, J.; Newman, D. L.; El-Alaoui, M.; Walker, R. J.; Goldman, M. V.; Ergun, R.

2017-12-01

Reconnection regions are surrounded by several sources of free energy that push reconnection towards a turbulent regime: beams can drive streaming instabilities, currents can drive tearing like secondary instabilities, velocity and density shears can drive Kelvin-Helmholtz or Rayleigh-Taylor type of instabilities. The interaction between these instabilities can be very complex. For instance, from a kinetic point of view, instabilities resulting from shears are intermixed with drift-type instabilities, such as drift-kink, kink driven by relative species drift, lower hybrid modes of the electrostatic or electromagnetic type. In addition, the interaction with reconnection is two ways: reconnection causes the conditions for those instabilities to develop while the instabilities alter the progress of reconnection. Although MMS has observed features that can be associated with such instabilities: strong localized parallel electric fields (monopolar and bipolar), fluctuations in the drift range (lower hybrid, whistler), it has been difficult to determine which ones operate and how they differ depending on the symmetric and asymmetric reconnection configurations observed in the magnetotail and at the magnetopause, respectively. We present a comparison between the results of kinetic simulations obtained for typical magnetotail and the magnetopause configurations, using for each of them both analytical equilibria and results of global MHD simulations to initialize the iPIC3D simulations. By selecting what drivers (e.g. shear/no shear) are present, we can identify what instabilities develop and determine their effects on the progression of reconnection in the magnetotail and at the magnetopause. We focus especially on the role of drift waves and whistler instabilities, and discuss our results by comparing them with MMS observations.

Properties of Turbulence in the Reconnection Exhaust: Numerical Simulations Compared with Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pucci, F.; Olshevsky, V.; Lapenta, G. [Center for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department Wiskunde, KU Leuven, 200B Celestijnenlaan, Leuven, B-3001 (Belgium); Servidio, S.; Malara, F. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, I-87036 Cosenza (Italy); Sorriso-Valvo, L. [Nanotec-CNR, U.O.S. di Cosenza, Via P. Bucci, Cubo 31C, Arcavacata di Rende, I-87036 (Italy); Matthaeus, W. H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, 217 Sharp Lab, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Goldman, M. V.; Newman, D. L., E-mail: francesco.pucci@kuleuven.be [University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

2017-05-20

The properties of the turbulence that develops in the outflows of magnetic reconnection have been investigated using self-consistent plasma simulations, in three dimensions. As commonly observed in space plasmas, magnetic reconnection is characterized by the presence of turbulence. Here we provide a direct comparison of our simulations with reported observations of reconnection events in the magnetotail, investigating the properties of the electromagnetic field and the energy conversion mechanisms. In particular, simulations show the development of a turbulent cascade consistent with spacecraft observations, statistics of the dissipation mechanisms in the turbulent outflows similar to the ones observed in reconnection jets in the magnetotail, and that the properties of turbulence vary as a function of the distance from the reconnecting X-line.

Magnetic Reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masaaki Yamada, Russell Kulsrud and Hantao Ji

2009-09-17

We review the fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas, by discussing results from theory, numerical simulations, observations from space satellites, and the recent results from laboratory plasma experiments. After a brief review of the well-known early work, we discuss representative recent experimental and theoretical work and attempt to interpret the essence of significant modern findings. In the area of local reconnection physics, many significant findings have been made with regard to two- uid physics and are related to the cause of fast reconnection. Profiles of the neutral sheet, Hall currents, and the effects of guide field, collisions, and micro-turbulence are discussed to understand the fundamental processes in a local reconnection layer both in space and laboratory plasmas. While the understanding of the global reconnection dynamics is less developed, notable findings have been made on this issue through detailed documentation of magnetic self-organization phenomena in fusion plasmas. Application of magnetic reconnection physics to astrophysical plasmas is also brie y discussed.

Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Masaaki; Kulsrud, Russell; Ji, Hantao

2009-01-01

We review the fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas, by discussing results from theory, numerical simulations, observations from space satellites, and the recent results from laboratory plasma experiments. After a brief review of the well-known early work, we discuss representative recent experimental and theoretical work and attempt to interpret the essence of significant modern findings. In the area of local reconnection physics, many significant findings have been made with regard to two-fluid physics and are related to the cause of fast reconnection. Profiles of the neutral sheet, Hall currents, and the effects of guide field, collisions, and micro-turbulence are discussed to understand the fundamental processes in a local reconnection layer both in space and laboratory plasmas. While the understanding of the global reconnection dynamics is less developed, notable findings have been made on this issue through detailed documentation of magnetic self-organization phenomena in fusion plasmas. Application of magnetic reconnection physics to astrophysical plasmas is also briefly discussed.

Electron magnetic reconnection without ion coupling in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, T. D.; Eastwood, J. P.; Shay, M. A.; Drake, J. F.; Sonnerup, B. U. Ö.; Fujimoto, M.; Cassak, P. A.; Øieroset, M.; Burch, J. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Rager, A. C.; Dorelli, J. C.; Gershman, D. J.; Pollock, C.; Pyakurel, P. S.; Haggerty, C. C.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Lavraud, B.; Saito, Y.; Oka, M.; Ergun, R. E.; Retino, A.; Le Contel, O.; Argall, M. R.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Wilder, F. D.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Magnes, W.

2018-05-01

Magnetic reconnection in current sheets is a magnetic-to-particle energy conversion process that is fundamental to many space and laboratory plasma systems. In the standard model of reconnection, this process occurs in a minuscule electron-scale diffusion region1,2. On larger scales, ions couple to the newly reconnected magnetic-field lines and are ejected away from the diffusion region in the form of bi-directional ion jets at the ion Alfvén speed3-5. Much of the energy conversion occurs in spatially extended ion exhausts downstream of the diffusion region6. In turbulent plasmas, which contain a large number of small-scale current sheets, reconnection has long been suggested to have a major role in the dissipation of turbulent energy at kinetic scales7-11. However, evidence for reconnection plasma jetting in small-scale turbulent plasmas has so far been lacking. Here we report observations made in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath region (downstream of the bow shock) of an electron-scale current sheet in which diverging bi-directional super-ion-Alfvénic electron jets, parallel electric fields and enhanced magnetic-to-particle energy conversion were detected. Contrary to the standard model of reconnection, the thin reconnecting current sheet was not embedded in a wider ion-scale current layer and no ion jets were detected. Observations of this and other similar, but unidirectional, electron jet events without signatures of ion reconnection reveal a form of reconnection that can drive turbulent energy transfer and dissipation in electron-scale current sheets without ion coupling.

Tail reconnection in the global magnetospheric context: Vlasiator first results

Science.gov (United States)

Palmroth, Minna; Hoilijoki, Sanni; Juusola, Liisa; Pulkkinen, Tuija I.; Hietala, Heli; Pfau-Kempf, Yann; Ganse, Urs; von Alfthan, Sebastian; Vainio, Rami; Hesse, Michael

2017-11-01

The key dynamics of the magnetotail have been researched for decades and have been associated with either three-dimensional (3-D) plasma instabilities and/or magnetic reconnection. We apply a global hybrid-Vlasov code, Vlasiator, to simulate reconnection self-consistently in the ion kinetic scales in the noon-midnight meridional plane, including both dayside and nightside reconnection regions within the same simulation box. Our simulation represents a numerical experiment, which turns off the 3-D instabilities but models ion-scale reconnection physically accurately in 2-D. We demonstrate that many known tail dynamics are present in the simulation without a full description of 3-D instabilities or without the detailed description of the electrons. While multiple reconnection sites can coexist in the plasma sheet, one reconnection point can start a global reconfiguration process, in which magnetic field lines become detached and a plasmoid is released. As the simulation run features temporally steady solar wind input, this global reconfiguration is not associated with sudden changes in the solar wind. Further, we show that lobe density variations originating from dayside reconnection may play an important role in stabilising tail reconnection.

Internal and External Reconnection Series Homologous Solar Flares

Science.gov (United States)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2001-01-01

Using data from the extreme ultraviolet imaging telescope (EIT) on SOHO and the soft X-ray telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh, we examine a series of morphologically homologous solar flares occurring in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) active region 8210 over May 1-2, 1998. An emerging flux region (EFR) impacted against a sunspot to the west and next to a coronal hole to the east is the source of the repeated flaring. An SXT sigmoid parallels the EFR's neutral line at the site of the initial flaring in soft X rays. In EIT each flaring episode begins with the formation of a crinkle pattern external to the EFR. These EIT crinkles move out from, and then in toward, the EFR with velocities approx. 20 km/ s. A shrinking and expansion of the width of the coronal hole coincides with the crinkle activity, and generation and evolution of a postflare loop system begins near the time of crinkle formation. Using a schematic based on magnetograms of the region, we suggest that these observations are consistent with the standard reconnection-based model for solar eruptions but are modified by the presence of the additional magnetic fields of the sunspot and coronal hole. In the schematic, internal reconnection begins inside of the EFR-associated fields, unleashing a flare, postflare loops, and a coronal mass ejection (CME). External reconnection, first occurring between the escaping CME and the coronal hole field and second occurring between fields formed as a result of the first external reconnection, results in the EIT crinkles and changes in the coronal hole boundary. By the end of the second external reconnection, the initial setup is reinstated; thus the sequence can repeat, resulting in morphologically homologous eruptions. Our inferred magnetic topology is similar to that suggested in the "breakout model" of eruptions although we cannot determine if our eruptions are released primarily by the breakout mechanism (external reconnection) or, alternatively

Double-reconnected magnetic structures driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices at the Earth's magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Faganello, Matteo; Borgogno, Dario; Califano, Francesco; Pegoraro, Francesco

2015-11-01

In an almost collisionless MagnetoHydrodynamic plasma in a relatively strong magnetic field, stresses can be conveyed far from the region where they are exerted e.g., through the propagation of Alfvèn waves. The forced dynamics of line-tied magnetic structures in solar and stellar coronae is a paradigmatic case. We investigate how this action at a distance develops from the equatorial region of the Kelvin-Helmholtz unstable flanks of the Earth's magnetosphere leading to the onset, at mid latitude in both hemispheres, of correlated double magnetic field line reconnection events that can allow the solar wind plasma to enter the Earth's magnetosphere. This mid-latitude double reconnection process, first investigated in, has been confirmed here by following a large set of individual field lines using a method similar to a Poincarè map.

SLIP-SQUASHING FACTORS AS A MEASURE OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Titov, V. S.; Mikic, Z.; Linker, J. A.; Forbes, T. G.; Priest, E. R.

2009-01-01

A general method for describing magnetic reconnection in arbitrary three-dimensional magnetic configurations is proposed. The method is based on the field-line mapping technique previously used only for the analysis of a magnetic structure at a given time. This technique is extended here so as to analyze the evolution of a magnetic structure. Such a generalization is made with the help of new dimensionless quantities called s lip-squashing factors.Their large values define the surfaces that border the reconnected or to-be-reconnected magnetic flux tubes for a given period of time during the magnetic evolution. The proposed method is universal, since it assumes only that the time sequence of evolving magnetic field and the tangential boundary flows are known. The application of the method is illustrated for simple examples, one of which was considered previously by Hesse and coworkers in the framework of the general magnetic reconnection theory. The examples help us to compare these two approaches; it reveals also that, just as for magnetic null points, hyperbolic and cusp minimum points of a magnetic field serve as favorable sites for magnetic reconnection. The new method admits a straightforward numerical implementation and provides a powerful tool for the diagnostics of magnetic reconnection in numerical models of solar-flare-like phenomena in space and laboratory plasmas.

Development of Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection in a Magnetic Island

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Can; Lu, Quanming; Wang, Rongsheng; Wu, Mingyu; Lu, San; Wang, Shui; Guo, Fan

2017-01-01

In this paper, with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we report that the electron Kelvin–Helmholtz instability is unstable in the current layer associated with a large-scale magnetic island, which is formed in multiple X-line guide field reconnections. The current sheet is fragmented into many small current sheets with widths down to the order of the electron inertial length. Secondary magnetic reconnection then occurs in these fragmented current sheets, which leads to a turbulent state. The electrons are highly energized in such a process.

Effects of a Guide Field on the Larmor Electric Field and Upstream Electron Temperature Anisotropy in Collisionless Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ek-In, Surapat; Ruffolo, David [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok (Thailand); Malakit, Kittipat [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Techonology, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani (Thailand); Shay, Michael A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); Cassak, Paul A., E-mail: kmalakit@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV (United States)

2017-08-20

We perform the first study of the properties of the Larmor electric field (LEF) in collisionless asymmetric magnetic reconnection in the presence of an out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field for different sets of representative upstream parameters at Earth’s dayside magnetopause with an ion temperature greater than the electron temperature (the ion-to-electron temperature ratio fixed at 2) using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We show that the LEF does persist in the presence of a guide field. We study how the LEF thickness and strength change as a function of guide field and the magnetospheric temperature and reconnecting magnetic field strength. We find that the thickness of the LEF structure decreases, while its magnitude increases when a guide field is added to the reconnecting magnetic field. The added guide field makes the Larmor radius smaller, so the scaling with the magnetospheric ion Larmor radius is similar to that reported for the case without a guide field. Note, however, that the physics causing the LEF is not well understood, so future work in other parameter regimes is needed to fully predict the LEF for arbitrary conditions. We also find that a previously reported upstream electron temperature anisotropy arises in the vicinity of the LEF region both with and without a guide field. We argue that the generation of the anisotropy is linked to the existence of the LEF. The LEF can be used in combination with the electron temperature anisotropy as a signature to effectively identify dayside reconnection sites in observations.

Effects of a Guide Field on the Larmor Electric Field and Upstream Electron Temperature Anisotropy in Collisionless Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ek-In, Surapat; Ruffolo, David; Malakit, Kittipat; Shay, Michael A.; Cassak, Paul A.

2017-01-01

We perform the first study of the properties of the Larmor electric field (LEF) in collisionless asymmetric magnetic reconnection in the presence of an out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field for different sets of representative upstream parameters at Earth’s dayside magnetopause with an ion temperature greater than the electron temperature (the ion-to-electron temperature ratio fixed at 2) using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We show that the LEF does persist in the presence of a guide field. We study how the LEF thickness and strength change as a function of guide field and the magnetospheric temperature and reconnecting magnetic field strength. We find that the thickness of the LEF structure decreases, while its magnitude increases when a guide field is added to the reconnecting magnetic field. The added guide field makes the Larmor radius smaller, so the scaling with the magnetospheric ion Larmor radius is similar to that reported for the case without a guide field. Note, however, that the physics causing the LEF is not well understood, so future work in other parameter regimes is needed to fully predict the LEF for arbitrary conditions. We also find that a previously reported upstream electron temperature anisotropy arises in the vicinity of the LEF region both with and without a guide field. We argue that the generation of the anisotropy is linked to the existence of the LEF. The LEF can be used in combination with the electron temperature anisotropy as a signature to effectively identify dayside reconnection sites in observations.

Overlapping ion structures in the mid-altitude cusp under northward IMF: signature of dual lobe reconnection?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Pitout

2012-03-01

Full Text Available On some rare occasions, data from the Cluster Ion Spectrometer (CIS in the mid-altitude cusp reveal overlapping ion populations under northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF. While the poleward part of the cusp exhibits the expected reverse dispersion due to lobe reconnection, its equatorward part shows a second ion population at higher-energy that coexists with the low energy tail of the dispersion. This second population is either dispersionless or slightly dispersed with energies increasing with increasing latitudes, indicative of lobe reconnection as well. Our analysis of a case that occurred 3 September 2002 when the IMF stayed northward for more than two hours suggests that the second population comes from the opposite hemisphere and is very likely on newly-closed field lines. We interpret this overlap of cusp populations as a clear mid-altitude signature of re-closed magnetic field lines by double lobe reconnection (reconnection in both hemispheres under northward IMF. This interpretation is supported by modelling performed with the Cooling model and an MHD model.

Hall current effects in dynamic magnetic reconnection solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, I.J.D.; Heerikhuisen, J.; Watson, P.G.

2003-01-01

The impact of Hall current contributions on flow driven planar magnetic merging solutions is discussed. The Hall current is important if the dimensionless Hall parameter (or normalized ion skin depth) satisfies c H >η, where η is the inverse Lundquist number for the plasma. A dynamic analysis of the problem shows, however, that the Hall current initially manifests itself, not by modifying the planar reconnection field, but by inducing a non-reconnecting perpendicular 'separator' component in the magnetic field. Only if the stronger condition c H 2 >η is satisfied can Hall currents be expected to affect the planar merging. These analytic predictions are then tested by performing a series of numerical experiments in periodic geometry, using the full system of planar magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. The numerical results confirm that the nature of the merging changes dramatically when the Hall coupling satisfies c H 2 >η. In line with the analytic treatment of sheared reconnection, the coupling provided by the Hall term leads to the emergence of multiple current layers that can enhance the global Ohmic dissipation at the expense of the reconnection rate. However, the details of the dissipation depend critically on the symmetries of the simulation, and when the merging is 'head-on' (i.e., comprises fourfold symmetry) the reconnection rate can be enhanced

Magnetic reconnection and current sheet formation in 3D magnetic configurations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frank, A.G.

1999-01-01

The problem of magnetic reconnection in three-dimensional (3D) magnetic configurations has been studied experimentally. The research has concentrated on the possibilities of formation of current sheets, which represent crucial objects for a realization of magnetic reconnection phenomena. Different types of 3D magnetic configurations were examined, including configurations with singular lines of the X-type, non-uniform fields containing isolated magnetic null-points and without null-points. It was revealed that formation of quasi-one-dimensional current sheets is the universal process for plasma dynamics in 3D magnetic fields both with null-points and without. At the same time the peculiarities of current sheets, plasma dynamics and magnetic reconnection processes depend essentially on characteristics of 3D magnetic configurations. The result of principal significance obtained was that magnetic reconnection phenomena can take place in a wide range of 3D magnetic configurations as a consequence of their ability to form current sheets. (author)

FAN-SHAPED JETS IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL RECONNECTION SIMULATION AS A MODEL OF UBIQUITOUS SOLAR JETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Ronglin; Fang Cheng; Shibata, Kazunari; Isobe, Hiroaki

2011-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in space and astrophysical plasmas in which the oppositely directed magnetic field changes its connectivity and eventually converts its energy into kinetic and thermal energy of the plasma. Recently, ubiquitous jets (for example, chromospheric anemone jets, penumbral microjets, umbral light bridge jets) have been observed by the Solar Optical Telescope on board the satellite Hinode. These tiny and frequently occurring jets are considered to be a possible evidence of small-scale ubiquitous reconnection in the solar atmosphere. However, the details of three-dimensional (3D) magnetic configuration are still not very clear. Here, we propose a new model based on 3D simulations of magnetic reconnection using a typical current sheet magnetic configuration with a strong guide field. The most interesting feature is that the jets produced by the reconnection eventually move along the guide field lines. This model provides a fresh understanding of newly discovered ubiquitous jets and moreover a new observational basis for the theory of astrophysical magnetic reconnection.

The inversion layer of electric fields and electron phase-space-hole structure during two-dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Lijen; Lefebvre, Bertrand; Torbert, Roy B.; Daughton, William S.

2011-01-01

Based on two-dimensional fully kinetic simulations that resolve the electron diffusion layer in undriven collisionless magnetic reconnection with zero guide field, this paper reports the existence and evolution of an inversion layer of bipolar electric fields, its corresponding phase-space structure (an electron-hole layer), and the implication to collisionless dissipation. The inversion electric field layer is embedded in the layer of bipolar Hall electric field and extends throughout the entire length of the electron diffusion layer. The electron phase-space hole structure spontaneously arises during the explosive growth phase when there exist significant inflows into the reconnection layer, and electrons perform meandering orbits across the layer while being cyclotron-turned toward the outflow directions. The cyclotron turning of meandering electrons by the magnetic field normal to the reconnection layer is shown to be a primary factor limiting the current density in the region where the reconnection electric field is balanced by the gradient (along the current sheet normal) of the off-diagonal electron pressure-tensor.

Conditions for substorm onset by the fast reconnection mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ugai

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The fast reconnection mechanism, involving slow shocks and Alfvénic fast plasma jets, is most responsible for the explosive conversion of magnetic energy associated with geomagnetic substorms and solar flares. In this paper, the spontaneous fast reconnection model is applied to well-known phenomena of substorms. When the east-west width of the tail current sheet becomes 3–4 times larger than its north-south thickness, the fast reconnection mechanism can fully be established, which may lead to substorm onset. The resulting Alfvénic jet can exactly explain, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the in-situ satellite observations of the traveling compression regions (TCRs associated with large-scale plasmoids propagating down the tail. Also, the earthward fast reconnection jet causes drastic magnetic field dipolarization, so that the sheet current ahead of the magnetic loop of closed field lines suddenly turns its direction toward the loop footpoint and a large-scale current wedge is formed according to the growth of field-aligned currents. It is demonstrated that an MHD generator arises ahead of the magnetic loop and drives the current wedge to distinctly enhance the current density in a pair of thin layers of the loop footpoint, giving rise to drastic heating in the form of two ribbons.

The Onset of Magnetic Reconnection: Tearing Instability in Current Sheets with a Guide Field

Science.gov (United States)

Daldorff, L. K. S.; Klimchuk, J. A.; Knizhnik, K. J.

2016-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is fundamental to many solar phenomena, ranging from coronal heating, to jets, to flares and CMEs. A poorly understood yet crucial aspect of reconnection is that it does not occur until magnetic stresses have built to sufficiently high levels for significant energy release. If reconnection were to happen too soon, coronal heating would be weak and flares would be small. As part of our program to study the onset conditions for magnetic reconnection, we have investigated the instability of current sheets to tearing. Surprisingly little work has been done on this problem for sheets that include a guide field, i.e., for which the field rotates by less than 180 degrees. This is the most common situation on the Sun. We present numerical 3D resistive MHD simulations of several sheets and show how the behaviour depends on the shear angle (rotation). We compare our results to the predictions of linear theory and discuss the nonlinear evolution in terms of plasmoid formation and the interaction of different oblique tearing modes. The relevance to the Sun is explained.

FAN-SPINE TOPOLOGY FORMATION THROUGH TWO-STEP RECONNECTION DRIVEN BY TWISTED FLUX EMERGENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toeroek, T.; Aulanier, G.; Schmieder, B.; Reeves, K. K.; Golub, L.

2009-01-01

We address the formation of three-dimensional nullpoint topologies in the solar corona by combining Hinode/X-ray Telescope (XRT) observations of a small dynamic limb event, which occurred beside a non-erupting prominence cavity, with a three-dimensional (3D) zero-β magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation. To this end, we model the boundary-driven 'kinematic' emergence of a compact, intense, and uniformly twisted flux tube into a potential field arcade that overlies a weakly twisted coronal flux rope. The expansion of the emerging flux in the corona gives rise to the formation of a nullpoint at the interface of the emerging and the pre-existing fields. We unveil a two-step reconnection process at the nullpoint that eventually yields the formation of a broad 3D fan-spine configuration above the emerging bipole. The first reconnection involves emerging fields and a set of large-scale arcade field lines. It results in the launch of a torsional MHD wave that propagates along the arcades, and in the formation of a sheared loop system on one side of the emerging flux. The second reconnection occurs between these newly formed loops and remote arcade fields, and yields the formation of a second loop system on the opposite side of the emerging flux. The two loop systems collectively display an anenome pattern that is located below the fan surface. The flux that surrounds the inner spine field line of the nullpoint retains a fraction of the emerged twist, while the remaining twist is evacuated along the reconnected arcades. The nature and timing of the features which occur in the simulation do qualititatively reproduce those observed by XRT in the particular event studied in this paper. Moreover, the two-step reconnection process suggests a new consistent and generic model for the formation of anemone regions in the solar corona.

On the location of dayside magnetic reconnection during an interval of duskward oriented IMF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. A. Wild

2007-02-01

Full Text Available We present space- and ground-based observations of the signatures of magnetic reconnection during an interval of duskward-oriented interplanetary magnetic field on 25 March 2004. In situ field and plasma measurements are drawn from the Double Star and Cluster satellites during traversals of the pre-noon sector dayside magnetopause at low and high latitudes, respectively. These reveal the typical signatures of flux transfer events (FTEs, namely bipolar perturbations in the magnetic field component normal to the local magnetopause, enhancements in the local magnetic field strength and mixing of magnetospheric and magnetosheath plasmas. Further evidence of magnetic reconnection is inferred from the ground-based signatures of pulsed ionospheric flow observed over an extended interval. In order to ascertain the location of the reconnection site responsible for the FTEs, a simple model of open flux tube motion over the surface of the magnetopause is employed. A comparison of the modelled and observed motion of open flux tubes (i.e. FTEs and plasma flow in the magnetopause boundary layer indicates that the FTEs observed at both low and high latitudes were consistence with the existence of a tilted X-line passing through the sub-solar region, as suggested by the component reconnection paradigm. While a high latitude X-line (as predicted by the anti-parallel description of reconnection may have been present, we find it unlikely that it could have been responsible for the FTEs observed in the pre-noon sector under the observed IMF conditions. Finally, we note that throughout the interval, the magnetosphere was bathed in ULF oscillations within the solar wind electric field. While no one-to-one correspondence with the pulsed reconnection rate suggested by the ground-based observation of pulsed ionospheric flow has been demonstrated, we note that similar periodicity oscillations were observed throughout the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system. These

Limiting velocity of reconnection in a current layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podgornyj, A.N.; Syrovatskij, S.I.

1981-01-01

Formation of a plasma current layer from a strong perturbation wave with the Mach magnetic number Msub(a)=1 is investigated numerically within the framework of magnetic hydrodynamics. It is shown that velocity of plasma flowing into the layer is established as small one as compared with the Alfven velocity. At the current layer boundary the Mach magnetic number Msub(a, c)=0.14-0.2. A great decrease in plasma velocity to the current layer results from the counterpressure of a magnetic field, intensity of which near the layer increases due to the storage of magnetic force lines which do not yet reconnect. Calculational results demonstrate the existence of limiting velocity of magnetic reconnection constituting tenth shares of the Mach magnetic number. Influence of this phenomenon on a character of reconnection in the Earth magnetosphere is discussed

Magnetic Reconnection as Revealed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Burch, J. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Moore, T. E.; Giles, B. L.; Phan, T.; Le Contel, O.; Webster, J.; Genestreti, K.; Ergun, R.; Chen, L. J.; Wang, S.; Dorelli, J.; Rager, A. C.; Graham, D.; Gershman, D. J.

2017-12-01

The NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has completed its prime mission observations and has now entered an extended mission phase. During the two-year prime mission MMS made fundamental advances in our understanding of magnetic reconnection as enabled by its unprecedentedly high-resolution plasma and field measurements, which were made from 4 identical spacecraft in tetrahedral formations ranging down to 7 km. The primary objective of MMS is to understand reconnection at the electron scale, and this objective was accomplished by detailed analysis of 32 electron diffusion regions at the dayside magnetopause and a significant number in the magnetotail, which are still being captured and analyzed. Significant interplay between theory and experiment has occurred throughout the mission leading to the discovery of agyrotropic "crescent-shaped" electron velocity-space distributions, which carry the out-of-plane current; the electron pressure tensor divergence, which produces the reconnection electric field; standing oblique whistler waves, which produce intense dissipation in sub-gyroscale regions near the X-line and electron stagnation point; beam-plasma interactions leading to whistler-mode and Langmuir waves; electromagnetic drift waves leading to corrugated magnetopause current sheets, and numerous other new reconnection-related phenomena. In this talk the many new aspects of reconnection discovered by MMS will be placed into context and used to evaluate our current level of understanding of this universally important space plasma phenomenon.

Electron Heating and Acceleration in a Reconnecting Magnetotail

Science.gov (United States)

El-Alaoui, M.; Zhou, M.; Lapenta, G.; Berchem, J.; Richard, R. L.; Schriver, D.; Walker, R. J.

2017-12-01

Electron heating and acceleration in the magnetotail have been investigated intensively. A major site for this process is the reconnection region. However, where and how the electrons are accelerated in a realistic three-dimensional X-line geometry is not fully understood. In this study, we employed a three-dimensional implicit particle-in-cell (iPIC3D) simulation and large-scale kinetic (LSK) simulation to address these problems. We modeled a magnetotail reconnection event observed by THEMIS in an iPIC3D simulation with initial and boundary conditions given by a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of Earth's magnetosphere. The iPIC3D simulation system includes the region of fast outflow emanating from the reconnection site that drives dipolarization fronts. We found that current sheet electrons exhibit elongated (cigar-shaped) velocity distributions with a higher parallel temperature. Using LSK we then followed millions of test electrons using the electromagnetic fields from iPIC3D. We found that magnetotail reconnection can generate power law spectra around the near-Earth X-line. A significant number of electrons with energies higher than 50 keV are produced. We identified several acceleration mechanisms at different locations that were responsible for energizing these electrons: non-adiabatic cross-tail drift, betatron and Fermi acceleration. Relative contributions to the energy gain of these high energy electrons from the different mechanisms will be discussed.

The Magnetic Reconnection Code: Center for Magnetic Reconnection Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Amitava Bhattacharjee

2007-04-20

Understanding magnetic reconnection is one of the principal challenges in plasma physics. Reconnection is a process by which magnetic fields reconfigure themselves, releasing energy that can be converted to particle energies and bulk flows. Thanks to the availability of sophisticated diagnostics in fusion and laboratory experiments, in situ probing of magnetospheric and solar wind plasmas, and X-ray emission measurements from solar and stellar plasmas, theoretical models of magnetic reconnection can now be constrained by stringent observational tests. The members of the CMRS comprise an interdisciplinary group drawn from applied mathematics, astrophysics, computer science, fluid dynamics, plasma physics, and space science communities.

MESSENGER Observations of Magnetic Reconnection in Mercury's Magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Slavin. James A.

2009-01-01

During MESSENGER'S second flyby of Mercury on October 6,2008, very intense reconnection was observed between the planet's magnetic field and a steady southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The dawn magnetopause was threaded by a strong magnetic field normal to its surface, approx.14 nT, that implies a rate of reconnection approx.10 times the typical rate at Earth and a cross-magnetospheric electric potential drop of approx.30 kV. The highest magnetic field observed during this second flyby, approx.160 nT, was found at the core of a large dayside flux transfer event (FTE). This FTE is estimated to contain magnetic flux equal to approx.5% that of Mercury's magnetic tail or approximately one order of magnitude higher fraction of the tail flux than is typically found for FTEs at Earth. Plasmoid and traveling compression region (TCR) signatures were observed throughout MESSENGER'S traversal of Mercury's magnetotail with a repetition rate comparable to the Dungey cycle time of approx.2 min. The TCR signatures changed from south-north, indicating tailward motion, to north-south, indicating sunward motion, at a distance approx.2.6 RM (where RM is Mercury's radius) behind the terminator indicating that the near-Mercury magnetotail neutral line was crossed at that point. Overall, these new MESSENGER observations suggest that magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause is very intense relative to what is found at Earth and other planets, while reconnection in Mercury's tail is similar to that in other planetary magnetospheres, but with a very short Dungey cycle time.

Electron heating in the exhaust of magnetic reconnection with negligible guide field

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shan; Chen, Li-Jen; Bessho, Naoki; Kistler, Lynn M.; Shuster, Jason R.; Guo, Ruilong

2016-03-01

Electron heating in the magnetic reconnection exhaust is investigated with particle-in-cell simulations, space observations, and theoretical analysis. Spatial variations of the electron temperature (Te) and associated velocity distribution functions (VDFs) are examined and understood in terms of particle energization and randomization processes that vary with exhaust locations. Inside the electron diffusion region (EDR), the electron temperature parallel to the magnetic field (Te∥) exhibits a local minimum and the perpendicular temperature (Te⊥) shows a maximum at the current sheet midplane. In the intermediate exhaust downstream from the EDR and far from the magnetic field pileup region, Te⊥/Te∥ is close to unity and Te is approximately uniform, but the VDFs are structured: close to the midplane, VDFs are quasi-isotropic, whereas farther away from the midplane, VDFs exhibit field-aligned beams directed toward the midplane. In the far exhaust, Te generally increases toward the midplane and the pileup region, and the corresponding VDFs show counter-streaming beams. A distinct population with low v∥ and high v⊥ is prominent in the VDFs around the midplane. Test particle results show that the magnetic curvature near the midplane produces pitch angle scattering to generate quasi-isotropic distributions in the intermediate exhaust. In the far exhaust, electrons with initial high v∥ (v⊥) are accelerated mainly through curvature (gradient-B) drift opposite to the electric field, without significant pitch angle scattering. The VDF structures predicted by simulations are observed in magnetotail reconnection measurements, indicating that the energization mechanisms captured in the reported simulations are applicable to magnetotail reconnection with negligible guide field.

Field-aligned currents during northward IMF: Morphology and causes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vennerstrøm, Susanne; Moretto, T.; Rastätter, L.

2005-01-01

We present the results of a global MHD simulation of solar wind magnetosphere interaction during northward IMF. In particular, we emphasize the effect of the IMF B y component on the reconnection geometry and the mapping along field lines to the polar ionosphere, through field-aligned currents. We...... find that the existence and geometry of the polar cap is closely connected to the IMF B y component. During strictly northward IMF the simulated magnetosphere can remain essentially closed because the solar wind field lines reconnect in both hemispheres, thereby creating newly reconnected closed...... exist both on open and closed field lines and are created by the shear of the newly reconnected field lines against the mantle field as they are convected tailward by the solar wind. When the IMF rotates from northward toward east, the magnetospheric mapping regions of the NBZ currents likewise rotates...

Helicity, Reconnection, and Dynamo Effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji, Hantao

1998-01-01

The inter-relationships between magnetic helicity, magnetic reconnection, and dynamo effects are discussed. In laboratory experiments, where two plasmas are driven to merge, the helicity content of each plasma strongly affects the reconnection rate, as well as the shape of the diffusion region. Conversely, magnetic reconnection events also strongly affect the global helicity, resulting in efficient helicity cancellation (but not dissipation) during counter-helicity reconnection and a finite helicity increase or decrease (but less efficiently than dissipation of magnetic energy) during co-helicity reconnection. Close relationships also exist between magnetic helicity and dynamo effects. The turbulent electromotive force along the mean magnetic field (alpha-effect), due to either electrostatic turbulence or the electron diamagnetic effect, transports mean-field helicity across space without dissipation. This has been supported by direct measurements of helicity flux in a laboratory plasma. When the dynamo effect is driven by electromagnetic turbulence, helicity in the turbulent field is converted to mean-field helicity. In all cases, however, dynamo processes conserve total helicity except for a small battery effect, consistent with the observation that the helicity is approximately conserved during magnetic relaxation

Dayside and nightside magnetic field responses at 780 km altitude to dayside reconnection.

Science.gov (United States)

Snekvik, Kristian; Østgaard, Nikolai; Tenfjord, Paul; Petter Reistad, Jone; Magnus Laundal, Karl; Milan, Stephen E.; Haaland, Stein E.

2017-04-01

During southward IMF, dayside reconnection will drive the Dungey cycle in the Earth's magnetosphere, which is manifested as a two cell convection pattern in the ionosphere. We address the response of the ionospheric convection to changes in the dayside reconnection rate. Previous studies have reported two apparently contradicting results. The first is that the ionospheric convection responds within one minute both near noon and near midnight. The second is that the response is 10-20 minutes delayed near midnight compared to near noon. To test these apparently contradicting scenarios, we have performed a statistical investigation of the response by examining the magnetic field perturbations at 780 km altitude due to dayside reconnection. The AMPERE data products derived from the Iridium constellation provide global maps of the disturbance magnetic field. The time development of the convection is modelled as the sum of an accelerating force and a decelerating force. Furthermore, the accelerating force is parametrised as a linear sum of past reconnection rates, while the decelerating force is proportional to the convection itself. This results in an asymptotic model which gradually reaches a steady-state value. By fitting the data to the model, we confirm previous reports of an almost immediate response both near noon and near midnight combined with a 10-20 minutes reconfiguration time of the two cell convection pattern. The e-folding time of the asymptotic model was found to be about 40 minutes. We present a new explanation of the response and reconfiguration times based on how MHD waves propagate in the magnetospheric lobes when newly reconnected open flux tubes are added to the lobes, and the magnetopause flaring angle increases.

3-D magnetic reconnection in colliding laser-produced plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Matteucci, Jackson; Fox, Will; Moissard, Clement; Bhattacharjee, Amitava

2017-10-01

Recent experiments have demonstrated magnetic reconnection between colliding plasma plumes, where the reconnecting magnetic fields were self-generated in the expanding laser-produced plasmas by the Biermann battery effect. Using fully kinetic 3-D particle in cell simulations, we conduct the first end-to-end simulations of these experiments, including self-consistent magnetic field generation via the Biermann effect through driven magnetic field reconnection. The simulations show rich, temporally and spatially dependent magnetic field reconnection. First, we find fast, vertically-localized ``Biermann-mediated reconnection,'' an inherently 3-D reconnection mechanism where the sign of the Biermann term reverses in the reconnection layer, destroying incoming flux and reconnecting flux downstream. Reconnection then transitions to fast, collisionless reconnection sustained by the non-gyrotropic pressure tensor. To separate out the role 3-D mechanisms, 2-D simulations are initialized based on reconnection-plane cuts of the 3-D simulations. These simulations demonstrate: (1) suppression of Biermann-mediated reconnection in 2-D; (2) similar efficacy of pressure tensor mechanisms in 2-D and 3-D; and (3) plasmoids develop in the reconnection layer in 2-D, where-as they are suppressed in 3-D. Supported by NDSEG Fellowship. This research used resources of the OLCF at ORNL, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.

Separation of magnetic field lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boozer, Allen H.

2012-01-01

The field lines of magnetic fields that depend on three spatial coordinates are shown to have a fundamentally different behavior from those that depend on two coordinates. Unlike two-coordinate cases, a flux tube in a magnetic field that depends on all three spatial coordinates that has a circular cross section at one location along the tube characteristically has a highly distorted cross section at other locations. In an ideal evolution of a magnetic field, the current densities typically increase. Crudely stated, if the current densities increase by a factor σ, the ratio of the long to the short distance across a cross section of a flux tube characteristically increases by e 2σ , and the ratio of the longer distance to the initial radius increases as e σ . Electron inertia prevents a plasma from isolating two magnetic field structures on a distance scale shorter than c/ω pe , which is about 10 cm in the solar corona, and reconnection must be triggered if σ becomes sufficiently large. The radius of the sun, R ⊙ =7×10 10 cm is about e 23 times larger, so when σ≳23, two lines separated by c/ω pe at one location can be separated by the full scale of any magnetic structures in the corona at another. The conditions for achieving a large exponentiation, σ, are derived, and the importance of exponentiation is discussed.

Collisionless Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and vortex-induced reconnection in the external region of the Earth magnetotail

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pegoraro, F; Faganello, M; Califano, F

2008-01-01

In a magnetized plasma streaming with a non uniform velocity, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability plays a major role in mixing different plasma regions and in stretching the magnetic field lines leading to the formation of layers with a sheared magnetic field where magnetic field line reconnection can take place. A relevant example is provided by the formation of a mixing layer between the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind at low latitudes during northward periods. In the considered configuration, in the presence of a magnetic field nearly perpendicular to the plane defined by the velocity field and its inhomogeneity direction, velocity shear drives a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability which advects and distorts the magnetic field configuration. If the Alfven velocity associated to the in-plane magnetic field is sufficiently weak with respect to the variation of the fluid velocity in the plasma, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability generates fully rolled-up vortices which advect the magnetic field lines into a complex configuration, causing the formation of current layers along the inversion curves of the in-plane magnetic field component. Pairing of the vortices generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is a well know phenomenon in two-dimensional hydrodynamics. Here we investigate the development of magnetic reconnection during the vortex pairing process and show that completely different magnetic structures are produced depending on how fast the reconnection process develops on the time scale set by the pairing process.

The role of electron heat flux in guide-field magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesse, Michael; Kuznetsova, Masha; Birn, Joachim

2004-01-01

A combination of analytical theory and particle-in-cell simulations are employed in order to investigate the electron dynamics near and at the site of guide field magnetic reconnection. A detailed analysis of the contributions to the reconnection electric field shows that both bulk inertia and pressure-based quasiviscous processes are important for the electrons. Analytic scaling demonstrates that conventional approximations for the electron pressure tensor behavior in the dissipation region fail, and that heat flux contributions need to be accounted for. Based on the evolution equation of the heat flux three tensor, which is derived in this paper, an approximate form of the relevant heat flux contributions to the pressure tensor is developed, which reproduces the numerical modeling result reasonably well. Based on this approximation, it is possible to develop a scaling of the electron current layer in the central dissipation region. It is shown that the pressure tensor contributions become important at the scale length defined by the electron Larmor radius in the guide magnetic field

Electron acceleration by turbulent plasmoid reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, X.; Büchner, J.; Widmer, F.; Muñoz, P. A.

2018-04-01

In space and astrophysical plasmas, like in planetary magnetospheres, as that of Mercury, energetic electrons are often found near current sheets, which hint at electron acceleration by magnetic reconnection. Unfortunately, electron acceleration by reconnection is not well understood yet, in particular, acceleration by turbulent plasmoid reconnection. We have investigated electron acceleration by turbulent plasmoid reconnection, described by MHD simulations, via test particle calculations. In order to avoid resolving all relevant turbulence scales down to the dissipation scales, a mean-field turbulence model is used to describe the turbulence of sub-grid scales and their effects via a turbulent electromotive force (EMF). The mean-field model describes the turbulent EMF as a function of the mean values of current density, vorticity, magnetic field as well as of the energy, cross-helicity, and residual helicity of the turbulence. We found that, mainly around X-points of turbulent reconnection, strongly enhanced localized EMFs most efficiently accelerated electrons and caused the formation of power-law spectra. Magnetic-field-aligned EMFs, caused by the turbulence, dominate the electron acceleration process. Scaling the acceleration processes to parameters of the Hermean magnetotail, electron energies up to 60 keV can be reached by turbulent plasmoid reconnection through the thermal plasma.

On the Collisionless Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection Rate

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yi-Hsin; Hesse, M.; Cassak, P. A.; Shay, M. A.; Wang, S.; Chen, L.-J.

2018-04-01

A prediction of the steady state reconnection electric field in asymmetric reconnection is obtained by maximizing the reconnection rate as a function of the opening angle made by the upstream magnetic field on the weak magnetic field (magnetosheath) side. The prediction is within a factor of 2 of the widely examined asymmetric reconnection model (Cassak & Shay, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2795630) in the collisionless limit, and they scale the same over a wide parameter regime. The previous model had the effective aspect ratio of the diffusion region as a free parameter, which simulations and observations suggest is on the order of 0.1, but the present model has no free parameters. In conjunction with the symmetric case (Liu et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.085101), this work further suggests that this nearly universal number 0.1, essentially the normalized fast-reconnection rate, is a geometrical factor arising from maximizing the reconnection rate within magnetohydrodynamic-scale constraints.

IS MAGNETIC RECONNECTION THE CAUSE OF SUPERSONIC UPFLOWS IN GRANULAR CELLS?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borrero, J. M.; Schmidt, W. [Kiepenheuer-Institut fuer Sonnenphysik, Schoeneckstr. 6, D-79110, Freiburg (Germany); Martinez Pillet, V.; Quintero Noda, C.; Bonet, J. A. [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Avd. Via Lactea s/n, E-38200 La Laguna (Spain); Del Toro Iniesta, J. C.; Bellot Rubio, L. R., E-mail: borrero@kis.uni-freiburg.de, E-mail: wolfgang@kis.uni-freiburg.de, E-mail: vmp@ll.iac.es, E-mail: cqn@ll.iac.es, E-mail: jab@ll.iac.es, E-mail: jti@iaa.es, E-mail: lbellot@iaa.es [Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC), Apdo. de Correos 3004, E-18080 Granada (Spain)

2013-05-01

In a previous work, we reported on the discovery of supersonic magnetic upflows on granular cells in data from the SUNRISE/IMaX instrument. In the present work, we investigate the physical origin of these events employing data from the same instrument but with higher spectral sampling. By means of the inversion of Stokes profiles we are able to recover the physical parameters (temperature, magnetic field, line-of-sight velocity, etc.) present in the solar photosphere at the time of these events. The inversion is performed in a Monte-Carlo-like fashion, that is, repeating it many times with different initializations and retaining only the best result. We find that many of the events are characterized by a reversal in the polarity of the magnetic field along the vertical direction in the photosphere, accompanied by an enhancement in the temperature and by supersonic line-of-sight velocities. In about half of the studied events, large blueshifted and redshifted line-of-sight velocities coexist above/below each other. These features can be explained in terms of magnetic reconnection, where the energy stored in the magnetic field is released in the form of kinetic and thermal energy when magnetic field lines of opposite polarities coalesce. However, the agreement with magnetic reconnection is not perfect and, therefore, other possible physical mechanisms might also play a role.

Three-dimensional Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thurgood, Jonathan O.; McLaughlin, James A. [Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1ST (United Kingdom); Pontin, David I., E-mail: jonathan.thurgood@northumbria.ac.uk [Division of Mathematics, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN (United Kingdom)

2017-07-20

Here we detail the dynamic evolution of localized reconnection regions about 3D magnetic null points using numerical simulation. We demonstrate for the first time that reconnection triggered by the localized collapse of a 3D null point that is due to an external magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave involves a self-generated oscillation, whereby the current sheet and outflow jets undergo a reconnection reversal process during which back-pressure formation at the jet heads acts to prise open the collapsed field before overshooting the equilibrium into an opposite-polarity configuration. The discovery that reconnection at fully 3D nulls can proceed naturally in a time-dependent and periodic fashion suggests that oscillatory reconnection mechanisms may play a role in explaining periodicity in astrophysical phenomena associated with magnetic reconnection, such as the observed quasi-periodicity of solar and stellar flare emission. Furthermore, we find that a consequence of oscillatory reconnection is the generation of a plethora of freely propagating MHD waves that escape the vicinity of the reconnection region.

Three-dimensional Oscillatory Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thurgood, Jonathan O.; McLaughlin, James A.; Pontin, David I.

2017-01-01

Here we detail the dynamic evolution of localized reconnection regions about 3D magnetic null points using numerical simulation. We demonstrate for the first time that reconnection triggered by the localized collapse of a 3D null point that is due to an external magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave involves a self-generated oscillation, whereby the current sheet and outflow jets undergo a reconnection reversal process during which back-pressure formation at the jet heads acts to prise open the collapsed field before overshooting the equilibrium into an opposite-polarity configuration. The discovery that reconnection at fully 3D nulls can proceed naturally in a time-dependent and periodic fashion suggests that oscillatory reconnection mechanisms may play a role in explaining periodicity in astrophysical phenomena associated with magnetic reconnection, such as the observed quasi-periodicity of solar and stellar flare emission. Furthermore, we find that a consequence of oscillatory reconnection is the generation of a plethora of freely propagating MHD waves that escape the vicinity of the reconnection region.

Internal and External reconnection in a Series of Homologous Solar Flares

Science.gov (United States)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.; Rose, M. Franklin (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Using data from the Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope (EIT) on SOHO and the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh, we examine a series of morphologically homologous solar flares occurring in NOAA AR 8210 over May 1-2, 1998. An emerging flux region (EFR) impacted against a sunspot to the west and next to a coronal hole to the east is the source of the repeated flaring. An SXT sigmoid parallels the EFR's neutral line at the site of the initial flaring in soft X-rays. In EIT, each flaring episode begins with the formation of a crinkle pattern external to the EFR. These EIT crinkles move out from, and then in toward, the EFR with velocities approximately 20 km/s. A shrinking and expansion of the width of the coronal hole coincides with the crinkle activity, and generation and evolution of a postflare loop system begins near the. time of crinkle formation. Using a schematic based on magnetograms of the region, we suggest that these observations are consistent with the standard reconnection-based model for solar eruptions, but modified by the presence of the additional magnetic fields of the sunspot and coronal hole. In the schematic, internal reconnection begins inside of the EFR-associated fields, unleashing a flare, postflare loops, and a CME. External reconnection, first occurring between the escaping CME and the coronal hole field, and second occurring between fields formed as a result of the first external reconnection, results in the EIT crinkles and changes in the coronal hole boundary. By the end of the second external reconnection, the initial setup is reinstated; thus the sequence can repeat, resulting in morphologically homologous eruptions. Our inferred magnetic topology is similar to that suggested in the "breakout model" of eruptions [Antiochos, 1998], although we cannot determine if our eruptions are released primarily by the breakout mechanism (external reconnection) or, alternatively, are released primarily by the internal reconnection.

Low and middle altitude cusp particle signatures for general magnetopause reconnection rate variations. 1: Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, M.; Smith, M. F.

1994-01-01

We present predictions of the signatures of magnetosheath particle precipitation (in the regions classified as open low-latitude boundary layer, cusp, mantle and polar cap) for periods when the interplanetary magnetic field has a southward component. These are made using the 'pulsating cusp' model of the effects of time-varying magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. Predictions are made for both low-altitude satellites in the topside ionosphere and for midaltitude spacecraft in the magnetosphere. Low-altitude cusp signatures, which show a continuous ion dispersion signature, reveal 'quasi-steady reconnection' (one limit of the pulsating cusp model), which persists for a period of at least 10 min. We estimate that 'quasi-steady' in this context corresponds to fluctuations in the reconnection rate of a factor of 2 or less. The other limit of the pulsating cusp model explains the instantaneous jumps in the precipitating ion spectrum that have been observed at low altitudes. Such jumps are produced by isolated pulses of reconnection: that is, they are separated by intervals when the reconnection rate is zero. These also generate convecting patches on the magnetopause in which the field lines thread the boundary via a rotational discontinuity separated by more extensive regions of tangential discontinuity. Predictions of the corresponding ion precipitation signatures seen by midaltitude spacecraft are presented. We resolve the apparent contradiction between estimates of the width of the injection region from midaltitude data and the concept of continuous entry of solar wind plasma along open field lines. In addition, we reevaluate the use of pitch angle-energy dispersion to estimate the injection distance.

On acceleration of plasmoids in magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetotail reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scholer, M.; Hautz, R.

1991-01-01

The formation and acceleration of plasmoids is investigated by two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The initial equilibrium contains a plasma sheet with a northward magnetic field (B z ) component and a tailward pressure gradient. Reconnection is initiated by three different methods: Case A, a constant resistivity is applied everywhere and a tearing mode evolves, case B, a spatially localized resistivity is fixed in the near-Earth region, and case C, the resistivity is allowed to depend on the electrical current density. In case A, the authors obtain the same results as have been presented by Otto et al. (1990): the tearing instability releases the tension of the closed field lines so that the inherent pressure gradient of the two-dimensional system is not balanced anymore. The pressure gradient then sets the plasmoid into motion. Any sling-shot effect of open magnetic field lines is of minor importance. A completely different behavior has been found in cases B and C. In these cases the high-speed flow in the wedge-shaped region tailward of the near-Earth neutral line pushes against the detached plasmoid and drives it tailward. The ideal terms contributing to the acceleration are still only the pressure and the magnetic field term. However, in these cases the pressure is due to the dynamic pressure of the fast outflow from the reconnection region. The outflow in the wedge-shaped region on both sides of the neutral line is due to acceleration of plasma by tangential magnetic stresses at the slow mode shocks extending form the X line

Collisionless magnetic reconnection in a plasmoid chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Markidis

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The kinetic features of plasmoid chain formation and evolution are investigated by two dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. Magnetic reconnection is initiated in multiple X points by the tearing instability. Plasmoids form and grow in size by continuously coalescing. Each chain plasmoid exhibits a strong out-of plane core magnetic field and an out-of-plane electron current that drives the coalescing process. The disappearance of the X points in the coalescence process are due to anti-reconnection, a magnetic reconnection where the plasma inflow and outflow are reversed with respect to the original reconnection flow pattern. Anti-reconnection is characterized by the Hall magnetic field quadrupole signature. Two new kinetic features, not reported by previous studies of plasmoid chain evolution, are here revealed. First, intense electric fields develop in-plane normally to the separatrices and drive the ion dynamics in the plasmoids. Second, several bipolar electric field structures are localized in proximity of the plasmoid chain. The analysis of the electron distribution function and phase space reveals the presence of counter-streaming electron beams, unstable to the two stream instability, and phase space electron holes along the reconnection separatrices.

FORMATION AND RECONNECTION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL CURRENT SHEETS IN THE SOLAR CORONA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edmondson, J. K.; Antiochos, S. K.; DeVore, C. R.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2010-01-01

Current-sheet formation and magnetic reconnection are believed to be the basic physical processes responsible for much of the activity observed in astrophysical plasmas, such as the Sun's corona. We investigate these processes for a magnetic configuration consisting of a uniform background field and an embedded line dipole, a topology that is expected to be ubiquitous in the corona. This magnetic system is driven by a uniform horizontal flow applied at the line-tied photosphere. Although both the initial field and the driver are translationally symmetric, the resulting evolution is calculated using a fully three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulation with adaptive mesh refinement that resolves the current sheet and reconnection dynamics in detail. The advantage of our approach is that it allows us to directly apply the vast body of knowledge gained from the many studies of two-dimensional (2D) reconnection to the fully 3D case. We find that a current sheet forms in close analogy to the classic Syrovatskii 2D mechanism, but the resulting evolution is different than expected. The current sheet is globally stable, showing no evidence for a disruption or a secondary instability even for aspect ratios as high as 80:1. The global evolution generally follows the standard Sweet-Parker 2D reconnection model except for an accelerated reconnection rate at a very thin current sheet, due to the tearing instability and the formation of magnetic islands. An interesting conclusion is that despite the formation of fully 3D structures at small scales, the system remains close to 2D at global scales. We discuss the implications of our results for observations of the solar corona.

Magnetic Reconnection in Different Environments: Similarities and Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Kuznetsova, Masha; Zenitani, Seiji; Birn, Joachim

2014-01-01

Depending on the specific situation, magnetic reconnection may involve symmetric or asymmetric inflow regions. Asymmetric reconnection applies, for example, to reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause, whereas reconnection in the nightside magnetotail tends to involve more symmetric geometries. A combination of review and new results pertaining to magnetic reconnection is being presented. The focus is on three aspects: A basic, MHD-based, analysis of the role magnetic reconnection plays in the transport of energy, followed by an analysis of a kinetic model of time dependent reconnection in a symmetric current sheet, similar to what is typically being encountered in the magnetotail of the Earth. The third element is a review of recent results pertaining to the orientation of the reconnection line in asymmetric geometries, which are typical for the magnetopause of the Earth, as well as likely to occur at other planets.

Observational Evidence of Magnetic Reconnection for Brightenings and Transition Region Arcades in IRIS Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhao, Jie; Li, Hui; Feng, Li [Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS, Nanjing 210008 (China); Schmieder, Brigitte; Pariat, Etienne [LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, F-92195, Meudon Principal Cedex (France); Zhu, Xiaoshuai [Key Laboratory of Solar Activity, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Grubecka, Michalina, E-mail: nj.lihui@pmo.ac.cn [Astronomical Institute, University of Wrocław, Kopernika 11, 51-622, Wrocław (Poland)

2017-02-10

By using a new method of forced-field extrapolation, we study the emerging flux region AR11850 observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and Solar Dynamical Observatory . Our results suggest that the bright points (BPs) in this emerging region exhibit responses in lines formed from the upper photosphere to the transition region, which have relatively similar morphologies. They have an oscillation of several minutes according to the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly data at 1600 and 1700 Å. The ratio between the BP intensities measured in 1600 and 1700 Å filtergrams reveals that these BPs are heated differently. Our analysis of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager vector magnetic field and the corresponding topology in AR11850 indicates that the BPs are located at the polarity inversion line and most of them are related to magnetic reconnection or cancelation. The heating of the BPs might be different due to different magnetic topology. We find that the heating due to the magnetic cancelation would be stronger than the case of bald patch reconnection. The plasma density rather than the magnetic field strength could play a dominant role in this process. Based on physical conditions in the lower atmosphere, our forced-field extrapolation shows consistent results between the bright arcades visible in slit-jaw image 1400 Å and the extrapolated field lines that pass through the bald patches. It provides reliable observational evidence for testing the mechanism of magnetic reconnection for the BPs and arcades in the emerging flux region, as proposed in simulation studies.

DIFFUSION OF MAGNETIC FIELD AND REMOVAL OF MAGNETIC FLUX FROM CLOUDS VIA TURBULENT RECONNECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos-Lima, R.; De Gouveia Dal Pino, E. M.; Lazarian, A.; Cho, J.

2010-01-01

The diffusion of astrophysical magnetic fields in conducting fluids in the presence of turbulence depends on whether magnetic fields can change their topology via reconnection in highly conducting media. Recent progress in understanding fast magnetic reconnection in the presence of turbulence reassures that the magnetic field behavior in computer simulations and turbulent astrophysical environments is similar, as far as magnetic reconnection is concerned. This makes it meaningful to perform MHD simulations of turbulent flows in order to understand the diffusion of magnetic field in astrophysical environments. Our studies of magnetic field diffusion in turbulent medium reveal interesting new phenomena. First of all, our three-dimensional MHD simulations initiated with anti-correlating magnetic field and gaseous density exhibit at later times a de-correlation of the magnetic field and density, which corresponds well to the observations of the interstellar media. While earlier studies stressed the role of either ambipolar diffusion or time-dependent turbulent fluctuations for de-correlating magnetic field and density, we get the effect of permanent de-correlation with one fluid code, i.e., without invoking ambipolar diffusion. In addition, in the presence of gravity and turbulence, our three-dimensional simulations show the decrease of the magnetic flux-to-mass ratio as the gaseous density at the center of the gravitational potential increases. We observe this effect both in the situations when we start with equilibrium distributions of gas and magnetic field and when we follow the evolution of collapsing dynamically unstable configurations. Thus, the process of turbulent magnetic field removal should be applicable both to quasi-static subcritical molecular clouds and cores and violently collapsing supercritical entities. The increase of the gravitational potential as well as the magnetization of the gas increases the segregation of the mass and magnetic flux in the

Scales of guide field reconnection at the hydrogen mass ratio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapenta, G.; Markidis, S.; Divin, A.; Goldman, M.; Newman, D.

2010-01-01

We analyze the signatures of component reconnection for a Harris current sheet with a guide field using the physical mass ratio of hydrogen. The study uses the fully kinetic particle in cell code IPIC3D to investigate the scaling with mass ratio of the following three main component reconnection features: electron density cavities along the separatrices, channels of fast electron flow within the cavities, and electron phase space holes due to the Buneman instability in the electron high speed channels. The width and strength of the electron holes and of the electron cavities are studied up the mass ratio proper of hydrogen, considering the effect of the simulation box size, and of the boundary conditions. The results compare favorably with the existing data from the Cluster and Themis missions and provide quantitative predictions for realistic conditions to be encountered by the planned magnetospheric multiscale mission.

Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Chromosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Lukin, Vyacheslav S.; Ni, Lei; Murphy, Nicholas Arnold

2017-08-01

We report on the most recent efforts to accurately and self-consistently model magnetic reconnection processes in the context of the solar chromosphere. The solar chromosphere is a notoriously complex and highly dynamic boundary layer of the solar atmosphere where local variations in the plasma parameters can be of the order of the mean values. At the same time, the interdependence of the physical processes such as magnetic field evolution, local and global energy transfer between internal and electromagnetic plasma energy, radiation transport, plasma reactivity, and dissipation mechanisms make it a particularly difficult system to self-consistently model and understand. Several recent studies have focused on the micro-physics of multi-fluid magnetic reconnection at magnetic nulls in the weakly ionized plasma environment of the lower chromosphere[1-3]. Here, we extend the previous work by considering a range of spatial scales and magnetic field strengths in a configuration with component magnetic reconnection, i.e., for magnetic reconnection with a guide field. We show that in all cases the non-equilibrium reactivity of the plasma and the dynamic interaction among the plasma processes play important roles in determining the structure of the reconnection region. We also speculate as to the possible observables of chromospheric magnetic reconnection and the likely plasma conditions required for generation of Ellerman and IRIS bombs.[1] Leake, Lukin, Linton, and Meier, “Multi-fluid simulations of chromospheric magnetic reconnection in a weakly ionized reacting plasma,” ApJ 760 (2012).[2] Leake, Lukin, and Linton, “Magnetic reconnection in a weakly ionized plasma,” PoP 20 (2013).[3] Murphy and Lukin, “Asymmetric magnetic reconnection in weakly ionized chromospheric plasmas,” ApJ 805 (2015).[*Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National

Comparison of reconnection in magnetosphere and solar corona

Science.gov (United States)

Imada, Shinsuke; Hirai, Mariko; Isobe, Hiroaki; Oka, Mitsuo; Watanabe, Kyoko; Minoshima, Takashi

One of the most famous rapid energy conversion mechanisms in space is a magnetic reconnec-tion. The general concept of a magnetic reconnection is that the rapid energy conversion from magnetic field energy to thermal energy, kinetic energy or non-thermal particle energy. The understanding of rapid energy conversion rates from magnetic field energy to other energy is the fundamental and essential problem in the space physics. One of the important goals for studying magnetic reconnection is to answer what plasma condition/parameter controls the energy conversion rates. Earth's magnetotail has been paid much attention to discuss a mag-netic reconnection, because we can discuss magnetic reconnection characteristics in detail with direct in-situ observation. Recently, solar atmosphere has been focused as a space laboratory for magnetic reconnection because of its variety in plasma condition. So far considerable effort has been devoted toward understanding the energy conversion rates of magnetic reconnection, and various typical features associated with magnetic reconnection have been observed in the Earth's magnetotail and the solar corona. In this talk, we first introduce the variety of plasma condition/parameter in solar corona and Earth's magnetotail. Later, we discuss what plasma condition/parameter controls the energy conversion from magnetic field to especially non-thermal particle. To compare non-thermal electron and ion acceleration in magnetic reconnection, we used Hard X-ray (electron) /Neu-tron monitor (ion) for solar corona and Geotail in-situ measurement (electron and ion) for magnetoatil. We found both of electron and ion accelerations are roughly controlled by re-connection electric field (reconnection rate). However, some detail points are different in ion and electron acceleration. Further, we will discuss what is the major difference between solar corona and Earth's magnetotail for particle acceleration.

Global and local disturbances in the magnetotail during reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Laitinen

2007-05-01

Full Text Available We examine Cluster observations of a reconnection event at x_GSM=−15.7 R_E in the magnetotail on 11 October 2001, when Cluster recorded the current sheet for an extended period including the entire duration of the reconnection event. The onset of reconnection is associated with a sudden orientation change of the ambient magnetic field, which is also observed simultaneously by Goes-8 at geostationary orbit. Current sheet oscillations are observed both before reconnection and during it. The speed of the flapping motions is found to increase when the current sheet undergoes the transition from quiet to active state, as suggested by an earlier statistical result and now confirmed within one single event. Within the diffusion region both the tailward and earthward parts of the quadrupolar magnetic Hall structure are recorded as an x-line passes Cluster. We report the first observations of the Hall structure conforming to the kinks in the current sheet. This results in relatively strong fluctuations in B_z, which are shown to be the Hall signature tilted in the yz plane with the current sheet.

TETHER-CUTTING RECONNECTION BETWEEN TWO SOLAR FILAMENTS TRIGGERING OUTFLOWS AND A CORONAL MASS EJECTION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Huadong; Zhang, Jun; Li, Leping [Key Laboratory of Solar Activity, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Ma, Suli, E-mail: hdchen@nao.cas.cn [College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580 (China)

2016-02-20

Triggering mechanisms of solar eruptions have long been a challenge. A few previous case studies have indicated that preceding gentle filament merging via magnetic reconnection may launch following intense eruption, according to the tether-cutting (TC) model. However, the detailed process of TC reconnection between filaments has not been exhibited yet. In this work, we report the high-resolution observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS) of TC reconnection between two sheared filaments in NOAA active region 12146. The TC reconnection commenced on ∼15:35 UT on 2014 August 29 and triggered an eruptive GOES C4.3-class flare ∼8 minutes later. An associated coronal mass ejection appeared in the field of view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/LASCO C2 about 40 minutes later. Thanks to the high spatial resolution of IRIS data, bright plasma outflows generated by the TC reconnection are clearly observed, which moved along the subarcsecond fine-scale flux tube structures in the erupting filament. Based on the imaging and spectral observations, the mean plane-of-sky and line-of-sight velocities of the TC reconnection outflows are separately measured to be ∼79 and 86 km s{sup −1}, which derives an average real speed of ∼120 km s{sup −1}. In addition, it is found that spectral features, such as peak intensities, Doppler shifts, and line widths in the TC reconnection region are evidently enhanced compared to those in the nearby region just before the flare.

Diagnostics of solar flare reconnection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Karlický

2004-01-01

Full Text Available We present new diagnostics of the solar flare reconnection, mainly based on the plasma radio emission. We propose that the high-frequency (600-2000 MHz slowly drifting pulsating structures map the flare magnetic field reconnection. These structures correspond to the radio emission from plasmoids which are formed in the extended current sheet due to tearing and coalescence processes. An increase of the frequency drift of the drifting structures is interpreted as an increase of the reconnection rate. Using this model, time scales of slowly drifting pulsating structure observed during the 12 April 2001 flare by the Trieste radiopolarimeter with high time resolution (1 ms are interpreted as a radio manifestation of electron beams accelerated in the multi-scale reconnection process. For short periods Fourier spectra of the observed structure have a power-law form with power-law indices in the 1.3-1.6 range. For comparison the 2-D MHD numerical modeling of the multi-scale reconnection is made and it is shown that Fourier spectrum of the reconnection dissipation power has also a power-law form, but with power-law index 2. Furthermore, we compute a time evolution of plasma parameters (density, magnetic field etc in the 2-D MHD model of the reconnection. Then assuming a plasma radio emission from locations, where the 'double-resonance' instability generates the upper-hybrid waves due to unstable distribution function of suprathermal electrons, we model radio spectra. Effects of the MHD turbulence are included. The resulting spectra are compared with those observed. It is found, that depending on model parameters the lace bursts and the decimetric spikes can be reproduced. Thus, it is shown that the model can be used for diagnostics of the flare reconnection process. We also point out possible radio signatures of reconnection outflow termination shocks. They are detected as type II-like herringbone structures in the 200-700 MHz frequency range. Finally

Theory and Simulations of Incomplete Reconnection During Sawteeth Due to Diamagnetic Effects

Science.gov (United States)

Beidler, Matthew Thomas

Tokamaks use magnetic fields to confine plasmas to achieve fusion; they are the leading approach proposed for the widespread production of fusion energy. The sawtooth crash in tokamaks limits the core temperature, adversely impacts confinement, and seeds disruptions. Adequate knowledge of the physics governing the sawtooth crash and a predictive capability of its ramifications has been elusive, including an understanding of incomplete reconnection, i.e., why sawteeth often cease prematurely before processing all available magnetic flux. In this dissertation, we introduce a model for incomplete reconnection in sawtooth crashes resulting from increasing diamagnetic effects in the nonlinear phase of magnetic reconnection. Physically, the reconnection inflow self-consistently convects the high pressure core of a tokamak toward the q=1 rational surface, thereby increasing the pressure gradient at the reconnection site. If the pressure gradient at the rational surface becomes large enough due to the self-consistent evolution, incomplete reconnection will occur due to diamagnetic effects becoming large enough to suppress reconnection. Predictions of this model are borne out in large-scale proof-of-principle two-fluid simulations of reconnection in a 2D slab geometry and are also consistent with data from the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST). Additionally, we present simulations from the 3D extended-MHD code M3D-C1 used to study the sawtooth crash in a 3D toroidal geometry for resistive-MHD and two-fluid models. This is the first study in a 3D tokamak geometry to show that the inclusion of two-fluid physics in the model equations is essential for recovering timescales more closely in line with experimental results compared to resistive-MHD and contrast the dynamics in the two models. We use a novel approach to sample the data in the plane of reconnection perpendicular to the (m,n)=(1,1) mode to carefully assess the reconnection physics. Using local measures of

Magnetic reconnection through the current sheets as the universal process for plasma dynamics in nonuniform magnetic fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frank, A.G.; Bogdanov, S.Yu.; Burilina, V.B.; Kyrie, N.P.

1997-01-01

Laboratory experiments are reported, in which we studied the possibilities of the formation of current sheets (CS) in different magnetic configurations, as well as the magnetic reconnection phenomena. In 2D magnetic fields with null-lines the CS formation was shown to be a typical process in both linear and nonlinear regimes. The problem of CS formation is of a fundamental importance in the general case of 3D magnetic configurations. We have revealed experimentally, that the formation of CS occurs in the various 3D configurations, both containing magnetic null-points and without them. At the same time, the CS parameters essentially depend on the local characteristics of the configuration. We may conclude therefore, that the self-organization of CS represents the universal process for the plasma dynamics in the nonuniform magnetic fields. (author)

MAVEN Observations of Magnetic Reconnection on the Dayside Martian Magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

DiBraccio, Gina A.; Espley, Jared R.; Connerney, John E. P.; Brain, David A.; Halekas, Jasper S.; Mitchell, David L.; Harada, Yuki; Hara, Takuya

2015-04-01

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission offers a unique opportunity to investigate the complex solar wind-planetary interaction at Mars. The Martian magnetosphere is formed as the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) drapes around the planet's ionosphere and localized crustal magnetic fields. As the solar wind interacts with this induced magnetosphere, magnetic reconnection can occur at any location where a magnetic shear is present. Reconnection between the IMF and the induced and crustal fields facilitates a direct plasma exchange between the solar wind and the Martian ionosphere. Here we address the occurrence of magnetic reconnection on the dayside magnetosphere of Mars using MAVEN magnetic field and plasma data. When reconnection occurs on the dayside, a non-zero magnetic field component normal to the obstacle, B_N, will result. Using minimum variance analysis, we measure BN by transforming Magnetometer data into boundary-normal coordinates. Selected events are then further examined to identify plasma heating and energization, in the form of Alfvénic outflow jets, using Solar Wind Ion Analyzer measurements. Additionally, the topology of the crustal fields is validated from electron pitch angle distributions provided by the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer. To understand which parameters are responsible for the onset of reconnection, we test the dependency of the dimensionless reconnection rate, calculated from BN measurements, on magnetic field shear angle and plasma beta (the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure). We assess the global impact of reconnection on Mars' induced magnetosphere by combining analytical models with MAVEN observations to predict the regions where reconnection may occur. Using this approach we examine how IMF orientation and magnetosheath parameters affect reconnection on a global scale. With the aid of analytical models we are able to assess the role of reconnection on a global scale to better understand which

Comparison of S3-3 polar cap potential drops with the interplanetary magnetic field and models of magnetopause reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wygant, J.R.; Torbert, R.B.; Mozer, F.S.

1983-01-01

Measurements of the cross polar cap electric potential, by the double probe electric field experiment aboard S3-3, from 55 orbits in the dawn-dusk plane are compared with the reconnection electric fields predicted by a variety of models, both theoretical and experimental. The purpose of these comparisons is to understand the extent to which nonreconnection contributes to the polar cap potential must be included, to determine the time response of the polar cap potential to time varying reconnection rates, and to determine the efficiency and saturation levels of the reconnection process. It is found that (1) After several hours of northward interplanetary magnetic field, the cross polar cap potential declines to progressively lower values than those after 1 hour of northward interplanetary magnetic field. This suggests that it requires several hours for the ionospheric polar cap potential to respond to the ''turning off'' of ''turning down'' of the reconnection process. (2) The decay of the polar cap potential is used to demonstrate that contirubtions to the polar cap potential not associated with the reconnection process can be limited to less than 20 kV. It is shown that contributions to the polar cap potential that scale with the dynamic pressure of the solar wind are limited to less than 1 kV. (3) The cross polar cap electric potential is best predicted by a weighted sum of contributions from interplanetary magnetic field parameter over the 4 hours previous to the measurement. The weighting functions have the form of an exponential decay 2--3 hours with the strongest weight on interplanetary parameters over the 1 hour previous to the measurement

ASYMMETRIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN WEAKLY IONIZED CHROMOSPHERIC PLASMAS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, Nicholas A.; Lukin, Vyacheslav S.

2015-01-01

Realistic models of magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere must take into account that the plasma is partially ionized and that plasma conditions within any two magnetic flux bundles undergoing reconnection may not be the same. Asymmetric reconnection in the chromosphere may occur when newly emerged flux interacts with pre-existing, overlying flux. We present 2.5D simulations of asymmetric reconnection in weakly ionized, reacting plasmas where the magnetic field strengths, ion and neutral densities, and temperatures are different in each upstream region. The plasma and neutral components are evolved separately to allow non-equilibrium ionization. As in previous simulations of chromospheric reconnection, the current sheet thins to the scale of the neutral–ion mean free path and the ion and neutral outflows are strongly coupled. However, the ion and neutral inflows are asymmetrically decoupled. In cases with magnetic asymmetry, a net flow of neutrals through the current sheet from the weak-field (high-density) upstream region into the strong-field upstream region results from a neutral pressure gradient. Consequently, neutrals dragged along with the outflow are more likely to originate from the weak-field region. The Hall effect leads to the development of a characteristic quadrupole magnetic field modified by asymmetry, but the X-point geometry expected during Hall reconnection does not occur. All simulations show the development of plasmoids after an initial laminar phase

Global Hybrid Simulation of Alfvenic Waves Associated with Magnetotail Reconnection and Fast Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, L.; Lin, Y.; Wang, X.; Perez, J. D.

2017-12-01

Alfvenic fluctuations have been observed near the magnetotail plasma sheet boundary layer associated with fast flows. In this presentation, we use the Auburn 3-D Global Hybrid code (ANGIE3D) to investigate the generation and propagation of Alfvenic waves in the magnetotail. Shear Alfven waves and kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) are found to be generated in magnetic reconnection in the plasma sheet as well as in the dipole-like field region of the magnetosphere, carrying Poynting flux along magnetic field lines toward the ionosphere, and the wave structure is strongly altered by the flow braking in the tail. The 3-D structure of the wave electromagnetic field and the associated parallel currents in reconnection and the dipole-like field region is presented. The Alfvenic waves exhibit a turbulence spectrum. The roles of these Alfvenic waves in ion heating is discussed.

MAVEN observations of magnetic reconnection in the Martian magnetotail

Science.gov (United States)

Harada, Y.; Halekas, J. S.; McFadden, J. P.; Mitchell, D. L.; Mazelle, C. X.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Espley, J. R.; Larson, D. E.; Brain, D. A.; Andersson, L.; DiBraccio, G. A.; Collinson, G.; Livi, R.; Hara, T.; Ruhunusiri, S.; Jakosky, B. M.

2015-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process that changes magnetic field topology and converts magnetic energy into particle energy. Although reconnection may play a key role in controlling ion escape processes at Mars, the fundamental properties of local physics and global dynamics of magnetic reconnection in the Martian environment remain unclear owing to the lack of simultaneous measurements of ions, electrons, and magnetic fields by modern instrumentation. Here we present comprehensive MAVEN observations of reconnection signatures in the near-Mars magnetotail. The observed reconnection signatures include (i) Marsward bulk flows of H+, O+, and O2+ ions, (ii) counterstreaming ion beams along the current sheet normal direction, (iii) Hall magnetic fields, and (iv) trapped electrons with two-sided loss cones. The measured velocity distribution functions of different ion species exhibit mass-dependent characteristics which are qualitatively consistent with previous multi-species kinetic simulations and terrestrial tail observations. The MAVEN observations demonstrate that the near-Mars magnetotail provides a unique environment for studying multi-ion reconnection.

Intermittent magnetic reconnection in TS-3 merging experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Y.; Hayashi, Y.; Ii, T.; Tanabe, H.; Ito, S.; Kuwahata, A.; Ito, T.; Kamino, Y.; Yamada, T.; Inomoto, M.

2011-01-01

Ejection of current sheet with plasma mass causes impulsive and intermittent magnetic reconnection in the TS-3 spherical tokamak (ST) merging experiment. Under high guide toroidal field, the sheet resistivity is almost classical due to the sheet thickness much longer than the ion gyroradius. Large inflow flux and low current-sheet resistivity result in flux and plasma pileup followed by rapid growth of the current sheet. When the pileup exceeds a critical limit, the sheet is ejected mechanically from the squeezed X-point area. The reconnection (outflow) speed is slow during the flux/plasma pileup and is fast during the ejection, suggesting that intermittent reconnection similar to the solar flare increases the averaged reconnection speed. These transient effects enable the merging tokamaks to have the fast reconnection as well as the high-power reconnection heating, even when their current-sheet resistivity is low under high guide field.

Particle-in-cell simulations of magnetically driven reconnection using laser-powered capacitor coils

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Kai; Lu, Quanming; Gao, Lan; Ji, Hantao; Wang, Xueyi; Fan, Feibin

2018-05-01

In this paper, we propose an experimental scheme to fulfill magnetically driven reconnections. Here, two laser beams are focused on a capacitor-coil target and then strong currents are wired in two parallel circular coils. Magnetic reconnection occurs between the two magnetic bubbles created by the currents in the two parallel circular coils. A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation model in the cylindrical coordinate is used to investigate such a process, and the simulations are performed in the (r ,z ) plane. The results show that with the increase of the currents in the two coils, the associated magnetic bubbles expand and a current sheet is formed between the two bubbles. Magnetic reconnection occurs when the current sheet is sufficiently thin. A quadrupole structure of the magnetic field in the θ direction ( Bθ ) is generated in the diffusion region and a strong electron current along the r direction ( Je r ) is also formed due to the existence of the high-speed electron flow away from the X line in the center of the outflow region. Because the X line is a circle along the θ direction, the convergence of the plasma flow around r =0 will lead to the asymmetry of Je r and Bθ between the two outflow regions of magnetic reconnection.

MESSENGER observations of magnetic reconnection in Mercury's magnetosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Slavin, James A; Acuña, Mario H; Anderson, Brian J; Baker, Daniel N; Benna, Mehdi; Boardsen, Scott A; Gloeckler, George; Gold, Robert E; Ho, George C; Korth, Haje; Krimigis, Stamatios M; McNutt, Ralph L; Raines, Jim M; Sarantos, Menelaos; Schriver, David; Solomon, Sean C; Trávnícek, Pavel; Zurbuchen, Thomas H

2009-05-01

Solar wind energy transfer to planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres is controlled by magnetic reconnection, a process that determines the degree of connectivity between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and a planet's magnetic field. During MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury, a steady southward IMF was observed and the magnetopause was threaded by a strong magnetic field, indicating a reconnection rate ~10 times that typical at Earth. Moreover, a large flux transfer event was observed in the magnetosheath, and a plasmoid and multiple traveling compression regions were observed in Mercury's magnetotail, all products of reconnection. These observations indicate that Mercury's magnetosphere is much more responsive to IMF direction and dominated by the effects of reconnection than that of Earth or the other magnetized planets.

Electron-Scale Measurements of Magnetic Reconnection in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Burch, J. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Phan, T. D.; Chen, L.-J.; Moore, T. E.; Ergun, R. E.; Eastwood, J. P.; Gershman, D. J.; Cassak, P. A.; Argall, M. R.;

Nonlinear magnetic reconnection in low collisionality plasmas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ottaviani, M [Commission of the European Communities, Abingdon (United Kingdom). JET Joint Undertaking; Porcelli, F [Politecnico di Torino, Turin (Italy)

1994-07-01

The magnetic reconnection in collisionless regimes, where electron inertia is responsible for the decoupling of the plasma motion from that of the field lines, is discussed. Since the linear theory of m=1 modes breaks down for very small magnetic island widths, a non linear analysis is called for. Thus, the behaviour of a collisionless, 2-D fluid slab model in the limit {rho}/d -> 0, is analyzed. The main result is that, when the island size is larger than the linear layer but smaller than the equilibrium scale length, the reconnection rate exhibits a quasi-explosive time behaviour, during which a current density sub-layer narrower than the skin depth is formed. It is believed that the inclusion of the electron initial term in Ohm`s law opens the possibility to understand the rapidity of relaxation process observed in low collisionality plasmas. 7 refs., 6 figs.

Electron heating and energy inventory during asymmetric reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, J.; Na, B.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Yamada, M.; Ji, H.; Roytershteyn, V.; Argall, M. R.; Fox, W.; Chen, L. J.

2017-12-01

Electron heating and the energy inventory during asymmetric reconnection are studied in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [1]. In this plasma, the density ratio is about 8 across the current sheet. Typical features of asymmetric reconnection such as the large density gradients near the low-density-side separatrices, asymmetric in-plane electric field, and bipolar out-of-plane magnetic field are observed. Unlike the symmetric case [2], electrons are also heated near the low-density-side separatrices. The measured parallel electric field may explain the observed electron heating. Although large fluctuations driven by lower-hybrid drift instabilities are also observed near the low-density-side separatrices, laboratory measurements and numerical simulations reported here suggest that they do not play a major role in electron energization. The average electron temperature increase in the exhaust region is proportional to the incoming magnetic energy per an electron/ion pair but exceeds the scaling of the previous space observations [3]. This discrepancy is explained by differences in the boundary condition and system size. The profile of electron energy gain from the electric field shows that there is additional electron energy gain associated with the electron diamagnetic current besides a large energy gain near the X-line. This additional energy gain increases electron enthalpy, not the electron temperature. Finally, a quantitative analysis of the energy inventory during asymmetric reconnection is conducted. Unlike the symmetric case where the ion energy gain is about twice more than the electron energy gain [4], electrons and ions obtain a similar amount of energy during asymmetric reconnection. [1] J. Yoo et al., accepted for a publication in J. Geophys. Res. [2] J. Yoo et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 055706 (2014). [3] T. Phan et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 4475 (2013). [4] M. Yamada et al., Nat. Comms. 5, 4474 (2014).

The effect of guide-field and boundary conditions on the features and signatures of collisionless magnetic reconnection in a stressed X-point collapse

Science.gov (United States)

Graf von der Pahlen, J.; Tsiklauri, D.

2015-12-01

Magnetic X-point collapse is investigated using a 2.5D fully relativistic particle-in-cell simulation, with varying strengths of guide-field as well as open and closed boundary conditions. In the zero guide-field case we discover a new signature of Hall-reconnection in the out-of-plane magnetic field, namely an octupolar pattern, as opposed to the well-studied quadrupolar out-of-plane field of reconnection. The emergence of the octupolar components was found to be caused by ion currents and is a general feature of X-point collapse. In a comparative study of tearing-mode reconnection, signatures of octupolar components are found only in the out-flow region. It is argued that space-craft observations of magnetic fields at reconnection sites may be used accordingly to identify the type of reconnection [1][2]. Further, initial oscillatory reconnection is observed, prior to reconnection onset, generating electro-magnetic waves at the upper-hybrid frequency, matching solar flare progenitor emission. When applying a guide-field, in both open and closed boundary conditions, thinner dissipation regions are obtained and the onset of reconnection is increasingly delayed. Investigations with open boundary conditions show that, for guide-fields close to the strength of the in-plane field, shear flows emerge, leading to the formation of electron flow vortices and magnetic islands [3]. Asymmetries in the components of the generalised Ohm's law across the dissipation region are observed. Extended in 3D geometry, it is shown that locations of magnetic islands and vortices are not constant along the height of the current-sheet. Vortices formed on opposite sites of the current-sheet travel in opposite directions along it, leading to a criss-cross vortex pattern. Possible instabilities resulting from this specific structure formation are to be investigated [4].[1] J. Graf von der Pahlen and D. Tsiklauri, Phys. Plasmas 21, 060705 (2014), [2] J. Graf von der Pahlen and D. Tsiklauri

Current sheets and pressure anisotropy in the reconnection exhaust

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le, A.; Karimabadi, H.; Roytershteyn, V.; Egedal, J.; Ng, J.; Scudder, J.; Daughton, W.; Liu, Y.-H.

2014-01-01

A particle-in-cell simulation shows that the exhaust during anti-parallel reconnection in the collisionless regime contains a current sheet extending 100 inertial lengths from the X line. The current sheet is supported by electron pressure anisotropy near the X line and ion anisotropy farther downstream. Field-aligned electron currents flowing outside the magnetic separatrices feed the exhaust current sheet and generate the out-of-plane, or Hall, magnetic field. Existing models based on different mechanisms for each particle species provide good estimates for the levels of pressure anisotropy. The ion anisotropy, which is strong enough to reach the firehose instability threshold, is also important for overall force balance. It reduces the outflow speed of the plasma

Current sheets and pressure anisotropy in the reconnection exhaust

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Le, A.; Karimabadi, H.; Roytershteyn, V. [SciberQuest, Inc., Del Mar, California 92014 (United States); Egedal, J. [University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States); Ng, J. [PPPL, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States); Scudder, J. [University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (United States); Daughton, W.; Liu, Y.-H. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

2014-01-15

A particle-in-cell simulation shows that the exhaust during anti-parallel reconnection in the collisionless regime contains a current sheet extending 100 inertial lengths from the X line. The current sheet is supported by electron pressure anisotropy near the X line and ion anisotropy farther downstream. Field-aligned electron currents flowing outside the magnetic separatrices feed the exhaust current sheet and generate the out-of-plane, or Hall, magnetic field. Existing models based on different mechanisms for each particle species provide good estimates for the levels of pressure anisotropy. The ion anisotropy, which is strong enough to reach the firehose instability threshold, is also important for overall force balance. It reduces the outflow speed of the plasma.

Multi-scale observations of magnetic reconnection: Cluster and MMS measurements of the reconnecting magnetopause at the subsolar region and dusk sector

Science.gov (United States)

Toledo Redondo, S.; Escoubet, C. P.; Lavraud, B.; Andre, M.; Coxon, J.; Fear, R. C.; Aunai, N.; Hwang, K. J.; Li, W.; Fuselier, S. A.; Giles, B. L.; Russell, C. T.; Burch, J. L.

2017-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that couples the shocked solar wind to the Earth's magnetosphere, allowing the interchange of energy and mass. The X line of magnetic reconnection lies along the magnetopause but its extent and orientation are only partially understood, despite its importance for understanding global solar wind - magnetosphere coupling. We have identified a series of conjunctions between the MMS and Cluster missions where they crossed simultaneously the magnetopause at locations separated by several Earth radii: MMS spacecraft were in the subsolar region while Cluster were in the dusk flank. We identify signatures of reconnection at both spacecraft, allowing us to draw new conclusions about the extent, orientation and time variations of the X line along the magnetopause.

Experimental Investigation of the Neutral sheet Profile During Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trintchouk, F.; Ji, H.; Yamada, M.; Kulsrud, R.; Hsu, S.; Carter, T.

1999-01-01

During magnetic reconnection, a ''neutral sheet'' current is induced, heating the plasma. The resultant plasma thermal pressure forms a stationary equilibrium with the opposing magnetic fields. The reconnection layer profile holds significant clues about the physical mechanisms which control reconnection. On the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment [M. Yamada et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)], a quasi steady-state and axisymmetric neutral sheet profile has been measured precisely using a magnetic probe array with spatial resolution equal to one quarter of the ion gyro-radius. It was found that the reconnecting field profile fits well with a Harris-type profile [E. G. Harris, Il Nuovo Cimento 23, 115 (1962)], B(x) approximately tanh(x/delta). This agreement is remarkable since the Harris theory does not take into account reconnection and associated electric fields and dissipation. An explanation for this agreement is presented. The sheet thickness delta is found to be approximately 0.4 times the ion skin depth, which agrees with a generalized Harris theory incorporating non-isothermal electron and ion temperatures and finite electric field. The detailed study of additional local features of the reconnection region is also presented

Evidence for the field line reconnection process in the particle and magnetic field measurements obtained during the Giotto-Halley encounter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirsch, E.; Daly, P.; Korth, A.; McKenna-Lawlor, S.; Neubauer, F.M.; O' Sullivan, D.; Thompson, A.; Wenzel, K.P.

1989-04-01

Measurements of low (E = 250-1000 eV) and high (E = 60 to > 300 keV) energy particles as well as the magnetic field obtained by 3 different instruments (Reme Plasma Analyser, Energetic Particle Analyser, MAGnetometer) during the Giotto-Halley encounter on 13/14 March 1986 are used to study the field line merging process. Spikes of 5-15 min duration in the high energy particle flux which are superimposed on the general intensity time profile are correlated with minima in the low energy particle flux and time periods of oppositely directed magnetic field lines. Strong changes in the pitch angle distribution of energetic ions are observed simultaneously. The observations are considered as evidence for sporadic field line merging processes in the front side of Halley's cometosheath which can accelerate ions and electrons up to E /similar to/ 300 keV.

Accessing the Asymmetric Collisionless Reconnection Regime in the Terrestrial Reconnection Experiment (TREX)

Science.gov (United States)

Greess, S.; Egedal, J.; Olson, J.; Millet-Ayala, A.; Myers, R.; Wallace, J.; Clark, M.; Forest, C.

2017-12-01

Kinetic effects are expected to dominate the collisionless reconnection regime, where the mean free path is large enough that the anisotropic electron pressure can develop without being damped away by collisional pitch angle scattering. In simulations, the anisotropic pressure drives the formation of outflow jets [1]. These jets are expected to play a role in the reconnection layer at the Earth's magnetopause, which is currently being explored by Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) [2]. Until recently, this regime of anisotropic pressure was inaccessible by laboratory experiments, but new data from the Terrestrial Reconnection Experiment (TREX) shows that fully collisionless reconnection can now be achieved in the laboratory. Future runs at TREX will delve deeper into this collisionless regime in both the antiparallel and guide-field cases. [1] Le, A. et al. JPP, 81(1). doi: 10.1017/S0022377814000907. [2] Burch, J. L. et al. Space Sci. Rev. 199,5. doi: 10.1007/s11214-015-0164-9 Supported in part by NSF/DOE award DE-SC0013032.

Current disruption and its spreading in collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, Neeraj; Büchner, Jörg; Dorfman, Seth; Ji, Hantao; Surjalal Sharma, A.

2013-01-01

Recent magnetic reconnection experiments (MRX) [Dorfman et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 233 (2013)] have disclosed current disruption in the absence of an externally imposed guide field. During current disruption in MRX, both the current density and the total observed out-of-reconnection-plane current drop simultaneous with a rise in out-of-reconnection-plane electric field. Here, we show that current disruption is an intrinsic property of the dynamic formation of an X-point configuration of magnetic field in magnetic reconnection, independent of the model used for plasma description and of the dimensionality (2D or 3D) of reconnection. An analytic expression for the current drop is derived from Ampere's Law. Its predictions are verified by 2D and 3D electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) simulations. Three dimensional EMHD simulations show that the current disruption due to localized magnetic reconnection spreads along the direction of the electron drift velocity with a speed which depends on the wave number of the perturbation. The implications of these results for MRX are discussed

MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN NON-EQUILIBRIUM IONIZATION PLASMA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imada, S.; Shimizu, T.; Murakami, I.; Watanabe, T.; Hara, H.

2011-01-01

We have studied the effect of time-dependent ionization and the recombination processes on magnetic reconnection in the solar corona. Petschek-type steady reconnection, in which the magnetic energy is mainly converted at the slow-mode shocks, was assumed. We carried out the time-dependent ionization calculation in the magnetic reconnection structure. We only calculated the transient ionization of iron; the other species were assumed to be in ionization equilibrium. The intensity of line emissions at specific wavelengths was also calculated for comparison with Hinode or other observations in future. We found the following: (1) iron is mostly in non-equilibrium ionization in the reconnection region; (2) the intensity of line emission estimated by the time-dependent ionization calculation is significantly different from that determined from the ionization equilibrium assumption; (3) the effect of time-dependent ionization is sensitive to the electron density in the case where the electron density is less than 10 10 cm –3 ; (4) the effect of thermal conduction lessens the time-dependent ionization effect; and (5) the effect of radiative cooling is negligibly small even if we take into account time-dependent ionization.

Effect of magnetic reconnection in stellar plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Hammoud, M.; El Eid, M.; Darwish, M.

2017-06-01

An important phenomenon in Astrophysics is the process of magnetic reconnection (MGR), which is envisaged to understand the solar flares, coronal mass ejection, interaction of the solar wind with the Earth’s magnetic field (so called geomagnetic storm) and other phenomena. In addition, it plays a role in the formation of stars. MGR involves topological change of a set of magnetic field lines leading to a new equilibrium configuration of lower magnetic energy. The MGR is basically described in the framework of the Maxwell’s equations linked to Navier-Stockes equations. Nevertheless, many details are still not understood. In this paper, we investigate the MGR process in the framework of the Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of a single conducting fluid using a modern powerful computational tool (OpenFOAM). We will show that the MGR process takes place only if resistivity exists. However, despite the high conductivity of the plasma, resistivity becomes effective in a very thin layer generating sharp gradients of the magnetic field, and thus accelerating the reconnection process. The net effect of MGR is that magnetic energy is converted into thermal and kinetic energies leading to heating and acceleration of charged particles. The Sun’s coronal ejection is an example of the MGR process.

Using observations of slipping velocities to test the hypothesis that reconnection heats the active region corona

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai; Longcope, Dana; Guo, Yang; Ding, Mingde

2017-08-01

Numerous proposed coronal heating mechanisms have invoked magnetic reconnection in some role. Testing such a mechanism requires a method of measuring magnetic reconnection coupled with a prediction of the heat delivered by reconnection at the observed rate. In the absence of coronal reconnection, field line footpoints move at the same velocity as the plasma they find themselves in. The rate of coronal reconnection is therefore related to any discrepancy observed between footpoint motion and that of the local plasma — so-called slipping motion. We propose a novel method to measure this velocity discrepancy by combining a sequence of non-linear force-free field extrapolations with maps of photospheric velocity. We obtain both from a sequence of vector magnetograms of an active region (AR). We then propose a method of computing the coronal heating produced under the assumption the observed slipping velocity was due entirely to coronal reconnection. This heating rate is used to predict density and temperature at points along an equilibrium loop. This, in turn, is used to synthesize emission in EUV and SXR bands. We perform this analysis using a sequence of HMI vector magnetograms of a particular AR and compare synthesized images to observations of the same AR made by SDO. We also compare differential emission measure inferred from those observations to that of the modeled corona.

MMS observations of magnetic reconnection signatures of dissipating ion inertial-scale flux ropes associated with dipolarization events

Science.gov (United States)

Poh, G.; Slavin, J. A.; Lu, S.; Le, G.; Cassak, P.; Eastwood, J. P.; Ozturk, D. S.; Zou, S.; Nakamura, R.; Baumjohann, W.; Russell, C. T.; Gershman, D. J.; Giles, B. L.; Pollock, C.; Moore, T. E.; Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.

2017-12-01

The formation of flux ropes is thought to be an integral part of the process that may have important consequences for the onset and subsequent rate of reconnection in the tail. Earthward flows, i.e. bursty bulk flows (BBFs), generate dipolarization fronts (DFs) as they interact with the closed magnetic flux in their path. Global hybrid simulations and THEMIS observations have shown that earthward-moving flux ropes can undergo magnetic reconnection with the near-Earth dipole field in the downtail region between the Near Earth Neutral Line and the near-Earth dipole field to create DFs-like signatures. In this study, we analyzed sequential "chains" of earthward-moving, ion-scale flux ropes embedded within DFs observed during MMS first tail season. MMS high-resolution plasma measurements indicate that these earthward flux ropes embedded in DFs have a mean bulk flow velocity and diameter of 250 km/s and 1000 km ( 2‒3 ion inertial length λi), respectively. Magnetic reconnection signatures preceding the flux rope/DF encounter were also observed. As the southward-pointing magnetic field in the leading edge of the flux rope reconnects with the northward-pointing geomagnetic field, the characteristic quadrupolar Hall magnetic field in the ion diffusion region and electron outflow jets in the north-south direction are observed. Our results strongly suggest that the earthward moving flux ropes brake and gradually dissipate due to magnetic reconnection with the near Earth magnetic field. We have also examined the occurrence rate of these dissipating flux ropes/DF events as a function of downtail distances.

Forced magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahm, T.S.; Kulsrud, R.M.

1984-11-01

By studying a simple model problem, we examine the time evolution of magnetic field islands which are induced by perturbing the boundary surrounding an incompressible plasma with a resonant surface inside. We find that for sufficiently small boundary perturbations, the reconnection and island formation process occurs on the tearing mode time scale defined by Furth, Killeen, and Rosenbluth. For larger perturbations the time scale is that defined by Rutherford. The resulting asymptotic equilibrium is such that surface currents in the resonant region vanish. A detailed analytical picture of this reconnection process is presented

FILAMENT INTERACTION MODELED BY FLUX ROPE RECONNECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toeroek, T.; Chandra, R.; Pariat, E.; Demoulin, P.; Schmieder, B.; Aulanier, G.; Linton, M. G.; Mandrini, C. H.

2011-01-01

Hα observations of solar active region NOAA 10501 on 2003 November 20 revealed a very uncommon dynamic process: during the development of a nearby flare, two adjacent elongated filaments approached each other, merged at their middle sections, and separated again, thereby forming stable configurations with new footpoint connections. The observed dynamic pattern is indicative of 'slingshot' reconnection between two magnetic flux ropes. We test this scenario by means of a three-dimensional zero β magnetohydrodynamic simulation, using a modified version of the coronal flux rope model by Titov and Demoulin as the initial condition for the magnetic field. To this end, a configuration is constructed that contains two flux ropes which are oriented side-by-side and are embedded in an ambient potential field. The choice of the magnetic orientation of the flux ropes and of the topology of the potential field is guided by the observations. Quasi-static boundary flows are then imposed to bring the middle sections of the flux ropes into contact. After sufficient driving, the ropes reconnect and two new flux ropes are formed, which now connect the former adjacent flux rope footpoints of opposite polarity. The corresponding evolution of filament material is modeled by calculating the positions of field line dips at all times. The dips follow the morphological evolution of the flux ropes, in qualitative agreement with the observed filaments.

Electron Surfing Acceleration in Magnetic Reconnection

OpenAIRE

Hoshino, Masahiro

2005-01-01

We discuss that energetic electrons are generated near the X-type magnetic reconnection region due to a surfing acceleration mechanism. In a thin plasma sheet, the polarization electric fields pointing towards the neutral sheet are induced around the boundary between the lobe and plasma sheet in association with the Hall electric current. By using a particle-in-cell simulation, we demonstrate that the polarization electric fields are strongly enhanced in an externally driven reconnection syst...

Observations of Reconnection Flows in a Flare on the Solar Disk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Juntao; Simões, P. J. A.; Jeffrey, N. L. S.; Fletcher, L.; Wright, P. J.; Hannah, I. G., E-mail: j.wang.4@research.gla.ac.uk [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom)

2017-09-20

Magnetic reconnection is a well-accepted part of the theory of solar eruptive events, though the evidence is still circumstantial. Intrinsic to the reconnection picture of a solar eruptive event, particularly in the standard model for two-ribbon flares (CSHKP model), are an advective flow of magnetized plasma into the reconnection region, expansion of field above the reconnection region as a flux rope erupts, retraction of heated post-reconnection loops, and downflows of cooling plasma along those loops. We report on a unique set of Solar Dynamics Observatory /Atmospheric Imaging Assembly imaging and Hinode /EUV Imaging Spectrometer spectroscopic observations of the disk flare SOL2016-03-23T03:54 in which all four flows are present simultaneously. This includes spectroscopic evidence for a plasma upflow in association with large-scale expanding closed inflow field. The reconnection inflows are symmetric, and consistent with fast reconnection, and the post-reconnection loops show a clear cooling and deceleration as they retract. Observations of coronal reconnection flows are still rare, and most events are observed at the solar limb, obscured by complex foregrounds, making their relationship to the flare ribbons, cusp field, and arcades formed in the lower atmosphere difficult to interpret. The disk location and favorable perspective of this event have removed these ambiguities giving a clear picture of the reconnection dynamics.

Observations of Reconnection Flows in a Flare on the Solar Disk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Juntao; Simões, P. J. A.; Jeffrey, N. L. S.; Fletcher, L.; Wright, P. J.; Hannah, I. G.

2017-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a well-accepted part of the theory of solar eruptive events, though the evidence is still circumstantial. Intrinsic to the reconnection picture of a solar eruptive event, particularly in the standard model for two-ribbon flares (CSHKP model), are an advective flow of magnetized plasma into the reconnection region, expansion of field above the reconnection region as a flux rope erupts, retraction of heated post-reconnection loops, and downflows of cooling plasma along those loops. We report on a unique set of Solar Dynamics Observatory /Atmospheric Imaging Assembly imaging and Hinode /EUV Imaging Spectrometer spectroscopic observations of the disk flare SOL2016-03-23T03:54 in which all four flows are present simultaneously. This includes spectroscopic evidence for a plasma upflow in association with large-scale expanding closed inflow field. The reconnection inflows are symmetric, and consistent with fast reconnection, and the post-reconnection loops show a clear cooling and deceleration as they retract. Observations of coronal reconnection flows are still rare, and most events are observed at the solar limb, obscured by complex foregrounds, making their relationship to the flare ribbons, cusp field, and arcades formed in the lower atmosphere difficult to interpret. The disk location and favorable perspective of this event have removed these ambiguities giving a clear picture of the reconnection dynamics.

Particle Demagnetization in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael

2006-01-01

The dissipation mechanism of magnetic reconnection remains a subject of intense scientific interest. On one hand, one set of recent studies have shown that particle inertia-based processes, which include thermal and bulk inertial effects, provide the reconnection electric field in the diffusion region. In this presentation, we present analytical theory results, as well as 2.5 and three-dimensional PIC simulations of guide field magnetic reconnection. We will show that diffusion region scale sizes in moderate and large guide field cases are determined by electron Larmor radii, and that analytical estimates of diffusion region dimensions need to include description of the heat flux tensor. The dominant electron dissipation process appears to be based on thermal electron inertia, expressed through nongyrotropic electron pressure tensors. We will argue that this process remains viable in three dimensions by means of a detailed comparison of high resolution particle-in-cell simulations.

The Diffusion Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Neukirch, Thomas; Schindler, Karl; Kuznetsova, Masha; Zenitani, Seiji

2011-01-01

A review of present understanding of the dissipation region in magnetic reconnection is presented. The review focuses on results of the thermal inertia-based dissipation mechanism but alternative mechanisms are mentioned as well. For the former process, a combination of analytical theory and numerical modeling is presented. Furthermore, a new relation between the electric field expressions for anti-parallel and guide field reconnection is developed.

Flux Rope Acceleration and Enhanced Magnetic Reconnection Rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

C.Z. Cheng; Y. Ren; G.S. Choe; Y.-J. Moon

2003-01-01

A physical mechanism of flares, in particular for the flare rise phase, has emerged from our 2-1/2-dimensional resistive MHD simulations. The dynamical evolution of current-sheet formation and magnetic reconnection and flux-rope acceleration subject to continuous, slow increase of magnetic shear in the arcade are studied by employing a non-uniform anomalous resistivity in the reconnecting current sheet under gravity. The simulation results directly relate the flux rope's accelerated rising motion with an enhanced magnetic reconnection rate and thus an enhanced reconnection electric field in the current sheet during the flare rise phase. The simulation results provide good quantitative agreements with observations of the acceleration of flux rope, which manifests in the form of SXR ejecta or erupting filament or CMEs, in the low corona. Moreover, for the X-class flare events studied in this paper the peak reconnection electric field is about O(10 2 V/m) or larger, enough to accelerate p articles to over 100 keV in a field-aligned distance of 10 km. Nonthermal electrons thus generated can produce hard X-rays, consistent with impulsive HXR emission observed during the flare rise phase

Structure of reconnection boundary layers in incompressible MHD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonnerup, B.U.Oe.; Wang, D.J.

1987-01-01

The incompressible MHD equations with nonvanishing viscosity and resistivity are simplified by use of the boundary layer approximation to describe the flow and magnetic field in the exit flow regions of magnetic field reconnection configurations when the reconnection rate is small. The conditions are derived under which self-similar solutions exist of the resulting boundary layer equations. For the case of zero viscosity and resistivity, the equations describing such self-similar layers are then solved in terms of quadratures, and the resulting flow and field configurations are described. Symmetric solutions, relevant, for example, to reconnection in the geomagnetic tail, as well as asymmetric solutions, relevant to reconnection at the earth's magnetopause, are found to exist. The nature of the external solutions to which the boundary layer solutions should be matched is discussed briefly, but the actual matching, which is to occur at Alfven-wave characteristic curves in the boundary layer solutions, is not carried out. Finally, it is argued that the solutions obtained may also be used to describe the structure of the intense vortex layers observed to occur at magnetic separatrices in computer simulations and in certain analytical models of the reconnection process

Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Uzdensky, Dmitri

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma physics process of breaking ideal-MHD's frozen-in constraints on magnetic field connectivity and of dramatic rearranging of the magnetic topol-ogy, which often leads to a violent release of the free magnetic energy. Reconnection has long been acknowledged to be of great importance in laboratory plasma physics (magnetic fusion) and in space and solar physics (responsible for solar flares and magnetospheric substorms). In addition, its importance in Astrophysics has been increasingly recognized in recent years. However, due to a great diversity of astrophysical environments, the fundamental physics of astrophysical magnetic reconnection can be quite different from that of the traditional recon-nection encountered in the solar system. In particular, environments like the solar corona and the magnetosphere are characterized by relatively low energy densities, where the plasma is ad-equately described as a mixture of electrons and ions whose numbers are conserved and where the dissipated magnetic energy basically stays with the plasma. In contrast, in many high-energy astrophysical phenomena the energy density is so large that photons play as important a role as electrons and ions and, in particular, radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant. In this talk I focus on the most extreme case of high-energy-density astrophysical reconnec-tion — reconnection of magnetar-strength (1014 - 1015 Gauss) magnetic fields, important for giant flares in soft-gamma repeaters (SGRs), and for rapid magnetic energy release in either the central engines or in the relativistic jets of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). I outline the key relevant physical processes and present a new theoretical picture of magnetic reconnection in these environments. The corresponding magnetic energy density is so enormous that, when suddenly released, it inevitably heats the plasma to relativistic temperatures, resulting in co-pious production of electron

MMS Observations of Reconnection at Dayside Magnetopause Crossings During Transitions of the Solar Wind to Sub-Alfvenic Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Farrugia, C. J.; Lugaz, N.; Alm, L.; Vasquez, B. J.; Argall, M. R.; Kucharek, H.; Matsui, H.; Torbert, R. B.; Lavraud, B.; Le Contel, O.; Shuster, J. R.; Burch, J. L.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Giles, B. L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Gershman, D. J.; Ergun, R.; Eastwood, J. P.; Cohen, I. J.; Dorelli, J.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Marklund, G. T.; Paulson, K.; Petrinec, S.; Phan, T.; Pollock, C.

2017-12-01

We present MMS) observations during two dayside magnetopause crossingsunder hitherto unexamined conditions: (i) when the bow shock is weakening and the solar wind transitioning to sub-Alfvenic flow, and (ii) when it is reforming. Interplanetary conditions consist of a magnetic cloud with (i) a strong B ( 20 nT) pointing south, and (ii) a density profile with episodic decreases to values of 0.3 /cc followed by moderate recovery. During the crossings he magnetosheath magnetic field is stronger than the magnetosphere field by a factor of 2.2. As a result, during the outbound crossing through the ion diffusion region, MMS observed an inversion of relative positions of the X and stagnation (S) lines from that typically the case: the S line was closer to the magnetosheath side. The S-line appears in the form of a slow expansion fan near which most of the energy dissipation is taking place. While in the magnetosphere between the crossings, MMS observed strong field and flow perturbations, which we argue to be due kinetic Alfvén waves.During the reconnection interval, whistler mode waves generated by an electron temperature anisotropy (Tperp>Tpar) were observed. Another aim of the paper isto distinguish bow shock-induced field and flow perturbations from reconnection-related signatures.The high resolution MMS data together with 2D hybrid simulations of bow shock dynamics helped us to distinguish between the two sources. We show examples of bow shock-related effects (such as heating) and reconnection effects such as accelerated flows satisfying the Walen relation.

Investigation of magnetic reconnection during a sawtooth crash in a high temperature tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, M.; Pomphrey, N.; Budney, R.; Macickam, J.; Nagayama, Y.

1994-09-01

This paper reports on a recent laboratory investigation on magnetic reconnection in high temperature tokamak plasmas. The motional stark effect(MSE) diagnostic is employed to measure the pitch angle of magnetic field lines, and hence the q profile. An analytical expression that relates pitch angle to q profile has been developed for a toroidal plasma with circular cross section. During the crash phase of sawtooth oscillations in the plasma discharges, the ECE (electron cyclotron emission) diagnostic measures a fast flattening of the 2-D electron temperature profile in a poloidal plane, an observation consistent with the Kadomtsev reconnection theory. On the other hand motional the MSE measurements indicate that central q values do not relax to unity after the crash, but increase only by 5-10%, typically from 0.7 to 0.75. The latter result is in contradiction with the models of Kadomtsev and/or Wesson. The present study addresses this puzzle by a simultaneous analysis of electron temperature and q profile evolutions. Based on a heuristic model for the magnetic reconnection during the sawtooth crash, the small change of q, i.e. partial reconnection, is attributed to the precipitous drop of pressure gradients which drive the instability and the reconnection process as well as flux conserving plasma dynamics

Ion-Scale Structure in Mercury's Magnetopause Reconnection Diffusion Region

Science.gov (United States)

Gershman, Daniel J.; Dorelli, John C.; DiBraccio, Gina A.; Raines, Jim M.; Slavin, James A.; Poh, Gangkai; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

The strength and time dependence of the electric field in a magnetopause diffusion region relate to the rate of magnetic reconnection between the solar wind and a planetary magnetic field. Here we use approximately 150 milliseconds measurements of energetic electrons from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft observed over Mercury's dayside polar cap boundary (PCB) to infer such small-scale changes in magnetic topology and reconnection rates. We provide the first direct measurement of open magnetic topology in flux transfer events at Mercury, structures thought to account for a significant portion of the open magnetic flux transport throughout the magnetosphere. In addition, variations in PCB latitude likely correspond to intermittent bursts of approximately 0.3 to 3 millivolts per meter reconnection electric fields separated by approximately 5 to10 seconds, resulting in average and peak normalized dayside reconnection rates of approximately 0.02 and approximately 0.2, respectively. These data demonstrate that structure in the magnetopause diffusion region at Mercury occurs at the smallest ion scales relevant to reconnection physics.

Validation of community models: 3. Tracing field lines in heliospheric models

Science.gov (United States)

MacNeice, Peter; Elliott, Brian; Acebal, Ariel

2011-10-01

Forecasting hazardous gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) bursts at Earth requires accurately modeling field line connections between Earth and the locations of coronal or interplanetary shocks that accelerate the particles. We test the accuracy of field lines reconstructed using four different models of the ambient coronal and inner heliospheric magnetic field, through which these shocks must propagate, including the coupled Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)/ENLIL model. Evaluating the WSA/ENLIL model performance is important since it is the most sophisticated model currently available to space weather forecasters which can model interplanetary coronal mass ejections and, when coupled with particle acceleration and transport models, will provide a complete model for gradual SEP bursts. Previous studies using a simpler Archimedean spiral approach above 2.5 solar radii have reported poor performance. We test the accuracy of the model field lines connecting Earth to the Sun at the onset times of 15 impulsive SEP bursts, comparing the foot points of these field lines with the locations of surface events believed to be responsible for the SEP bursts. We find the WSA/ENLIL model performance is no better than the simplest spiral model, and the principal source of error is the model's inability to reproduce sufficient low-latitude open flux. This may be due to the model's use of static synoptic magnetograms, which fail to account for transient activity in the low corona, during which reconnection events believed to initiate the SEP acceleration may contribute short-lived open flux at low latitudes. Time-dependent coronal models incorporating these transient events may be needed to significantly improve Earth/Sun field line forecasting.

Magnetic reconnection simulation using the 2.5D em [electromagnetic] direct implicit code AVANTI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewett, D.W.; Francis, G.E.; Max, C.E.

1988-01-01

Collisionless reconnection of magnetic field lines depends upon electron inertia effects and details of the electron and ion distribution functions, thus requiring a kinetic description of both. Though traditional explicit PIC techniques provide this description in principle, they are severely limited in parameters by time step constraints. This parameter regime has been expanded by using the recently constructed 2.5 D electromagnetic code AVANTI in this work. The code runs stably with arbitrarily large Δt and is quite robust with respect to large fluctuations occurring due to small numbers of particles per cell. We have found several qualitatively new features. The reconnection process is found to occur in distinct stages: early spontaneous reconnection fed by the free energy of an initial anisotropy in the electron component, coalescence of the resulting small-scale filaments of electron current, accompanied by electron jetting, and oscillatory flow of electrons through the magnetic X-point, superposed on continuing nonlinear growth of ion-mediated reconnection. The time evolution of stage is strongly dependent on M i /m e . 12 refs., 6 figs

Magnetic Reconnection Results on the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Kornack, T. W.; Sollins, P. K.; Brown, M. R.

1997-11-01

Linear and 2D arrays of magnetic probes are used to study magnetic reconnection in the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX). Opposing coaxial plasma guns form two identical spheromaks into adjacent 0.5 m diameter copper flux conservers. The flux conservers have symmetrical openings that allow the spheromaks to merge in a controlled manner. The stable equilibrium of the spheromaks provides a reservoir of magnetic flux for reconnection experiments. Currently, the magnetic configuration of the spheromaks allows the study of counter-helicity reconnection. Preliminary analysis will be presented and may include 2D B field movies of the reconnection region, measurement of the reconnection rate and comparison to the Sweet-Parker and standard Petschek models.

Spatial characteristics of magnetotail reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Genestreti, Kevin J.

of the distribution function. The second method for determining temperatures involves a comparison of the energy-dependent and total plasma number densities. Both methods assume an infinitely thin sheath model for space- craft charging, a Maxwellian-type plasma, and bulk velocities that are strictly governed by ExB drift, which we model with a dipole magnetic field and a Volland-Stern electric potential field. The two methods are applied to RBSP observations of the plasmasphere proper. We find positive agreement with existing measurements of the temperatures, which were based upon data from low-altitude polar orbiting spacecraft. We also find evidence for in situ heating of the plasmasphere at the equator in the ring current overlap region. Finally, we apply these techniques to a single conjunction event, where MMS and RBSP provided simultaneous and nearly continuous coverage of the plasmasphere and plume from its equatorial base to the reconnecting magnetopause. We develop scaling laws for the temperature and density of the plasmasphere as a function of geocentric distance, showing that it is heated and density depleted by factors 20 and 200 (respectively) from L = 5 to the magnetospheric side of the reconnection boundary layer.

Three-dimensional relativistic pair plasma reconnection with radiative feedback in the Crab Nebula

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cerutti, B. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Werner, G. R.; Uzdensky, D. A. [Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, University of Colorado, UCB 390, Boulder, CO 80309-0390 (United States); Begelman, M. C., E-mail: bcerutti@astro.princeton.edu, E-mail: greg.werner@colorado.edu, E-mail: uzdensky@colorado.edu, E-mail: mitch@jila.colorado.edu [JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, UCB 440, Boulder, CO 80309-0440 (United States)

2014-02-20

The discovery of rapid synchrotron gamma-ray flares above 100 MeV from the Crab Nebula has attracted new interest in alternative particle acceleration mechanisms in pulsar wind nebulae. Diffuse shock-acceleration fails to explain the flares because particle acceleration and emission occur during a single or even sub-Larmor timescale. In this regime, the synchrotron energy losses induce a drag force on the particle motion that balances the electric acceleration and prevents the emission of synchrotron radiation above 160 MeV. Previous analytical studies and two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations indicate that relativistic reconnection is a viable mechanism to circumvent the above difficulties. The reconnection electric field localized at X-points linearly accelerates particles with little radiative energy losses. In this paper, we check whether this mechanism survives in three dimension (3D), using a set of large PIC simulations with radiation reaction force and with a guide field. In agreement with earlier works, we find that the relativistic drift kink instability deforms and then disrupts the layer, resulting in significant plasma heating but few non-thermal particles. A moderate guide field stabilizes the layer and enables particle acceleration. We report that 3D magnetic reconnection can accelerate particles above the standard radiation reaction limit, although the effect is less pronounced than in 2D with no guide field. We confirm that the highest-energy particles form compact bunches within magnetic flux ropes, and a beam tightly confined within the reconnection layer, which could result in the observed Crab flares when, by chance, the beam crosses our line of sight.

INTERCHANGE RECONNECTION AND CORONAL HOLE DYNAMICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edmondson, J. K.; Antiochos, S. K.; DeVore, C. R.; Lynch, B. J.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2010-01-01

We investigate the effect of magnetic reconnection between open and closed fields, often referred to as 'interchange' reconnection, on the dynamics and topology of coronal hole boundaries. The most important and most prevalent three-dimensional topology of the interchange process is that of a small-scale bipolar magnetic field interacting with a large-scale background field. We determine the evolution of such a magnetic topology by numerical solution of the fully three-dimensional MHD equations in spherical coordinates. First, we calculate the evolution of a small-scale bipole that initially is completely inside an open field region and then is driven across a coronal hole boundary by photospheric motions. Next the reverse situation is calculated in which the bipole is initially inside the closed region and driven toward the coronal hole boundary. In both cases, we find that the stress imparted by the photospheric motions results in deformation of the separatrix surface between the closed field of the bipole and the background field, leading to rapid current sheet formation and to efficient reconnection. When the bipole is inside the open field region, the reconnection is of the interchange type in that it exchanges open and closed fields. We examine, in detail, the topology of the field as the bipole moves across the coronal hole boundary and find that the field remains well connected throughout this process. Our results, therefore, provide essential support for the quasi-steady models of the open field, because in these models the open and closed flux are assumed to remain topologically distinct as the photosphere evolves. Our results also support the uniqueness hypothesis for open field regions as postulated by Antiochos et al. On the other hand, the results argue against models in which open flux is assumed to diffusively penetrate deeply inside the closed field region under a helmet streamer. We discuss the implications of this work for coronal observations.

Lessons on collisionless reconnection from quantum fluids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuhito eNarita

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Magnetic reconnection in space plasmas remains a challenge in physics in that the phenomenon is associated with the breakdown of frozen-in magnetic field in a collisionless medium. Such a topology change can also be found in superfluidity, known as the quantum vortex reconnection. We give a plasma physicists' view of superfluidity to obtain insights on essential processes in collisionless reconnection, including discussion of the kinetic and fluid pictures, wave dynamics, and time reversal asymmetry. The most important lesson from the quantum fluid is the scenario that reconnection is controlled by the physics of topological defects on the microscopic scale, and by the physics of turbulence on the macroscopic scale. Quantum vortex reconnection is accompanied by wave emission in the form of Kelvin waves and sound waves, which imprints the time reversal asymmetry.

SCALING LAW OF RELATIVISTIC SWEET-PARKER-TYPE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Hiroyuki R.; Kudoh, Takahiro; Masada, Youhei; Matsumoto, Jin

2011-01-01

Relativistic Sweet-Parker-type magnetic reconnection is investigated by relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamic (RRMHD) simulations. As an initial setting, we assume anti-parallel magnetic fields and a spatially uniform resistivity. A perturbation imposed on the magnetic fields triggers magnetic reconnection around a current sheet, and the plasma inflows into the reconnection region. The inflows are then heated due to ohmic dissipation in the diffusion region and finally become relativistically hot outflows. The outflows are not accelerated to ultrarelativistic speeds (i.e., Lorentz factor ≅ 1), even when the magnetic energy dominates the thermal and rest mass energies in the inflow region. Most of the magnetic energy in the inflow region is converted into the thermal energy of the outflow during the reconnection process. The energy conversion from magnetic to thermal energy in the diffusion region results in an increase in the plasma inertia. This prevents the outflows from being accelerated to ultrarelativistic speeds. We find that the reconnection rate R obeys the scaling relation R≅S -0.5 , where S is the Lundquist number. This feature is the same as that of non-relativistic reconnection. Our results are consistent with the theoretical predictions of Lyubarsky for Sweet-Parker-type magnetic reconnection.

Magnetic reconnection and precursor effect in coaxial discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masoud, M.M.; Soliman, H.M.; El-Khalafawy, T.A.

1988-01-01

A precursor pulse was observed ahead of the plasma sheath produced by a coaxial electrode discharge system. The velocity of the precursor pulse was 4x10 7 cmS -1 and the velocity of the plasma sheath was 6x10 6 cmS -1 . The precursor pulse was unaffected when an axial magnetic field of 6 K.G. was applied to the propagation chamber, while the plasma sheath velocity increased and downstream structure were changed. The precursor pulse was split, sometimes, into two or more peaks, had the same shape and structure of the original one. The rest gas was heated up to 20 e.V. when the precursor pulse was destructed. The precursor pulse propagation mechanism and parameters showed that it had a solitary wave structure and behaviour. A reversed magnetic field was detected, when the plasma sheath had diamagnetic properties, where magnetic reconnection took place. Magnetic reconnection was responsible for energy transfiguration and wave generation. This was due to acceleration mechanism of charged particles occurred by the induced electric field at the moment of magnetic reconnection. The detected induced electric field had a high field intensity and fast rise time pulse. Several instabilities were referred to magnetic reconnection and the precursor pulse observed was a result of such instabilities

Magnetic reconnection physics in the solar wind with Voyager 2

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Michael L.

2009-08-01

Magnetic reconnection is the process by which the magnetic topology evolves in collisionless plasmas. This phenomenon is fundamental to a broad range of astrophysical processes such as stellar flares, magnetospheric substorms, and plasma accretion, yet it is poorly understood and difficult to observe in situ . In this thesis, the solar wind plasma permeating interplanetary space is treated as a laboratory for reconnection physics. I present an exhaustive statistical approach to the identification of reconnection outflow jets in turbulent plasma and magnetic field time series data. This approach has been automated and characterized so that the resulting reconnection survey can be put in context with other related studies. The algorithm is shown to perform similarly to ad hoc studies in the inner heliosphere. Based on this technique, I present a survey of 138 outflow jets for the Voyager 2 spacecraft mission, including the most distant in situ evidence of reconnection discovered to date. Reconnection in the solar wind is shown to be strongly correlated with stream interactions and with solar activity. The solar wind magnetic field is found to be reconnecting via large, quasi-steady slow- mode magnetohydrodynamic structures as far out as the orbit of Neptune. The role of slow-mode shocks is explored and, in one instance, a well-developed reconnection structure is shown to be in good agreement with the Petschek theory for fast reconnection. This is the first reported example of a reconnection exhaust that satisfies the full jump conditions for a stationary slow-mode shock pair. A complete investigation into corotating stream interactions over the Voyager 2 mission has revealed that detectable reconnection structure occurs in about 23% of forced, global-scale current sheets. Contrary to previous studies, I find that signatures of this kind are most likely to be observed for current sheets where the magnetic field shear and the plasma-b are high. Evidence has been found

Parallel electric fields in a simulation of magnetotail reconnection and plasmoid evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesse, M.; Birn, J.

1990-01-01

Properties of the electric field component parallel to the magnetic field are investigate in a 3D MHD simulation of plasmoid formation and evolution in the magnetotail, in the presence of a net dawn-dusk magnetic field component. The spatial localization of E-parallel, and the concept of a diffusion zone and the role of E-parallel in accelerating electrons are discussed. A localization of the region of enhanced E-parallel in all space directions is found, with a strong concentration in the z direction. This region is identified as the diffusion zone, which plays a crucial role in reconnection theory through the local break-down of magnetic flux conservation. 12 refs

Oscillations in solar jets observed with the SOT of Hinode: viscous effects during reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Tavabi, E.; Koutchmy, S.

2014-07-01

Transverse oscillatory motions and recurrence behavior in the chromospheric jets observed by Hinode/SOT are studied. A comparison is considered with the behavior that was noticed in coronal X-ray jets observed by Hinode/XRT. A jet like bundle observed at the limb in Ca II H line appears to show a magnetic topology that is similar to X-ray jets (i.e., the Eiffel tower shape). The appearance of such magnetic topology is usually assumed to be caused by magnetic reconnection near a null point. Transverse motions of the jet axis are recorded but no clear evidence of twist is appearing from the highly processed movie. The aim is to investigate the dynamical behavior of an incompressible magnetic X-point occurring during the magnetic reconnection in the jet formation region. The viscous effect is specially considered in the closed line-tied magnetic X-shape nulls. We perform the MHD numerical simulation in 2-D by solving the visco-resistive MHD equations with the tracing of velocity and magnetic field. A qualitative agreement with Hinode observations is found for the oscillatory and non-oscillatory behaviors of the observed solar jets in both the chromosphere and the corona. Our results suggest that the viscous effect contributes to the excitation of the magnetic reconnection by generating oscillations that we observed at least inside this Ca II H line cool solar jet bundle.

Diagnosis of Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Heating

Science.gov (United States)

Dufor, Mikal T.; Jemiolo, Andrew J.; Keesee, Amy; Cassak, Paul; Tu, Weichao; Scime, Earl E.

2017-10-01

The DARTH (Diagnosis of Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Heating) experiment is an intermediate-scale, experimental facility designed to study magnetic reconnection at and below the kinetic scale of ions and electrons. The experiment will have non-perturbative diagnostics with high temporal and three-dimensional spatial resolution, giving it the capability to investigate kinetic-scale physics. Of specific scientific interest are particle acceleration, plasma heating, turbulence and energy dissipation during reconnection. Here we will describe the magnetic field system and the two plasma guns used to create flux ropes that then merge through magnetic reconnection. We will also describe the key diagnostic systems: laser induced fluorescence (LIF) for ion vdf measurements, a 300 GHz microwave scattering system for sub-mm wavelength fluctuation measurements and a Thomson scattering laser for electron vdf measurements. The vacuum chamber is designed to provide unparalleled access for these particle diagnostics. The scientific goals of DARTH are to examine particle acceleration and heating during, the role of three-dimensional instabilities during reconnection, how reconnection ceases, and the role of impurities and asymmetries in reconnection. This work was supported by the by the O'Brien Energy Research Fund.

Magnetic Reconnection at the Earliest Stage of Solar Flux Emergence

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Hui; Zhu, Xiaoshuai; Peter, Hardi; Zhao, Jie; Samanta, Tanmoy; Chen, Yajie

2018-02-01

On 2016 September 20, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph observed an active region during its earliest emerging phase for almost 7 hr. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory observed continuous emergence of small-scale magnetic bipoles with a rate of ∼1016 Mx s‑1. The emergence of magnetic fluxes and interactions between different polarities lead to the frequent occurrence of ultraviolet (UV) bursts, which exhibit as intense transient brightenings in the 1400 Å images. In the meantime, discrete small patches with the same magnetic polarity tend to move together and merge, leading to the enhancement of the magnetic fields and thus the formation of pores (small sunspots) at some locations. The spectra of these UV bursts are characterized by the superposition of several chromospheric absorption lines on the greatly broadened profiles of some emission lines formed at typical transition region temperatures, suggesting heating of the local materials to a few tens of thousands of kelvin in the lower atmosphere by magnetic reconnection. Some bursts reveal blue- and redshifts of ∼100 km s‑1 at neighboring pixels, indicating the spatially resolved bidirectional reconnection outflows. Many such bursts appear to be associated with the cancellation of magnetic fluxes with a rate of the order of ∼1015 Mx s‑1. We also investigate the three-dimensional magnetic field topology through a magnetohydrostatic model and find that a small fraction of the bursts are associated with bald patches (magnetic dips). Finally, we find that almost all bursts are located in regions of large squashing factor at the height of ∼1 Mm, reinforcing our conclusion that these bursts are produced through reconnection in the lower atmosphere.

Stability of the line preserving flows

Science.gov (United States)

Figura, Przemysław

2017-11-01

We examine the equations that are used to describe flows which preserve field lines. We study what happens if we introduce perturbations to the governing equations. The stability of the line preserving flows in the case of the magneto-fluids permeated by magnetic fields is strictly connected to the non-null magnetic reconnection processes. In most of our study we use the Euler potential representation of the external magnetic field. We provide general expressions for the perturbations of the Euler potentials that describe the magnetic field. Similarly, we provide expressions for the case of steady flow as well as we obtain certain conditions required for the stability of the flow. In addition, for steady flows we formulate conditions under which the perturbations of the external field are negligible and the field may be described by its initial unperturbed form. Then we consider the flow equation that transforms quantities from the laboratory coordinate system to the related external field coordinate system. We introduce perturbations to the equation and obtain its simplified versions for the case of a steady flow. For a given system, use of this method allows us to simplify the considerations provided that some part of the system may be described as a perturbation. Next, to study regions favourable for the magnetic reconnection to occur we introduce a deviation vector to the basic line preserving flows condition equation. We provide expressions of the vector for some simplifying cases. This method allows us to examine if given perturbations either stabilise the system or induce magnetic reconnection. To illustrate some of our results we study two examples, namely a simple laboratory plasma flow and a simple planetary magnetosphere model.

New Measure of the Dissipation Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zenitani, Seiji; Hesse, Michael; Klimas, Alex; Kuznetsova, Masha

2011-01-01

A new measure to identify a small-scale dissipation region in collisionless magnetic reconnection is proposed. The energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron's rest frame is formulated as a Lorentz-invariant scalar quantity. The measure is tested by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in typical configurations: symmetric and asymmetric reconnection, with and without the guide field. The innermost region surrounding the reconnection site is accurately located in all cases. We further discuss implications for nonideal MHD dissipation.

Cluster Observations of reconnection along the dusk flank of the magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Escoubet, C.-Philippe; Grison, Benjamin; Berchem, Jean; Trattner, Karlheinz; Lavraud, Benoit; Pitout, Frederic; Soucek, Jan; Richard, Robert; Laakso, Harri; Masson, Arnaud; Dunlop, Malcolm; Dandouras, Iannis; Reme, Henri; Fazakerley, Andrew; Daly, Patrick

2015-04-01

Magnetic reconnection is generally accepted to be the main process that transfers particles and energy from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. The location of the reconnection site depends on the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in the solar wind: on the dayside magnetosphere for an IMF southward, on the lobes for an IMF northward and on the flanks for an IMF in the East-West direction. Since most of observations of reconnection events have sampled a limited region of space simultaneously it is still not yet know if the reconnection line is extended over large regions of the magnetosphere or if is patchy and made of many reconnection lines. We report a Cluster crossing on 5 January 2002 near the exterior cusp on the southern dusk side where we observe multiple sources of reconnection/injections. The IMF was mainly azimuthal (IMF-By around -5 nT), the solar wind speed lower than usual around 280 km/s with the density of order 5 cm-3. The four Cluster spacecraft had an elongated configuration near the magnetopause. C4 was the first spacecraft to enter the cusp around 19:52:04 UT, followed by C2 at 19:52:35 UT, C1 at 19:54:24 UT and C3 at 20:13:15 UT. C4 and C1 observed two ion energy dispersions at 20:10 UT and 20:40 UT and C3 at 20:35 UT and 21:15 UT. Using the time of flight technique on the upgoing and downgoing ions, which leads to energy dispersions, we obtain distances of the ion sources between 14 and 20 RE from the spacecraft. The slope of the ion energy dispersions confirmed these distances. Using Tsyganenko model, we find that these sources are located on the dusk flank, past the terminator. The first injection by C3 is seen at approximately the same time as the 2nd injection on C1 but their sources at the magnetopause were separated by more than 7 RE. This would imply that two distinct sources were active at the same time on the dusk flank of the magnetosphere. In addition, a flow reversal was observed at the magnetopause on C4

Moving grids for magnetic reconnection via Newton-Krylov methods

KAUST Repository

Yuan, Xuefei; Jardin, Stephen C.; Keyes, David E.

2011-01-01

This paper presents a set of computationally efficient, adaptive grids for magnetic reconnection phenomenon where the current density can develop large gradients in the reconnection region. Four-field extended MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD) equations

Magnetic reconnection in plasma under inertial confinement fusion conditions driven by heat flux effects in Ohm's law.

Science.gov (United States)

Joglekar, A S; Thomas, A G R; Fox, W; Bhattacharjee, A

2014-03-14

In the interaction of high-power laser beams with solid density plasma there are a number of mechanisms that generate strong magnetic fields. Such fields subsequently inhibit or redirect electron flows, but can themselves be advected by heat fluxes, resulting in complex interplay between thermal transport and magnetic fields. We show that for heating by multiple laser spots reconnection of magnetic field lines can occur, mediated by these heat fluxes, using a fully implicit 2D Vlasov-Fokker-Planck code. Under such conditions, the reconnection rate is dictated by heat flows rather than Alfvènic flows. We find that this mechanism is only relevant in a high β plasma. However, the Hall parameter ωcτei can be large so that thermal transport is strongly modified by these magnetic fields, which can impact longer time scale temperature homogeneity and ion dynamics in the system.

Test of Shi et al. Method to Infer the Magnetic Reconnection Geometry from Spacecraft Data: MHD Simulation with Guide Field and Antiparallel Kinetic Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Denton, R.; Sonnerup, B. U. O.; Swisdak, M.; Birn, J.; Drake, J. F.; Heese, M.

2012-01-01

When analyzing data from an array of spacecraft (such as Cluster or MMS) crossing a site of magnetic reconnection, it is desirable to be able to accurately determine the orientation of the reconnection site. If the reconnection is quasi-two dimensional, there are three key directions, the direction of maximum inhomogeneity (the direction across the reconnection site), the direction of the reconnecting component of the magnetic field, and the direction of rough invariance (the "out of plane" direction). Using simulated spacecraft observations of magnetic reconnection in the geomagnetic tail, we extend our previous tests of the direction-finding method developed by Shi et al. (2005) and the method to determine the structure velocity relative to the spacecraft Vstr. These methods require data from four proximate spacecraft. We add artificial noise and calibration errors to the simulation fields, and then use the perturbed gradient of the magnetic field B and perturbed time derivative dB/dt, as described by Denton et al. (2010). Three new simulations are examined: a weakly three-dimensional, i.e., quasi-two-dimensional, MHD simulation without a guide field, a quasi-two-dimensional MHD simulation with a guide field, and a two-dimensional full dynamics kinetic simulation with inherent noise so that the apparent minimum gradient was not exactly zero, even without added artificial errors. We also examined variations of the spacecraft trajectory for the kinetic simulation. The accuracy of the directions found varied depending on the simulation and spacecraft trajectory, but all the directions could be found within about 10 for all cases. Various aspects of the method were examined, including how to choose averaging intervals and the best intervals for determining the directions and velocity. For the kinetic simulation, we also investigated in detail how the errors in the inferred gradient directions from the unmodified Shi et al. method (using the unperturbed gradient

New Measure of the Dissipation Region in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Zenitani, Seiji; Hesse, Michael; Klimas, Alex; Kuznetsova, Masha

2012-01-01

A new measure to identify a small-scale dissipation region in collisionless magnetic reconnection is proposed. The energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron s rest frame is formulated as a Lorentz-invariant scalar quantity. The measure is tested by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in typical configurations: symmetric and asymmetric reconnection, with and without the guide field. The innermost region surrounding the reconnection site is accurately located in all cases. We further discuss implications for nonideal MHD dissipation.

The Impact of Geometrical Constraints on Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nico; Kuznetsova, Masha; Frolov, Rebekah; Black, Carrrie

2012-01-01

One of the most often cited features associated with collisionless magnetic reconnection is a Hall-type magnetic field, which leads, in antiparallel geometries, to a quadrupolar magnetic field signature. The combination of this out of plane magnetic field with the reconnection in-plane magnetic field leads to angling of magnetic flux tubes out of the plane defined by the incoming magnetic flux. Because it is propagated by Whistler waves, the quadrupolar field can extend over large distances in relatively short amounts of time - in fact, it will extend to the boundary of any modeling domain. In reality, however, the surrounding plasma and magnetic field geometry, defined, for example, by the overall solar wind flow, will in practice limit the extend over which a flux tube can be angled out of the main plain. This poses the question to what extent geometric constraints limit or control the reconnection process and this is the question investigated in this presentation. The investigation will involve a comparison of calculations, where open boundary conditions are set up to mimic either free or constrained geometries. We will compare momentum transport, the geometry of the reconnection regions, and the acceleration if ions and electrons to provide the current sheet in the outflow jet.

Study of driven magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, H.; Hsu, S.; Carter, T.; Kulsrud, R.; Bretz, N.; Jobes, F.; Ono, Yasushi; Perkins, F.

1998-01-01

The Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) has been constructed to investigate the fundamental physics of magnetic reconnection in a well controlled laboratory setting. This device creates an environment satisfying the criteria for a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasma (S much-gt 1, ρ i much-lt L). The boundary conditions can be controlled externally, and experiments with fully three-dimensional reconnection are now possible. In the initial experiments, the effects of the third vector component of reconnecting fields have been studied. Two distinctively different shapes of neutral sheet current layers, depending on the third component, are identified during driven magnetic reconnection. Without the third component (anti-parallel or null-helicity reconnection), a thin double-Y shaped diffusion region is identified. A neutral sheet current profile is measured accurately to be as narrow as order ion gyro-radius. In the presence of an appreciable third component (co-helicity reconnection), an O-shaped diffusion region appears and grows into a spheromak configuration

Electron acceleration in the Solar corona - 3D PiC code simulations of guide field reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Alejandro Munoz Sepulveda, Patricio

2017-04-01

The efficient electron acceleration in the solar corona detected by means of hard X-ray emission is still not well understood. Magnetic reconnection through current sheets is one of the proposed production mechanisms of non-thermal electrons in solar flares. Previous works in this direction were based mostly on test particle calculations or 2D fully-kinetic PiC simulations. We have now studied the consequences of self-generated current-aligned instabilities on the electron acceleration mechanisms by 3D magnetic reconnection. For this sake, we carried out 3D Particle-in-Cell (PiC) code numerical simulations of force free reconnecting current sheets, appropriate for the description of the solar coronal plasmas. We find an efficient electron energization, evidenced by the formation of a non-thermal power-law tail with a hard spectral index smaller than -2 in the electron energy distribution function. We discuss and compare the influence of the parallel electric field versus the curvature and gradient drifts in the guiding-center approximation on the overall acceleration, and their dependence on different plasma parameters.

CRITICAL DIFFERENCES OF ASYMMETRIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION FROM STANDARD MODELS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nitta, S. [Hinode Science Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan); Wada, T. [Tsukuba University of Technology, 4-3-15 Amakubo, Tsukuba, 305-8520 (Japan); Fuchida, T. [Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime Univesity, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matuyama, Ehime, 790-8577 (Japan); Kondoh, K., E-mail: nittasn@yahoo.co.jp, E-mail: tomohide.wada@gmail.com, E-mail: fuchida@sp.cosmos.ehime-u.ac.jp, E-mail: kondo@cosmos.ehime-u.ac.jp [Research Center for Space and Cosmic Evolution, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577 (Japan)

2016-09-01

We have clarified the structure of asymmetric magnetic reconnection in detail as the result of the spontaneous evolutionary process. The asymmetry is imposed as ratio k of the magnetic field strength in both sides of the initial current sheet (CS) in the isothermal equilibrium. The MHD simulation is carried out by the HLLD code for the long-term temporal evolution with very high spatial resolution. The resultant structure is drastically different from the symmetric case (e.g., the Petschek model) even for slight asymmetry k = 2. (1) The velocity distribution in the reconnection jet clearly shows a two-layered structure, i.e., the high-speed sub-layer in which the flow is almost field aligned and the acceleration sub-layer. (2) Higher beta side (HBS) plasma is caught in a lower beta side plasmoid. This suggests a new plasma mixing process in the reconnection events. (3) A new large strong fast shock in front of the plasmoid forms in the HBS. This can be a new particle acceleration site in the reconnection system. These critical properties that have not been reported in previous works suggest that we contribute to a better and more detailed knowledge of the reconnection of the standard model for the symmetric magnetic reconnection system.

Crab Flares and Magnetic Reconnection in Pulsar Winds

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Harding, Alice K.

2012-01-01

The striped winds of rotation-powered pulsars are ideal sites for magnetic reconnection. The magnetic fields of the wind near the current sheet outside the light cylinder alternate polarity every pulsar period and eventually encounter a termination shock. Magnetic reconnection in the wind has been proposed as a mechanism for transferring energy from electromagnetic fields to particles upstream of the shock (the "sigma" problem), but it is not clear if, where and how this occurs. Fermi and AGILE have recently observed powerful gamma-ray flares from the Crab nebula, which challenge traditional models of acceleration at the termination shock. New simulations are revealing that magnetic reconnection may be instrumental in understanding the Crab flares and in resolving the "sigma" problem in pulsar wind nebulae.

A THEMIS Survey of Flux Ropes and Traveling Compression Regions: Location of the Near-Earth Reconnection Site During Solar Minimum

Science.gov (United States)

Imber, S. M.; Slavin, J. A.; Auster, H. U.; Angelopoulos, V.

2011-01-01

A statistical study of flux ropes and traveling compression regions (TCRs) during the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) second tail season has been performed. A combined total of 135 flux ropes and TCRs in the range GSM X approx -14 to -31 R(sub E) were identified, many of these occurring in series of two or more events separated by a few tens of seconds. Those occurring within 10 min of each other were combined into aggregated reconnection events. For the purposes of this survey, these are most likely the products of reconnect ion occurring simultaneously at multiple, closely spaced x-lines as opposed to statistically independent episodes of reconnection. The 135 flux ropes and TCRs were grouped into 87 reconnection events; of these, 28 were moving tailward and 59 were moving Earthward. The average location of the near-Earth x-line determined from statistical analysis of these reconnection events is (X(sub GSM), Y*(sub GSM)) = (-30R(sub E), 5R(sub E)), where Y* includes a correction for the solar aberration angle. A strong east-west asymmetry is present in the tailward events, with >80% being observed at GSM Y* > O. Our results indicate that the Earthward flows are similarly asymmetric in the midtail region, becoming more symmetric inside - 18 R(sub E). Superposed epoch analyses indicate that the occurrence of reconnection closer to the Earth, i.e., X > -20 R(sub E), is associated with elevated solar wind velocity and enhanced negative interplanetary magnetic field B(sub z). Reconnection events taking place closer to the Earth are also far more effective in producing geomagnetic activity, judged by the AL index, than reconnection initiated beyond X approx -25 R(sub E).

Dependence of the dayside magnetopause reconnection rate on local conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shan; Kistler, Lynn M.; Mouikis, Christopher G.; Petrinec, Steven M.

2015-08-01

We estimate the reconnection rates for eight dayside magnetopause reconnection events observed by the Cluster spacecraft and compare them with the predictions of the Cassak-Shay Formula (Rcs) Cassak and Shay (2007). The measured reconnection rate is determined by calculating the product of the inflow velocity and magnetic field in the magnetosheath inflow region. The predicted reconnection rate is calculated using the plasma parameters on both sides of the current layer, including the contributions of magnetosheath H+, magnetospheric hot H+ and O+, and magnetospheric cold ions. The measured reconnection rates show clear correlations with Rcs with an aspect ratio of 0.07. The O+ and cold ions can contribute up to ~30% of the mass density, which may reduce the reconnection rate for individual events. However, the variation of the reconnection rate is dominated by the variation of the magnetosheath parameters. In addition, we calculated the predicted reconnection rate using only magnetosheath parameters (Rsh). The correlation of the measured rate with Rsh was better than the correlation with Rcs, with an aspect ratio of 0.09. This might indicate deviations from the Cassak-Shay theory caused by the asymmetric reconnection structure and kinetic effects of different inflow populations. A better aspect ratio is expected to be between the ones determined using Rcs and Rsh. The aspect ratio does not show a clear dependence on the O+ concentration, likely because the O+ contribution is too small in these events. The aspect ratio also does not show a clear correlation with density asymmetry or guide field.

A new fast reconnection model in a collisionless regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsiklauri, David

2008-01-01

Based on the first principles [i.e., (i) by balancing the magnetic field advection with the term containing electron pressure tensor nongyrotropic components in the generalized Ohm's law; (ii) using the conservation of mass; and (iii) assuming that the weak magnetic field region width, where electron meandering motion supports electron pressure tensor off-diagonal (nongyrotropic) components, is of the order of electron Larmor radius] a simple model of magnetic reconnection in a collisionless regime is formulated. The model is general, resembling its collisional Sweet-Parker analog in that it is not specific to any initial configuration, e.g., Harris-type tearing unstable current sheet, X-point collapse or otherwise. In addition to its importance from the fundamental point of view, the collisionless reconnection model offers a much faster reconnection rate [M c ' less =(c/ω pe ) 2 /(r L,e L)] than Sweet-Parker's classical one (M sp =S -1/2 ). The width of the diffusion region (current sheet) in the collisionless regime is found to be δ c ' less =(c/ω pe ) 2 /r L,e , which is independent of the global reconnection scale L and is only prescribed by microphysics (electron inertial length, c/ω pe , and electron Larmor radius, r L,e ). Amongst other issues, the fastness of the reconnection rate alleviates, e.g., the problem of interpretation of solar flares by means of reconnection, as for the typical solar coronal parameters the obtained collisionless reconnection time can be a few minutes, as opposed to Sweet-Parker's equivalent value of less than a day. The new theoretical reconnection rate is compared to the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment device experimental data by Yamada et al. [Phys. Plasmas 13, 052119 (2006)] and Ji et al. [Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, 13106 (2008)], and a good agreement is obtained.

Electron Energization and Structure of the Diffusion Region During Asymmetric Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Li-Jen; Hesse, Michael; Wang, Shan; Bessho, Naoki; Daughton, William

2016-01-01

Results from particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection with asymmetric upstream conditions are reported to elucidate electron energization and structure of the electron diffusion region (EDR). Acceleration of unmagnetized electrons results in discrete structures in the distribution functions and supports the intense current and perpendicular heating in the EDR. The accelerated electrons are cyclotron turned by the reconnected magnetic field to produce the outflow jets, and as such, the acceleration by the reconnection electric field is limited, leading to resistivity without particle-particle or particle-wave collisions. A map of electron distributions is constructed, and its spatial evolution is compared with quantities previously proposed to be EDR identifiers to enable effective identifications of the EDR in terrestrial magnetopause reconnection.

Non-Potential Magnetic Fields and Magnetic Reconnection In Low Collisional Plasmas-Discovery of Solar EUV Mini-Sigmoids and Development of Novel In-Space Propulsion Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chesny, David

Magnetic reconnection is the source of many of the most powerful explosions of astrophysical plasmas in the universe. Blazars, magnetars, stellar atmospheres, and planetary magnetic fields have all been shown to be primary sites of strong reconnection events. For studying the fundamental physics behind this process, the solar atmosphere is our most accessible laboratory setting. Magnetic reconnection resulting from non-potential fields leads to plasma heating and particle acceleration, often in the form of explosive activity, contributing to coronal heating and the solar wind. Large-scale non-potential (sigmoid) fields in the solar atmosphere are poorly understood due to their crowded neighborhoods. For the first time, small-scale, non-potential loop structures have been observed in quiet Sun EUV observations. Fourteen unique mini-sigmoid events and three diffuse non-potential loops have been discovered, suggesting a multi-scaled self-similarity in the sigmoid formation process. These events are on the order of 10 arcseconds in length and do not appear in X-ray emissions, where large-scale sigmoids are well documented. We have discovered the first evidence of sigmoidal structuring in EUV bright point phenomena, which are prolific events in the solar atmosphere. Observations of these mini-sigmoids suggest that they are being formed via tether-cutting reconnection, a process observed to occur at active region scales. Thus, tether-cutting is suggested to be ubiquitous throughout the solar atmosphere. These dynamics are shown to be a function of the free magnetic energy in the quiet Sun network. Recently, the reconnection process has been reproduced in Earth-based laboratory tokamaks. Easily achievable magnetic field configurations can induce reconnection and result in ion acceleration. Here, magnetic reconnection is utilized as the plasma acceleration mechanism for a theoretical propulsion system. The theory of torsional spine reconnection is shown to result in ion

Macroscale particle simulation of externally driven magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, Sadayoshi; Sato, Tetsuya.

1991-09-01

Externally driven reconnection, assuming an anomalous particle collision model, is numerically studied by means of a 2.5D macroscale particle simulation code in which the field and particle motions are solved self-consistently. Explosive magnetic reconnection and energy conversion are observed as a result of slow shock formation. Electron and ion distribution functions exhibit large bulk acceleration and heating of the plasma. Simulation runs with different collision parameters suggest that the development of reconnection, particle acceleration and heating do not significantly depend on the parameters of the collision model. (author)

Stochastic Acceleration in Turbulent Electric Fields Generated by 3D Reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onofri, Marco; Isliker, Heinz; Vlahos, Loukas

2006-01-01

Electron and proton acceleration in three-dimensional electric and magnetic fields is studied through test particle simulations. The fields are obtained by a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of magnetic reconnection in slab geometry. The nonlinear evolution of the system is characterized by the growth of many unstable modes and the initial current sheet is fragmented with formation of small scale structures. We inject at random points inside the evolving current sheet a Maxwellian distribution of particles. In a relatively short time (less than a millisecond) the particles develop a power-law tail. The acceleration is extremely efficient and the electrons absorb a large percentage of the available energy in a small fraction of the characteristic time of the MHD simulation, suggesting that resistive MHD codes are unable to represent the full extent of particle acceleration

MMS Observation of Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Magnetosheath

Science.gov (United States)

Vörös, Z.; Yordanova, E.; Varsani, A.; Genestreti, K. J.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Li, W.; Graham, D. B.; Norgren, C.; Nakamura, R.; Narita, Y.; Plaschke, F.; Magnes, W.; Baumjohann, W.; Fischer, D.; Vaivads, A.; Eriksson, E.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Marklund, G.; Ergun, R. E.; Leitner, M.; Leubner, M. P.; Strangeway, R. J.; Le Contel, O.; Pollock, C.; Giles, B. J.; Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.; Avanov, L. A.; Dorelli, J. C.; Gershman, D. J.; Paterson, W. R.; Lavraud, B.; Saito, Y.

2017-11-01

In this paper we use the full armament of the MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath downstream of a quasi-parallel bow shock. Contrarily to the magnetopause and magnetotail cases, only a few observations of reconnection in the magnetosheath have been reported. The case study in this paper presents, for the first time, both fluid-scale and kinetic-scale signatures of an ongoing reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath. The spacecraft are crossing the reconnection inflow and outflow regions and the ion diffusion region (IDR). Inside the reconnection outflows D shape ion distributions are observed. Inside the IDR mixing of ion populations, crescent-like velocity distributions and ion accelerations are observed. One of the spacecraft skims the outer region of the electron diffusion region, where parallel electric fields, energy dissipation/conversion, electron pressure tensor agyrotropy, electron temperature anisotropy, and electron accelerations are observed. Some of the difficulties of the observations of magnetic reconnection in turbulent plasma are also outlined.

Proxy and in-situ studies of dayside magnetopause reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scurry, L.; Russell, C.T. [California Univ., Los Angeles, CA (United States). Inst. of Geophysics and Planetary Physics; Gosling, J.T. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

1992-12-01

The functional dependence of magnetic reconnection on solar wind parameters is examined utilizing the am geomagnetic index and satellite observations at the magnetopause. Several parameters in the solar wind are found to control geomagnetic activity. Reconnection is found to be most efficient when the interplanetary magnetic field is southward, although some activity remains when the IMF is horizontal and slightly northward. The reconnection efficiency increases with the solar wind dynamic pressure but decreases when the Mach number is greater than 7.5. These results are compared with the functional dependencies found by correlating solar wind and magnetosheath measurements with observations of accelerated tows at the magnetopause. Accelerated tows are found to occur most often when the interplanetary magnetic field is directed southward. However, accelerated flows do occur when the IMF is horizontal and northward. Accelerated flows are also affected by the magnetosheath beta such that higher beta inhibits their occurrence. The location of accelerated tows indicates that reconnection occurs mainly at the subsolar point.

Comment on Lockwood and Davis, "On the longitudinal extent of magnetopause reconnection pulses"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. J. Heikkila

1999-02-01

Full Text Available Lockwood and Davis (1996 present a concise description of magnetopause reconnection pulses, with the claimed support of three types of observations: (1 flux transfer events (FTE, (2 poleward-moving auroral forms on the dayside, and (3 steps in cusp ion dispersion characteristics. However, there are a number of errors and misconceptions in the paper that make their conclusions untenable. They do not properly take account of the fact that the relevant processes operate in the presence of a plasma. They fail to notice that the source of energy (a dynamo with E · J<0 must be close to the region of dissipation (the electrical load with E · J>0 in transient phenomena, since energy (or information cannot travel faster than the group velocity of waves in the medium (here the Alfvén velocity VA. In short, Lockwood and Davis use the wrong contour in their attempt to evaluate the electromotive force (emf. This criticism goes beyond their article: a dynamo is not included in the usual definition of reconnection, only the reconnection load. Without an explicit source of energy in the assumed model, the idea of magnetic reconnection is improperly posed. Recent research has carried out a superposed epoch analysis of conditions near the dayside magnetopause and has found the dynamo and the load, both within the magnetopause current sheet. Since the magnetopause current is from dawn to dusk, the sign of E · J reflects the sign of the electric field. The electric field reverses, within the magnetopause; this can be discovered by an application of Lenz's law using the concept of erosion of the magnetopause. The net result is plasma transfer across the magnetopause to feed the low latitude boundary layer, at least partly on closed field lines, and viscous interaction as the mechanism by which solar wind plasma couples to the magnetosphere.

The Inner Structure of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection: The Electron-Frame Dissipation Measure and Hall Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Zenitani, Seiji; Hesse, Michael; Klimas, Alex; Black, Carrie; Kuznetsova, Masha

2011-01-01

It was recently proposed that the electron-frame dissipation measure, the energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron s rest frame, identifies the dissipation region of collisionless magnetic reconnection [Zenitani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 195003 (2011)]. The measure is further applied to the electron-scale structures of antiparallel reconnection, by using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The size of the central dissipation region is controlled by the electron-ion mass ratio, suggesting that electron physics is essential. A narrow electron jet extends along the outflow direction until it reaches an electron shock. The jet region appears to be anti-dissipative. At the shock, electron heating is relevant to a magnetic cavity signature. The results are summarized to a unified picture of the single dissipation region in a Hall magnetic geometry.

The inner structure of collisionless magnetic reconnection: The electron-frame dissipation measure and Hall fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zenitani, Seiji; Hesse, Michael; Klimas, Alex; Black, Carrie; Kuznetsova, Masha

2011-01-01

It was recently proposed that the electron-frame dissipation measure, the energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron's rest frame, identifies the dissipation region of collisionless magnetic reconnection [Zenitani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 195003 (2011)]. The measure is further applied to the electron-scale structures of antiparallel reconnection, by using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The size of the central dissipation region is controlled by the electron-ion mass ratio, suggesting that electron physics is essential. A narrow electron jet extends along the outflow direction until it reaches an electron shock. The jet region appears to be anti-dissipative. At the shock, electron heating is relevant to a magnetic cavity signature. The results are summarized to a unified picture of the single dissipation region in a Hall magnetic geometry.

The inner structure of collisionless magnetic reconnection: The electron-frame dissipation measure and Hall fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zenitani, Seiji; Hesse, Michael; Klimas, Alex; Black, Carrie; Kuznetsova, Masha [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (United States)

2011-12-15

It was recently proposed that the electron-frame dissipation measure, the energy transfer from the electromagnetic field to plasmas in the electron's rest frame, identifies the dissipation region of collisionless magnetic reconnection [Zenitani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 195003 (2011)]. The measure is further applied to the electron-scale structures of antiparallel reconnection, by using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The size of the central dissipation region is controlled by the electron-ion mass ratio, suggesting that electron physics is essential. A narrow electron jet extends along the outflow direction until it reaches an electron shock. The jet region appears to be anti-dissipative. At the shock, electron heating is relevant to a magnetic cavity signature. The results are summarized to a unified picture of the single dissipation region in a Hall magnetic geometry.

Test-electron analysis of the magnetic reconnection topology

Science.gov (United States)

Borgogno, D.; Perona, A.; Grasso, D.

2017-12-01

Three-dimensional (3D) investigations of the magnetic reconnection field topology in space and laboratory plasmas have identified the abidance of magnetic coherent structures in the stochastic region, which develop during the nonlinear stage of the reconnection process. Further analytical and numerical analyses highlighted the efficacy of some of these structures in limiting the magnetic transport. The question then arises as to what is the possible role played by these patterns in the dynamics of the plasma particles populating the chaotic region. In order to explore this aspect, we provide a detailed description of the nonlinear 3D magnetic field topology in a collisionless magnetic reconnection event with a strong guide field. In parallel, we study the evolution of a population of test electrons in the guiding-center approximation all along the reconnection process. In particular, we focus on the nonlinear spatial redistribution of the initially thermal electrons and show how the electron dynamics in the stochastic region depends on the sign and on the value of their velocities. While the particles with the highest positive speed populate the coherent current structures that survive in the chaotic sea, the presence of the manifolds calculated in the stochastic region defines the confinement area for the electrons with the largest negative velocity. These results stress the link between the magnetic topology and the electron motion and contribute to the overall picture of a non-stationary fluid magnetic reconnection description in a geometry proper to physical systems where the effects of the curvature can be neglected.

Ellerman bombs and UV bursts: reconnection at different atmospheric layers?

Science.gov (United States)

Hansteen, V. H.; Ortiz-Carbonell, A. N.; Rouppe van der Voort, L.

2017-12-01

The emergence of magnetic flux through the photosphere and into the outer solar atmosphere produces, amongst many other phenomena, the appearance of Ellerman bombs (EBs) in the photosphere. EBs are observed in the wings of H(alpha) and are highly likely to be due to reconnection in the photosphere, below the chromospheric canopy. However, signs of the reconnection process are also observed in several other spectral lines, typical of the chromosphere or transition region. An example are the UV bursts observed in the transition region lines of Si IV. In this work we analyze high cadence coordinated observations between the 1-m Swedish Solar Telescope and the IRIS spacecraft in order to study the possible relationship between reconnection events at different layers in the atmosphere, and in particular, the timing history between them. High cadence, high resolution H-alpha images from the SST provide us with the positions, timings and trajectories of Ellerman bombs in an emerging flux region. Simultaneous co-aligned IRIS slit-jaw images at 1400 and 1330 A and detailed Si IV spectra from the fast spectrograph raster allow us to study the transition region counterparts of those photospheric Ellerman bombs. Our main goal is to study whether there is a temporal relationship between the appearance of an EB and the appearance of a UV burst. Eventually we would like to investigate whether reconnection happens at discrete heights, or as a reconnection sheet spanning several layers at the same time.

Field-aligned currents near the magnetosphere boundary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hones, E.W. Jr.

1984-01-01

This paper describes present thinking about the structure of magnetospheric boundary layers and their roles in the generation of the field-aligned currents that are observed in the polar regions. A principal effect of the momentum loss by magnetosheath plasma to the magnetosphere boundary regions just within the magnetopause, whether it be by a diffusive process or by magnetic reconnection, is the tailward pulling of the surface flux tubes relative to those deeper below the surface. The dayside region 1 currents at low altitudes flow along field lines in the resulting regions of magnetic shear. The direction of the shear and its magnitude, actually measured in the boundary region, confirm that the polarities and intensities of the dayside region 1 currents can be accounted for by this process. The low latitude boundary layer, formerly thought to be threaded entirely by closed field lines, now appears to contain at least some open field lines, newly reconnected, that are in the process of being swept into the high latitude tail to form the plasma mantle. The open flux tubes of the flux transfer events, thought to be the product of patchy reconnection have a spiral magnetic structure whose helicity is such as to suggest currents having the polarities of the region 1 currents. 13 references

Field-aligned currents near the magnetosphere boundary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hones, E.W. Jr.

1983-01-01

This paper reviews present thinking about the structure of magnetospheric boundary layers and their roles in the generation of the field-aligned currents that are observed in the polar regions. A principal effect of the momentum loss by magnetosheath plasma to the magnetosphere boundary regions just within the magnetopause, whether it be by a diffusive process or by magnetic reconnection, is the tailward pulling of surface flux tubes relative to those deeper below the surface. The dayside region 1 currents at low altitudes flow along field lines in the resulting regions of magnetic shear. The direction of the shear and its magnitude, measured in the boundary region, confirm tht the polarities and intensities of the dayside region 1 currents can be accounted for by this process. The low latitude boundary layer, formerly thought to be threaded entirely by closed field lines, now appears to contain at least some open field lines, newly reconnected, that are in the process of being swept into the high latitude tail to form the plasma mantle. The open flux tubes of the flux transfer events, thought to be the product of patchy reconnection have a spiral magnetic structure whose helicity is such as to suggest currents having the polarities of the region 1 currents

Bulk ion acceleration and particle heating during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Jongsoo; Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, Hantao; Jara-Almonte, Jonathan; Myers, Clayton E. [Center for Magnetic Self-Organization, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

2014-05-15

Bulk ion acceleration and particle heating during magnetic reconnection are studied in the collisionless plasma of the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). The plasma is in the two-fluid regime, where the motion of the ions is decoupled from that of the electrons within the ion diffusion region. The reconnection process studied here is quasi-symmetric since plasma parameters such as the magnitude of the reconnecting magnetic field, the plasma density, and temperature are compatible on each side of the current sheet. Our experimental data show that the in-plane (Hall) electric field plays a key role in ion heating and acceleration. The electrostatic potential that produces the in-plane electric field is established by electrons that are accelerated near the electron diffusion region. The in-plane profile of this electrostatic potential shows a “well” structure along the direction normal to the reconnection current sheet. This well becomes deeper and wider downstream as its boundary expands along the separatrices where the in-plane electric field is strongest. Since the in-plane electric field is 3–4 times larger than the out-of-plane reconnection electric field, it is the primary source of energy for the unmagnetized ions. With regard to ion acceleration, the Hall electric field causes ions near separatrices to be ballistically accelerated toward the outflow direction. Ion heating occurs as the accelerated ions travel into the high pressure downstream region. This downstream ion heating cannot be explained by classical, unmagnetized transport theory; instead, we conclude that ions are heated by re-magnetization of ions in the reconnection exhaust and collisions. Two-dimensional (2-D) simulations with the global geometry similar to MRX demonstrate downstream ion thermalization by the above mechanisms. Electrons are also significantly heated during reconnection. The electron temperature sharply increases across the separatrices and peaks just outside of the

Collisionless magnetic reconnection associated with coalescence of flux bundles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Motohiko.

1994-11-01

The basic process of collisionless reconnection is studied in terms of coalescence of magnetized flux bundles using an implicit particle simulation of two-dimensions. The toroidal electric field that directly relates to magnetic reconnection is generated solenoidally in a region much broader than the current sheet whose width is a few electron skin depths. The reconnected flux increases linearly in time, but it is insensitive to finite Larmor radii of the ions in this Sweet-Parker regime. The toroidal electric field is controlled by a balance of transit acceleration of finite-mass electrons and their removal by sub-Alfvenic E x B drift outflow. The simulation results supports the collisionless Ohm's law E t ≅η eq J t with η eq the inertia resistivity. (author)

Multiscale Processes in Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Surjalal Sharma, A.; Jain, Neeraj

The characteristic scales of the plasma processes in magnetic reconnection range from the elec-tron skin-depth to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) scale, and cross-scale coupling among them play a key role. Modeling these processes requires different physical models, viz. kinetic, electron-magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD), Hall-MHD, and MHD. The shortest scale processes are at the electron scale and these are modeled using an EMHD code, which provides many features of the multiscale behavior. In simulations using initial conditions consisting of pertur-bations with many scale sizes the reconnection takes place at many sites and the plasma flows from these interact with each other. This leads to thin current sheets with length less than 10 electron skin depths. The plasma flows also generate current sheets with multiple peaks, as observed by Cluster. The quadrupole structure of the magnetic field during reconnection starts on the electron scale and the interaction of inflow to the secondary sites and outflow from the dominant site generates a nested structure. In the outflow regions, the interaction of the electron outflows generated at the neighboring sites lead to the development of electron vortices. A signature of the nested structure of the Hall field is seen in Cluster observations, and more details of these features are expected from MMS.

The Properties of Reconnection Current Sheets in GRMHD Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Ball, David; Özel, Feryal; Psaltis, Dimitrios; Chan, Chi-Kwan; Sironi, Lorenzo

2018-02-01

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects may play a significant role in determining the dynamics, thermal properties, and observational signatures of radiatively inefficient accretion flows onto black holes. In particular, particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection events may influence black hole spectra and flaring properties. We use representative general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of black hole accretion flows to identify and explore the structures and properties of current sheets as potential sites of magnetic reconnection. In the case of standard and normal evolution (SANE) disks, we find that in the reconnection sites, the plasma beta ranges from 0.1 to 1000, the magnetization ranges from 10‑4 to 1, and the guide fields are weak compared with the reconnecting fields. In magnetically arrested (MAD) disks, we find typical values for plasma beta from 10‑2 to 103, magnetizations from 10‑3 to 10, and typically stronger guide fields, with strengths comparable to or greater than the reconnecting fields. These are critical parameters that govern the electron energy distribution resulting from magnetic reconnection and can be used in the context of plasma simulations to provide microphysics inputs to global simulations. We also find that ample magnetic energy is available in the reconnection regions to power the fluence of bright X-ray flares observed from the black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

Rapid reconnection in compressible plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heyn, M.F.; Semenov, V.S.

1996-01-01

A study of set-up, propagation, and interaction of non-linear and linear magnetohydrodynamic waves driven by magnetic reconnection is presented. The source term of the waves generated by magnetic reconnection is obtained explicitly in terms of the initial background conditions and the local reconnection electric field. The non-linear solution of the problem found earlier, serves as a basis for formulation and extensive investigation of the corresponding linear initial-boundary value problem of compressible magnetohydrodynamics. In plane geometry, the Green close-quote s function of the problem is obtained and its properties are discussed. For the numerical evaluation it turns out that a specific choice of the integration contour in the complex plane of phase velocities is much more effective than the convolution with the real Green close-quote s function. Many complex effects like intrinsic wave coupling, anisotropic propagation characteristics, generation of surface and side wave modes in a finite beta plasma are retained in this analysis. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Hot magnetospheric O+ and cold ion behavior in magnetopause reconnection: Cluster observations

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C. G.; Liu, Y.; Genestreti, K. J.

2014-12-01

In reconnection, the presence of heavy ions like O+ increases the ion mass density reducing the fluid's Alfvén speed. In addition, it may modify the reconnection structure, which can also change the reconnection rate. However, because O+ ions have a larger Larmor radii than H+ ions at the same velocity, they may not be fully entrained in the reconnection flow and may have kinetic effects other than just increasing the mass density. In this study, for the first time, the ion velocity distribution functions of H+ and O+ from one magnetopause reconnection event with a strong guide field are analyzed to determine in detail the behavior of the different ion populations. We show that the hot magnetospheric O+ ions, along with the hot magnetospheric H+ ions almost fully participate in the reconnection exhaust flows. Finite Larmor radius effects are also apparent and control how far the ions extend on the magnetosheath side. Ion signatures consistent with heating after being picked up in the reconnection exhaust flow are observed in the H+ and O+ distribution functions. The dynamics of the cold magnetospheric ions depends on where they enter the reconnection region. If they enter the reconnection region at the downstream separatrix, they will be taken away by the magnetic field in an adiabatic way as analyzed by Drake et al. (2009a); if they enter close to the diffusion region, they behave as pick-up ions.

On the Electron Diffusion Region in Asymmetric Reconnection with a Guide Magnetic Field

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Liu, Yi-Hsin; Chen, Li-Jen; Bessho, Naoki; Kuznetsova, Masha; Birn, Joachim; Burch, James L.

2016-01-01

Particle-in-cell simulations in a 2.5-D geometry and analytical theory are employed to study the electron diffusion region in asymmetric reconnection with a guide magnetic field. The analysis presented here demonstrates that similar to the case without guide field, in-plane flow stagnation and null of the in-plane magnetic field are well separated. In addition, it is shown that the electric field at the local magnetic X point is again dominated by inertial effects, whereas it remains dominated by nongyrotropic pressure effects at the in-plane flow stagnation point. A comparison between local electron Larmor radii and the magnetic gradient scale lengths predicts that distribution should become nongyrotropic in a region enveloping both field reversal and flow stagnation points. This prediction is verified by an analysis of modeled electron distributions, which show clear evidence of mixing in the critical region.

The Onset of Magnetic Reconnection in Tail-Like Equilibria

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Birn, Joachim; Kuznetsova, Masha

1999-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mode of dynamics in the magnetotail, and is recognized as the basic mechanisms converting stored magnetic energy into kinetic energy of plasma particles. The effects of the reconnection process are well documented by spacecraft observations of plasmoids in the distant magnetotail, or bursty bulk flows, and magnetic field dipolarizations in the near Earth region. Theoretical and numerical analyses have, in recent years, shed new light on the way reconnection operates, and, in particular, which microscopic mechanism supports the dissipative electric field in the associated diffusion region. Despite this progress, however. the question of how magnetic reconnection initiates in a tail-like magnetic field with finite flux threading the current i.sheet remains unanswered. Instead, theoretical studies supported by numerical simulations support the point-of-view that such plasma and current sheets are stable with respect to collisionless tearing mode. In this paper, we will further investigate this conclusion, with emphasis on the question whether it remains valid in plasma sheets with embedded thin current sheets. For this purpose, we perform particle-in-cell simulations of the driven formation of thin current sheets, and their subsequent evolution either to equilibrium or to instability of a tearing-type mode. In the latter case we will pay particular attention to the nature of the electric field contribution which unmagnetizes the electrons.

Reconnection Mediated by Magnetic Fractures and the Solar Flare

Science.gov (United States)

Haerendel, Gerhard

2018-03-01

Reconnection of sheared magnetic fields is commonly treated by regarding the component perpendicular to the antiparallel components as a largely inert guide field. In this paper an alternative is proposed in which the free energy residing in the shear field is being converted prior to reconnection. This happens in high-density, dissipative current sheets bordering the reconnection site. A global scenario is presented in which low-intensity currents out of the photosphere are converging into the narrow, high-intensity currents at high altitude. This is enabled by the obliqueness of the latter. The very short timescale of the energy conversion causes a lateral propagation of the current sheets. In a quasi-stationary situation, it balances the reconnection rate, which turns out to be much lower than in guide-field approaches. Another important consequence of the obliqueness is the field-parallel emission of runaway electrons. Accelerated up to tens of keV, they are possibly important contributors to the production of hard X-rays during the impulsive phase of a flare, but only in areas of upward-directed currents. Quantitative evaluation of the model predicts various potentially observable properties, such as width and propagation speed of the generated flare ribbons, spatial dependences of the electron spectrum, size of the area of energy deposition, and successive decrease of the shear angle between conjugate footpoints. The presented theoretical model can account for the observed brightness asymmetry of flare ribbons with respect to the direction of the vertical currents.

Nonthermal Particle Acceleration in 3D Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Pair Plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Werner, Gregory R.; Uzdensky, Dmitri A., E-mail: Greg.Werner@colorado.edu [Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

2017-07-10

As a fundamental process converting magnetic to plasma energy in high-energy astrophysical plasmas, relativistic magnetic reconnection is a leading explanation for the acceleration of particles to the ultrarelativistic energies that are necessary to power nonthermal emission (especially X-rays and gamma-rays) in pulsar magnetospheres and pulsar wind nebulae, coronae and jets of accreting black holes, and gamma-ray bursts. An important objective of plasma astrophysics is therefore the characterization of nonthermal particle acceleration (NTPA) effected by reconnection. Reconnection-powered NTPA has been demonstrated over a wide range of physical conditions using large 2D kinetic simulations. However, its robustness in realistic 3D reconnection—in particular, whether the 3D relativistic drift-kink instability (RDKI) disrupts NTPA—has not been systematically investigated, although pioneering 3D simulations have observed NTPA in isolated cases. Here, we present the first comprehensive study of NTPA in 3D relativistic reconnection in collisionless electron–positron plasmas, characterizing NTPA as the strength of 3D effects is varied systematically via the length in the third dimension and the strength of the guide magnetic field. We find that, while the RDKI prominently perturbs 3D reconnecting current sheets, it does not suppress particle acceleration, even for zero guide field; fully 3D reconnection robustly and efficiently produces nonthermal power-law particle spectra closely resembling those obtained in 2D. This finding provides strong support for reconnection as the key mechanism powering high-energy flares in various astrophysical systems. We also show that strong guide fields significantly inhibit NTPA, slowing reconnection and limiting the energy available for plasma energization, yielding steeper and shorter power-law spectra.

Magnetohydrodynamic study for three-dimensional instability of the Petschek type magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, T.; Kondoh, K.

2013-01-01

The 3D instability of the spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection process is studied with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations, where the 2D model of the spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection is destabilized in three dimension. As well known in many 2D numerical MHD studies, when a 1D current sheet is destabilized with the current-driven anomalous resistivity, the 2D Petschek type fast magnetic reconnection is established. This paper shows that the 2D Petschek type fast magnetic reconnection can be destabilized in three dimension by an initial resistive disturbance which includes a weak fluctuation in the sheet current direction, i.e., along the magnetic neutral line. The resulting 3D fast magnetic reconnection finally becomes intermittent and random through a 3D instability. In addition, it is also shown that the 3D instability is suppressed by the uniform resistivity. It suggests that the 3D instability is caused in the Petschek-type reconnection process which is characterized by a strongly localized magnetic diffusion region and the slow shock acceleration of the plasma jets and is suppressed in the Sweet-Parker type reconnection process

EVIDENCE FOR NEWLY INITIATED RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR WIND AT 1 AU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Xiaojun; Ma, Yonghui; Wong, Hon-Cheng; Wang, Yi; Zuo, Pingbing; Wei, Fengsi; Feng, Xueshang; Zhou, Meng; Deng, Xiaohua

2015-01-01

We report the first evidence for a large-scale reconnection exhaust newly initiated in the solar wind using observations from three spacecraft: ACE, Wind, and ARTEMIS P2. We identified a well-structured X-line exhaust using measurements from ARTEMIS P2 in the downstream solar wind. However, in the upstream solar wind, ACE detected the same current sheet that corresponds to the exhaust identified by ARTEMIS P2 data without showing any reconnection signals. We cannot find any reconnection signals from Wind located between ACE and ARTEMIS P2. Within the exhaust, a magnetic island is identified, which is not consistent with the quasi-steady feature as previously reported and provides further evidence that the reconnection is newly initiated. Our observations show that the entering of energetic particles, probably from Earth's bow shock, makes the crucial difference between the non-reconnecting current sheet and the exhaust. Since no obvious driving factors are responsible for the reconnection initiation, we infer that these energetic particles probably play an important role in the reconnection initiation. Theoretical analysis also shows support for this potential mechanism

THE EFFECT OF COOLING ON PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES AND ACCELERATION IN RELATIVISTIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kagan, Daniel; Nakar, Ehud [Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel); Piran, Tsvi, E-mail: daniel.kagan@mail.huji.ac.il [Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel)

2016-12-20

The maximum synchrotron burnoff limit of 160 MeV represents a fundamental limit to radiation resulting from electromagnetic particle acceleration in one-zone ideal plasmas. In magnetic reconnection, however, particle acceleration and radiation are decoupled because the electric field is larger than the magnetic field in the diffusion region. We carry out two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to determine the extent to which magnetic reconnection can produce synchrotron radiation above the burnoff limit. We use the test particle comparison (TPC) method to isolate the effects of cooling by comparing the trajectories and acceleration efficiencies of test particles incident on such a reconnection region with and without cooling them. We find that the cooled and uncooled particle trajectories are typically similar during acceleration in the reconnection region, and derive an effective limit on particle acceleration that is inversely proportional to the average magnetic field experienced by the particle during acceleration. Using the calculated distribution of this average magnetic field as a function of uncooled final particle energy, we find analytically that cooling does not affect power-law particle energy spectra except at energies far above the synchrotron burnoff limit. Finally, we compare fully cooled and uncooled simulations of reconnection, confirming that the synchrotron burnoff limit does not produce a cutoff in the particle energy spectrum. Our results indicate that the TPC method accurately predicts the effects of cooling on particle acceleration in relativistic reconnection, and that, even far above the burnoff limit, the synchrotron energy of radiation produced in reconnection is not limited by cooling.

THE EFFECT OF COOLING ON PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES AND ACCELERATION IN RELATIVISTIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kagan, Daniel; Nakar, Ehud; Piran, Tsvi

2016-01-01

The maximum synchrotron burnoff limit of 160 MeV represents a fundamental limit to radiation resulting from electromagnetic particle acceleration in one-zone ideal plasmas. In magnetic reconnection, however, particle acceleration and radiation are decoupled because the electric field is larger than the magnetic field in the diffusion region. We carry out two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to determine the extent to which magnetic reconnection can produce synchrotron radiation above the burnoff limit. We use the test particle comparison (TPC) method to isolate the effects of cooling by comparing the trajectories and acceleration efficiencies of test particles incident on such a reconnection region with and without cooling them. We find that the cooled and uncooled particle trajectories are typically similar during acceleration in the reconnection region, and derive an effective limit on particle acceleration that is inversely proportional to the average magnetic field experienced by the particle during acceleration. Using the calculated distribution of this average magnetic field as a function of uncooled final particle energy, we find analytically that cooling does not affect power-law particle energy spectra except at energies far above the synchrotron burnoff limit. Finally, we compare fully cooled and uncooled simulations of reconnection, confirming that the synchrotron burnoff limit does not produce a cutoff in the particle energy spectrum. Our results indicate that the TPC method accurately predicts the effects of cooling on particle acceleration in relativistic reconnection, and that, even far above the burnoff limit, the synchrotron energy of radiation produced in reconnection is not limited by cooling.

Role of compressibility on driven magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, T.; Hayashi, T.; Watanabe, K.; Horiuchi, R.; Tanaka, M.; Sawairi, N.; Kusano, K.

1991-08-01

Whether it is induced by an ideal (current driven) instability or by an external force, plasma flow causes a change in the magnetic field configuration and often gives rise to a current intensification locally, thereby a fast driven reconnection being driven there. Many dramatic phenomena in magnetically confined plasmas such as magnetospheric substorms, solar flares, MHD self-organization and tokamak sawtooth crash, may be attributed to this fast driven reconnection. Using a fourth order MHD simulation code it is confirmed that compressibility of the plasma plays a crucial role in leading to a fast (MHD time scale) driven reconnection. This indicates that the incompressible representation is not always applicable to the study of a global dynamical behavior of a magnetically confined plasma. (author)

Near-Earth Reconnection Ejecta at Lunar Distances

Science.gov (United States)

Runov, A.; Angelopoulos, V.; Artemyev, A.; Lu, S.; Zhou, X.-Z.

2018-04-01

Near-Earth magnetotail reconnection leads to formation of earthward and tailward directed plasma outflows with an increased north-south magnetic field strength(|Bz|) at their leading edges. We refer to these regions of enhanced |Bz| and magnetic flux transport Ey as reconnection ejecta. They are composed of what have been previously referred to as earthward dipolarizing flux bundles (DFBs) and tailward rapid flux transport (RFT) events. Using two-point observations of magnetic and electric fields and particle fluxes by the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun probes orbiting around Moon at geocentric distances R ˜ 60RE, we statistically studied plasma moments and particle energy spectra in RFTs and compared them with those observed within DFBs in the near-Earth plasma sheet by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms probes. We found that the ion average temperatures and spectral slopes in RFTs at R ˜ 60RE are close to those in DFBs observed at 15 balance, the average RFT ion temperature corresponds to a lobe field BL˜20 nT. This leads us to suggest that the ion population within the tailward ejecta originated in the midtail plasma sheet at 20≤R≤30RE and propagated to the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun location without undergoing any further energy gain. Conversely, electron temperatures in DFBs at 15 < R < 25RE are a factor of 2.5 higher than those in RFTs at R ˜ 60RE.

Calibrating MMS Electron Drift Instrument (EDI) Ambient Electron Flux Measurements and Characterizing 3D Electric Field Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Shuster, J. R.; Torbert, R. B.; Vaith, H.; Argall, M. R.; Li, G.; Chen, L. J.; Ergun, R. E.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Marklund, G. T.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Russell, C. T.; Magnes, W.; Le Contel, O.; Pollock, C. J.; Giles, B. L.

2015-12-01

The electron drift instruments (EDIs) onboard each MMS spacecraft are designed with large geometric factors (~0.01cm2 str) to facilitate detection of weak (~100 nA) electron beams fired and received by the two gun-detector units (GDUs) when EDI is in its "electric field mode" to determine the local electric and magnetic fields. A consequence of the large geometric factor is that "ambient mode" electron flux measurements (500 eV electrons having 0°, 90°, or 180° pitch angle) can vary depending on the orientation of the EDI instrument with respect to the magnetic field, a nonphysical effect that requires a correction. Here, we present determinations of the θ- and ø-dependent correction factors for the eight EDI GDUs, where θ (ø) is the polar (azimuthal) angle between the GDU symmetry axis and the local magnetic field direction, and compare the corrected fluxes with those measured by the fast plasma instrument (FPI). Using these corrected, high time resolution (~1,000 samples per second) ambient electron fluxes, combined with the unprecedentedly high resolution 3D electric field measurements taken by the spin-plane and axial double probes (SDP and ADP), we are equipped to accurately detect electron-scale current layers and electric field waves associated with the non-Maxwellian (anisotropic and agyrotropic) particle distribution functions predicted to exist in the reconnection diffusion region. We compare initial observations of the diffusion region with distributions and wave analysis from PIC simulations of asymmetric reconnection applicable for modeling reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause, where MMS will begin Science Phase 1 as of September 1, 2015.

Small-Scale Dayside Magnetic Reconnection Analysis via MMS

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, K. R.; Burch, J. L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Webster, J.; Genestreti, K.; Torbert, R. B.; Rager, A. C.; Phan, T.; Argall, M. R.; Le Contel, O.; Russell, C. T.; Strangeway, R. J.; Giles, B. L.

2017-12-01

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has the primary objective of understanding the physics of the reconnection electron diffusion region (EDR), where magnetic energy is transformed into particle energy. In this poster, we present data from an EDR encounter that occurred in late December 2016 at approximately 11:00 MLT with a moderate guide field. The spacecraft were in a tetrahedral formation with an average inter-spacecraft distance of approximately 7 kilometers. During this event electron crescent-shaped distributions were observed in the electron stagnation region as is typical for asymmetric reconnection. Based on the observed ion velocity jets, the spacecraft traveled just south of the EDR. Because of the close spacecraft separation, fairly accurate computation of the Hall, electron pressure divergence, and electron inertia components of the reconnection electric field could be made. In the region of the crescent distributions good agreement was observed, with the strongest component being the normal electric field and the most significant sources being electron pressure divergence and the Hall electric field. While the strongest currents were in the out-of-plane direction, the dissipation was strongest in the normal direction because of the larger magnitude of the normal electric field component. These results are discussed in light of recent 3D PIC simulations performed by other groups.

The dependence of cusp ion signatures on the reconnection rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. K. Morley

2003-04-01

Full Text Available The interpretation of structure in cusp ion dispersions is important for helping to understand the temporal and spatial structure of magnetopause reconnection. "Stepped" and "sawtooth" signatures have been shown to be caused by temporal variations in the reconnection rate under the same physical conditions for different satellite trajectories. The present paper shows that even for a single satellite path, a change in the amplitude of any reconnection pulses can alter the observed signature and even turn sawtooth into stepped forms and vice versa. On 20 August 1998, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP craft F-14 crossed the cusp just to the south of Longyearbyen, returning on the following orbit. The two passes by the DMSP F-14 satellites have very similar trajectories and the open-closed field line boundary (OCB crossings, as estimated from the SSJ/4 precipitating particle data and Polar UVI images, imply a similarly-shaped polar cap, yet the cusp ion dispersion signatures differ substantially. The cusp crossing at 08:54 UT displays a stepped ion dispersion previously considered to be typical of a meridional pass, whereas the crossing at 10:38 UT is a sawtooth form ion dispersion, previously considered typical of a satellite travelling longitudinally with respect to the OCB. It is shown that this change in dispersed ion signature is likely to be due to a change in the amplitude of the pulses in the reconnection rate, causing the stepped signature. Modelling of the low-energy ion cutoff under different conditions has reproduced the forms of signature observed.Key words. Ionosphere (particle precipitation Magnetospheric physics (energetic particles, precipitating, magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers

Observational Test of the Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection Rate

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C.

2014-12-01

In asymmetric reconnection, the reconnection rate (R) is expected to follow the Cassak-Shay formula with an aspect ratio of around 0.1. At the magnetopause, reconnection is asymmetric, with the dense shocked solar wind population on the magnetosheath side, and a normally hot and tenuous population on the magnetospheric side. However, the hot magnetospheric population can contain a significant O+ component that increases the mass density, and the magnetospheric population may also include a cold dense population of plasmaspheric origin. We perform a statistical study of 13 magnetopause reconnection events observed by Cluster to determine how the reconnection rate depends on these different populations. The events are mainly at high latitudes, due to the Cluster orbit. Our results show that the measured R generally follows the Cassak-Shay prediction when all populations are included. However, the predicted rate only considering the magnetosheath contribution also correlates well with the measured R. For individual events, cold ions can make a comparable contribution to the magnetosheath H+ when there are plasmaspheric drainage plumes; the contribution of the magnetospheric hot O+ can be up to ~30%. However, the variation of solar wind conditions has a larger effect on the variation in the reconnection rate. The aspect ratio does not vary systematically with the O+ content, and 0.1 is a reasonable estimation. The outflow velocity is around the hybrid Alfven speed, but there is not a strong correlation. This may be due to motion of the x-line, or effects of the magnetosheath shear flow.

Origins of effective resistivity in collisionless magnetic reconnection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, Nagendra [Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama 35899 (United States)

2014-07-15

The mechanisms that provide effective resistivity for supporting collisonless magnetic reconnection have remained unsettled despite numerous studies. Some of these studies demonstrated that the electron pressure nongyrotropy generates the resistivity (η{sub npg}) in the electron diffusion region (EDR). We derive an analytical relation for the effective resistivity (η{sub kin}) by momentum balance in a control volume in the EDR. Both η{sub npg} and η{sub kin} mutually compare well and they also compare well with the resistivity required to support reconnection electric field E{sub rec} in multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations as well as in satellite observations when reconnection occurs in an EDR. But they are about an order of magnitude or so smaller than that required when the reconnection occurred in a much wider reconnecting current sheet (RCS) of half width (w) of the order of the ion skin depth (d{sub i}), observed in the Earth magnetosphere. The chaos-induced resistivity reported in the literature is found to be even more deficient. We find that for reconnection in RCS with w ∼ d{sub i}, anomalous diffusion, such as the universal Bhom diffusion and/or that arising from kinetic Alfven waves, could fairly well account for the required resistivity.

The role of fluid compression in energy conversion and particle energization during magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X.; Guo, F.; Li, G.; Li, H.

2016-12-01

Theories of particle transport and acceleration have shown that fluid compression is the leading mechanism for particle acceleration and plasma energization. However, the role of compression in particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection is unclear. We use two approaches to study this issue. First, using fully kinetic simulations, we quantitatively calculate the effect of compression in energy conversion and particle energization during magnetic reconnection for a range of plasma beta and guide field. We show that compression has an important contribution for the energy conversion between the bulk kinetic energy and the internal energy when the guide field is smaller than the reconnecting component. Based on this result, we then study the large-scale reconnection acceleration by solving the Parker's transport equation in a background reconnecting flow provided by MHD simulations. Due to the compression effect, the simulations suggest fast particle acceleration to high energies in the reconnection layer. This study clarifies the nature of particle acceleration in reconnection layer, and may be important to understand particle acceleration and plasma energization during solar flares.

Collisionless tearing mode reconnection at the dayside magnetopause of the earth's magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quest, K.B.

1982-01-01

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if the collisionless tearing mode, a plasma instability, is a viable mechanism for interconnecting field lines at the dayside magnetopause. More generally, it was wished to test theoretically the assertion that collisionless tearing is a probable first step in cosmical reconnection. The procedure was to model the magnetopause as a local one-dimensional Vlasov equilibrium, and then calculate the linear and nonlinear stability properties of tearing and tearing-like oscillations. Quantitative estimates of the range of plasma parameter space over which significant growth occurs were obtained. Assuming that significant tearing mode growth implies significant reconnection, conditions were determined for which tearing will be important to dayside reconnection. Linearly it was found that the growth rate is relatively insensitive to the temperature of the species, but depends sensitively on (1) the thickness of the magnetopause current, (2) the number density at the location of the singular layer, and (3) the magnitude of the magnetic shear. For significant linear growth the magnetopause half-sheet thickness was required to be on the order of or less than a thermal ion gyroradius, the number density was required to be no more than 100 cm - 3 , and the magnetosheath field was required to be locally antialigned with the magnetospheric field. If the above conditions are met, which are stringent but not impossible, the mode will linearly amplify. Another topic examined is the question of the structure of the tearing eigenmodes at the dayside magnetopause. By considering finite transit time effects on electron Landau resonance it was concluded that magnetopause tearing turbulence probably occurs in spatially bounded wave packets

Introduction to Plasma Dynamo, Reconnection and Shocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Intrator, Thomas P. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2012-08-30

In our plasma universe, most of what we can observe is composed of ionized gas, or plasma. This plasma is a conducting fluid, which advects magnetic fields when it flows. Magnetic structure occurs from the smallest planetary to the largest cosmic scales. We introduce at a basic level some interesting features of non linear magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). For example, in our plasma universe, dynamo creates magnetic fields from gravitationally driven flow energy in an electrically conducting medium, and conversely magnetic reconnection annihilates magnetic field and accelerates particles. Shocks occur when flows move faster than the local velocity (sonic or Alfven speed) for the propagation of information. Both reconnection and shocks can accelerate particles, perhaps to gigantic energies, for example as observed with 10{sup 20} eV cosmic rays.

A multi-spacecraft survey of magnetic field line draping in the dayside magnetosheath

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. J. Coleman

2005-03-01

Full Text Available When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF encounters the Earth's magnetosphere, it is compressed and distorted. This distortion is known as draping, and plays an important role in the interaction between the IMF and the geomagnetic field. This paper considers a particular aspect of draping, namely how the orientation of the IMF in a plane perpendicular to the Sun-Earth line (the clock angle is altered by draping in the magnetosheath close to the dayside magnetopause. The clock angle of the magnetosheath field is commonly estimated from the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF measured by upstream monitoring spacecraft either by assuming that the draping process does not significantly alter the clock angle ("perfect draping" or that the change in clock angle is reasonably approximated by a gas dynamic model. In this paper, the magnetosheath clock angles measured during 36 crossings of the magnetopause by the Geotail and Interball-Tail spacecraft are compared to the upstream IMF clock angles measured by the Wind spacecraft. Overall, about 30% of data points exhibit perfect draping within ±10°, and 70% are within 30°. The differences between the IMF and magnetosheath clock angles are not, in general, well-ordered in any systematic fashion which could be accounted for by hydrodynamic draping. The draping behaviour is asymmetric with respect to the y-component of the IMF, and the form of the draping distribution function is dependent on solar wind pressure. While the average clock angle observed in the magnetosheath does reflect the orientation of the IMF to within ~30° or less, the assumption that the magnetosheath field direction at any particular region of the magnetopause at any instant is approximately similar to the IMF direction is not justified. This study shows that reconnection models which assume laminar draping are unlikely to accurately reflect the distribution of reconnection sites across the dayside magnetopause.

A new magnetic reconnection paradigm: Stochastic plasmoid chains

Science.gov (United States)

Loureiro, Nuno

2015-11-01

Recent analytical and numerical research in magnetic reconnection has converged on the notion that reconnection sites (current sheets) are unstable to the formation of multiple magnetic islands (plasmoids), provided that the system is sufficiently large (or, in other words, that the Lundquist number of the plasma is high). Nonlinearly, plasmoids come to define the reconnection geometry. Their nonlinear dynamics is rather complex and best thought of as new form of turbulence whose properties are determined by continuous plasmoid formation and their subsequent ejection from the sheet, as well as the interaction (coalescence) between plasmoids of different sizes. The existence of these stochastic plasmoid chains has powerful implications for several aspects of the reconnection process, from determining the reconnection rate to the details and efficiency of the energy conversion and dissipation. In addition, the plasmoid instability may also directly bear on the little understood problem of the reconnection trigger, or onset, i.e., the abrupt transition from a slow stage of energy accumulation to a fast (explosive) stage of energy release. This talk will first provide a brief overview of these recent developments in the reconnection field. I will then discuss recent work addressing the onset problem in the context of a forming current sheet which becomes progressively more unstable to the plasmoid instability. Work partially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia via Grants UID/FIS/50010/2013 and IF/00530/2013.

On the signatures of magnetic islands and multiple X-lines in the solar wind as observed by ARTEMIS and WIND

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, S.; Newman, D. L.; Lapenta, G.; Angelopoulos, V.

2014-06-01

We report the first observation consistent with a magnetic reconnection generated magnetic island at a solar wind current sheet that was observed on 10 June 2012 by the two ARTEMIS satellites and the upstream WIND satellite. The evidence consists of a core magnetic field within the island which is formed by enhanced Hall magnetic fields across a solar wind reconnection exhaust. The core field at ARTEMIS displays a local dip coincident with a peak plasma density enhancement and a locally slower exhaust speed which differentiates it from a regular solar wind exhaust crossing. Further indirect evidence of magnetic island formation is presented in the form of a tripolar Hall magnetic field, which is supported by an observed electron velocity shear, and plasma density depletion regions which are in general agreement with multiple reconnection X-line signatures at the same current sheet on the basis of predicted signatures of magnetic islands as generated by a kinetic reconnection simulation for solar wind-like conditions. The combined ARTEMIS and WIND observations of tripolar Hall magnetic fields across the same exhaust and Grad-Shrafranov reconstructions of the magnetic field suggest that an elongated magnetic island was encountered which displayed a 4RE normal width and a 43RE extent along the exhaust between two neighboring X-lines.

THE EFFECT OF RECONNECTION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE SUN’S OPEN–CLOSED FLUX BOUNDARY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pontin, D. I.; Wyper, P. F.

2015-01-01

Global magnetic field extrapolations are now revealing the huge complexity of the Sun's corona, and in particular the structure of the boundary between open and closed magnetic flux. Moreover, recent developments indicate that magnetic reconnection in the corona likely occurs in highly fragmented current layers, and that this typically leads to a dramatic increase in the topological complexity beyond that of the equilibrium field. In this paper we use static models to investigate the consequences of reconnection at the open–closed flux boundary (“interchange reconnection”) in a fragmented current layer. We demonstrate that it leads to efficient mixing of magnetic flux (and therefore plasma) from open and closed field regions. This corresponds to an increase in the length and complexity of the open–closed boundary. Thus, whenever reconnection occurs at a null point or separator of this open–closed boundary, the associated separatrix arc of the so-called S-web in the high corona becomes not a single line but a band of finite thickness within which the open–closed boundary is highly structured. This has significant implications for the acceleration of the slow solar wind, for which the interaction of open and closed field is thought to be important, and may also explain the coronal origins of certain solar energetic particles. The topological structures examined contain magnetic null points, separatrices and separators, and include a model for a pseudo-streamer. The potential for understanding both the large scale morphology and fine structure observed in flare ribbons associated with coronal nulls is also discussed

The generalized Ohm's law in collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, H.J.; Lee, L.C.

1997-01-01

The generalized Ohm close-quote s law and the force balance near neutral lines in collisionless magnetic reconnection is studied based on two-dimensional full particle simulations in which the ion endash electron mass ratio is set to be 1836. The off-diagonal elements of a plasma pressure tensor are found to be responsible for the breakdown of the frozen-in condition in collisionless reconnection. While the off-diagonal elements of the electron pressure tensor are dominant terms in the generalized Ohm close-quote s law near neutral lines, the ion off-diagonal pressure terms are of significant importance when ions are main current carriers. The spatial scale of electron off-diagonal pressure term P xy (e) is also found to be proportional to the Dungey length scale, (m e E y /eβ 2 ) 1/3 , where β=∂B z /∂x. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

MMS Encounters with Reconnection Diffusion Regions in the Earth's Magnetotail

Science.gov (United States)

Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.; Argall, M. R.; Farrugia, C. J.; Alm, L.; Dors, I.; Payne, D.; Rogers, A. J.; Strangeway, R. J.; Phan, T.; Ergun, R.; Goodrich, K.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Giles, B. L.; Rager, A. C.; Gershman, D. J.; Kletzing, C.

2017-12-01

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) fleet of four spacecraft traversed the Earth's magnetotail in May through August of 2017 with an apogee of 25 Re, and encountered diffusion regions characteristic of symmetric reconnection. This presentation will describe in-situ measurements of large electric fields, strong electron cross-tail and Hall currents, and electron velocity distributions (frequently crescent-shaped) that are commonly observed in these regions. Positive electromagnetic energy conversion is also typical. The characteristics of symmetric reconnection observations will be contrasted with those of asymmetric reconnection that MMS observed previously at the dayside magnetopause.

Process of magnetic reconnection as a source of longitudinal currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sidneva, M.V.; Semenov, V.S.

1987-01-01

Variations in magnetic field and current system as applied to conditions in the Earth magnetospheric tail are calculated so as to show that three-dimensional reconnection leads inevitably to the appearance of a system of longitudinal currents. With reference to current layer of the magnetospheric tail the longitudinal currents appearing in the process of reconnection are directed to the Earth on the morning side and from Earth - on the evening side. The results presented suggest that magnetic reconnection can serve as a sourse of the Birkeland current loop of a substorm

How Does the Electron Dynamics Affect the Reconnection Rate in a Typical Reconnection Layer?

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael

2009-01-01

The question of whether the microscale controls the macroscale or vice-versa remains one of the most challenging problems in plasmas. A particular topic of interest within this context is collisionless magnetic reconnection, where both points of views are espoused by different groups of researchers. This presentation will focus on this topic. We will begin by analyzing the properties of electron diffusion region dynamics both for guide field and anti-parallel reconnection, and how they can be scaled to different inflow conditions. As a next step, we will study typical temporal variations of the microscopic dynamics with the objective of understanding the potential for secular changes to the macroscopic system. The research will be based on a combination of analytical theory and numerical modeling.

A simple, analytical model of collisionless magnetic reconnection in a pair plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesse, Michael; Zenitani, Seiji; Kuznetsova, Masha; Klimas, Alex

2009-01-01

A set of conservation equations is utilized to derive balance equations in the reconnection diffusion region of a symmetric pair plasma. The reconnection electric field is assumed to have the function to maintain the current density in the diffusion region and to impart thermal energy to the plasma by means of quasiviscous dissipation. Using these assumptions it is possible to derive a simple set of equations for diffusion region parameters in dependence on inflow conditions and on plasma compressibility. These equations are solved by means of a simple, iterative procedure. The solutions show expected features such as dominance of enthalpy flux in the reconnection outflow, as well as combination of adiabatic and quasiviscous heating. Furthermore, the model predicts a maximum reconnection electric field of E * =0.4, normalized to the parameters at the inflow edge of the diffusion region.

A Simple, Analytical Model of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection in a Pair Plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Zenitani, Seiji; Kuznetova, Masha; Klimas, Alex

2011-01-01

A set of conservation equations is utilized to derive balance equations in the reconnection diffusion region of a symmetric pair plasma. The reconnection electric field is assumed to have the function to maintain the current density in the diffusion region, and to impart thermal energy to the plasma by means of quasi-viscous dissipation. Using these assumptions it is possible to derive a simple set of equations for diffusion region parameters in dependence on inflow conditions and on plasma compressibility. These equations are solved by means of a simple, iterative, procedure. The solutions show expected features such as dominance of enthalpy flux in the reconnection outflow, as well as combination of adiabatic and quasi-viscous heating. Furthermore, the model predicts a maximum reconnection electric field of E(sup *)=0.4, normalized to the parameters at the inflow edge of the diffusion region.

Ion velocity distributions within the LLBL and their possible implication to multiple reconnections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. L. Vaisberg

2004-01-01

Full Text Available We analyze two LLBL crossings made by the Interball-Tail satellite under a southward or variable magnetosheath magnetic field: one crossing on the flank of the magnetosphere, and another one closer to the subsolar point. Three different types of ion velocity distributions within the LLBL are observed: (a D-shaped distributions, (b ion velocity distributions consisting of two counter-streaming components of magnetosheath-type, and (c distributions with three components, one of which has nearly zero parallel velocity and two counter-streaming components. Only the (a type fits to the single magnetic flux tube formed by reconnection between the magnetospheric and magnetosheath magnetic fields. We argue that two counter-streaming magnetosheath-like ion components observed by Interball within the LLBL cannot be explained by the reflection of the ions from the magnetic mirror deeper within the magnetosphere. Types (b and (c ion velocity distributions would form within spiral magnetic flux tubes consisting of a mixture of alternating segments originating from the magnetosheath and from magnetospheric plasma. The shapes of ion velocity distributions and their evolution with decreasing number density in the LLBL indicate that a significant part of the LLBL is located on magnetic field lines of long spiral flux tube islands at the magnetopause, as has been proposed and found to occur in magnetopause simulations. We consider these observations as evidence for multiple reconnection Χ-lines between magnetosheath and magnetospheric flux tubes. Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions

Experimental Verification of the Hall Effect during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Ren; Masaaki Yamada; Stefan Gerhardt; Hantao Ji; Russell Kulsrud; Aleksey Kuritsyn

2005-01-01

In this letter we report a clear and unambiguous observation of the out-of-plane quadrupole magnetic field suggested by numerical simulations in the reconnecting current sheet in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). Measurements show that the Hall effect is large in collisionless regime and becomes small as the collisionality increases, indicating that the Hall effect plays an important role in collisionless reconnection

Energy transfer by magnetopause reconnection and the substorm parameter epsilon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez-Alarcon, W.D.; Gonzalez, A.L.C. de.

1983-01-01

An expression for the magnetopause reconnection power based on the dawn-dusk component of the reconnection electric field, that reduces to the substorm parameter epsilon for the limit that involves equal geomagnetic (B sub(G)) and magnetosheath (B sub(M)) magnetic field amplitudes at the magnetopause, is contrasted with the expression based on the whole reconnection electric field vector obtained by Gonzalez. The correlation examples of this report show that this (more general) expression for the reconnection power seems to correlate with the empirical dissipation parameter U sub(T) from Akasofu, with slightly better correlation coefficients than those obtained from similar correlations between the parameter epsilon and U sub(T). Thus, these (better) correlations show up for the more familiar values of the ratio B sub(G) / B sub(M) > 1. Nevertheless, the (expected) relatively small difference that seems to exist between these correlation coefficients suggests that, for practical purposes, the parameter epsilon could be used as well (instead of the more general expression) in similar correlation studies due to its impler format. On the other hand, studies that refer mainly to the difference in the magnitudes of epsilon and of the more general expression are expected to give results with less negligible differences. (Author) [pt

CT-TRX1, a triggered-reconnection compact toroid experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, A.L.

1980-05-01

A new compact toroid experiment, CT-TRX1, based on the field reversed theta pinch is under construction. The unique feature of this experiment is the incorporation of several quasi-steady and pulsed magnets to carefully control the reconnection process. The motivation for this emphasis is to duplicate and extend the results reported by Kurtmullaev, et al., where delayed reconnection produced efficient axial shock heating and resulted in large diameter compact toroids which exhibited complete MHD stability for the 100 μsec decay time of their pulsed magnets. CT-TRX1 incorporates moderate E/sub theta/ radial shock heating, along with the triggered reconnection capability, to investigate the full range of conditions between the USSR experiments and the radial shock heated experiments at LASL, where m = 2 rotational instabilities occur. An additional feature of CT-TRX1 is the incorporation of a compound magnet which will provide long magnetic field decay times. The requirements for both high field quasi-steady outer magnets, and several high voltage, individually triggered pulsed inner magnets, present unique engineering design problems which are discussed

The role of current sheet formation in driven plasmoid reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles

Science.gov (United States)

Lezhnin, Kirill; Fox, William; Bhattacharjee, Amitava

2017-10-01

We conduct a multiparametric study of driven magnetic reconnection relevant to recent experiments on colliding magnetized laser produced plasmas using the PIC code PSC. Varying the background plasma density, plasma resistivity, and plasma bubble geometry, the results demonstrate a variety of reconnection behavior and show the coupling between magnetic reconnection and global fluid evolution of the system. We consider both collision of two radially expanding bubbles where reconnection is driven through an X-point, and collision of two parallel fields where reconnection must be initiated by the tearing instability. Under various conditions, we observe transitions between fast, collisionless reconnection to a Sweet-Parker-like slow reconnection to complete stalling of the reconnection. By varying plasma resistivity, we observe the transition between fast and slow reconnection at Lundquist number S 103 . The transition from plasmoid reconnection to a single X-point reconnection also happens around S 103 . We find that the criterion δ /di < 1 is necessary for fast reconnection onset. Finally, at sufficiently high background density, magnetic reconnection can be suppressed, leading to bouncing motion of the magnetized plasma bubbles.

Breakout Reconnection Observed by the TESIS EUV Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Reva, A. A.; Ulyanov, A. S.; Shestov, S. V.; Kuzin, S. V.

2016-01-01

We present experimental evidence of the coronal mass ejection (CME) breakout reconnection, observed by the TESIS EUV telescope. The telescope could observe solar corona up to 2 R⊙ from the Sun center in the Fe 171 Å line. Starting from 2009 April 8, TESIS observed an active region (AR) that had a quadrupolar structure with an X-point 0.5 R⊙ above photosphere. A magnetic field reconstructed from the Michelson Doppler Imager data also has a multipolar structure with an X-point above the AR. At 21:45 UT on April 9, the loops near the X-point started to move away from each other with a velocity of ≈7 km s-1. At 01:15 UT on April 10, a bright stripe appeared between the loops, and the flux in the GOES 0.5-4 Å channel increased. We interpret the loops’ sideways motion and the bright stripe as evidence of the breakout reconnection. At 01:45 UT, the loops below the X-point started to slowly move up. At 15:10 UT, the CME started to accelerate impulsively, while at the same time a flare arcade formed below the CME. After 15:50 UT, the CME moved with constant velocity. The CME evolution precisely followed the breakout model scenario.

Covariant electromagnetic field lines

Science.gov (United States)

Hadad, Y.; Cohen, E.; Kaminer, I.; Elitzur, A. C.

2017-08-01

Faraday introduced electric field lines as a powerful tool for understanding the electric force, and these field lines are still used today in classrooms and textbooks teaching the basics of electromagnetism within the electrostatic limit. However, despite attempts at generalizing this concept beyond the electrostatic limit, such a fully relativistic field line theory still appears to be missing. In this work, we propose such a theory and define covariant electromagnetic field lines that naturally extend electric field lines to relativistic systems and general electromagnetic fields. We derive a closed-form formula for the field lines curvature in the vicinity of a charge, and show that it is related to the world line of the charge. This demonstrates how the kinematics of a charge can be derived from the geometry of the electromagnetic field lines. Such a theory may also provide new tools in modeling and analyzing electromagnetic phenomena, and may entail new insights regarding long-standing problems such as radiation-reaction and self-force. In particular, the electromagnetic field lines curvature has the attractive property of being non-singular everywhere, thus eliminating all self-field singularities without using renormalization techniques.

Non-Gaussianity and cross-scale coupling in interplanetary magnetic field turbulence during a rope-rope magnetic reconnection event

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Rodrigo A.; Schelin, Adriane B.; Chian, Abraham C.-L.; Ferreira, José L.

2018-03-01

In a recent paper (Chian et al., 2016) it was shown that magnetic reconnection at the interface region between two magnetic flux ropes is responsible for the genesis of interplanetary intermittent turbulence. The normalized third-order moment (skewness) and the normalized fourth-order moment (kurtosis) display a quadratic relation with a parabolic shape that is commonly observed in observational data from turbulence in fluids and plasmas, and is linked to non-Gaussian fluctuations due to coherent structures. In this paper we perform a detailed study of the relation between the skewness and the kurtosis of the modulus of the magnetic field |B| during a triple interplanetary magnetic flux rope event. In addition, we investigate the skewness-kurtosis relation of two-point differences of |B| for the same event. The parabolic relation displays scale dependence and is found to be enhanced during magnetic reconnection, rendering support for the generation of non-Gaussian coherent structures via rope-rope magnetic reconnection. Our results also indicate that a direct coupling between the scales of magnetic flux ropes and the scales within the inertial subrange occurs in the solar wind.

MAGNETIZATION OF CLOUD CORES AND ENVELOPES AND OTHER OBSERVATIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF RECONNECTION DIFFUSION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazarian, A.; Esquivel, A.; Crutcher, R.

2012-01-01

Recent observational results for magnetic fields in molecular clouds reviewed by Crutcher seem to be inconsistent with the predictions of the ambipolar diffusion theory of star formation. These include the measured decrease in mass to flux ratio between envelopes and cores, the failure to detect any self-gravitating magnetically subcritical clouds, the determination of the flat probability distribution function (PDF) of the total magnetic field strengths implying that there are many clouds with very weak magnetic fields, and the observed scaling B∝ρ 2/3 that implies gravitational contraction with weak magnetic fields. We consider the problem of magnetic field evolution in turbulent molecular clouds and discuss the process of magnetic field diffusion mediated by magnetic reconnection. For this process that we termed 'reconnection diffusion', we provide a simple physical model and explain that this process is inevitable in view of the present-day understanding of MHD turbulence. We address the issue of the expected magnetization of cores and envelopes in the process of star formation and show that reconnection diffusion provides an efficient removal of magnetic flux that depends only on the properties of MHD turbulence in the core and the envelope. We show that as the amplitude of turbulence as well as the scale of turbulent motions decrease from the envelope to the core of the cloud, the diffusion of the magnetic field is faster in the envelope. As a result, the magnetic flux trapped during the collapse in the envelope is being released faster than the flux trapped in the core, resulting in much weaker fields in envelopes than in cores, as observed. We provide simple semi-analytical model calculations which support this conclusion and qualitatively agree with the observational results. Magnetic reconnection is also consistent with the lack of subcritical self-gravitating clouds, with the observed flat PDF of field strengths, and with the scaling of field strength

MAGNETIZATION OF CLOUD CORES AND ENVELOPES AND OTHER OBSERVATIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF RECONNECTION DIFFUSION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazarian, A. [Astronomy Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Esquivel, A. [Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apartado Postal 70-543, 04510 Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Crutcher, R. [Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)

2012-10-01

Recent observational results for magnetic fields in molecular clouds reviewed by Crutcher seem to be inconsistent with the predictions of the ambipolar diffusion theory of star formation. These include the measured decrease in mass to flux ratio between envelopes and cores, the failure to detect any self-gravitating magnetically subcritical clouds, the determination of the flat probability distribution function (PDF) of the total magnetic field strengths implying that there are many clouds with very weak magnetic fields, and the observed scaling B{proportional_to}{rho}{sup 2/3} that implies gravitational contraction with weak magnetic fields. We consider the problem of magnetic field evolution in turbulent molecular clouds and discuss the process of magnetic field diffusion mediated by magnetic reconnection. For this process that we termed 'reconnection diffusion', we provide a simple physical model and explain that this process is inevitable in view of the present-day understanding of MHD turbulence. We address the issue of the expected magnetization of cores and envelopes in the process of star formation and show that reconnection diffusion provides an efficient removal of magnetic flux that depends only on the properties of MHD turbulence in the core and the envelope. We show that as the amplitude of turbulence as well as the scale of turbulent motions decrease from the envelope to the core of the cloud, the diffusion of the magnetic field is faster in the envelope. As a result, the magnetic flux trapped during the collapse in the envelope is being released faster than the flux trapped in the core, resulting in much weaker fields in envelopes than in cores, as observed. We provide simple semi-analytical model calculations which support this conclusion and qualitatively agree with the observational results. Magnetic reconnection is also consistent with the lack of subcritical self-gravitating clouds, with the observed flat PDF of field strengths, and

The Roles of Fluid Compression and Shear in Electron Energization during Magnetic Reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaocan; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui; Birn, Joachim

2018-03-01

Particle acceleration in space and astrophysical reconnection sites is an important unsolved problem in studies of magnetic reconnection. Earlier kinetic simulations have identified several acceleration mechanisms that are associated with particle drift motions. Here, we show that, for sufficiently large systems, the energization processes due to particle drift motions can be described as fluid compression and shear, and that the shear energization is proportional to the pressure anisotropy of energetic particles. By analyzing results from fully kinetic simulations, we show that the compression energization dominates the acceleration of high-energy particles in reconnection with a weak guide field, and the compression and shear effects are comparable when the guide field is 50% of the reconnecting component. Spatial distributions of those energization effects reveal that reconnection exhausts, contracting islands, and island-merging regions are the three most important regions for compression and shear acceleration. This study connects particle energization by particle guiding-center drift motions with that due to background fluid motions, as in the energetic particle transport theory. It provides foundations for building particle transport models for large-scale reconnection acceleration such as those in solar flares.

Magnetohydrodynamic study of three-dimensional instability of the spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, T.; Kondoh, K.; Ugai, M.; Shibata, K.

2009-01-01

Three-dimensional instability of the spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection is studied with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, where the two-dimensional model of the spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection is destabilized in three dimension. Generally, in two-dimensional magnetic reconnection models, every plasma condition is assumed to be uniform in the sheet current direction. In such two-dimensional MHD simulations, the current sheet destabilized by the initial resistive disturbance can be developed to fast magnetic reconnection by a current driven anomalous resistivity. In this paper, the initial resistive disturbance includes a small amount of fluctuations in the sheet current direction, i.e., along the magnetic neutral line. The other conditions are the same as that of previous two-dimensional MHD studies for fast magnetic reconnection. Accordingly, we may expect that approximately two-dimensional fast magnetic reconnection occurs in the MHD simulation. In fact, the fast magnetic reconnection activated on the first stage of the simulation is two dimensional. However, on the subsequent stages, it spontaneously becomes three dimensional and is strongly localized in the sheet current direction. The resulting three-dimensional fast magnetic reconnection intermittently ejects three-dimensional magnetic loops. Such intermittent ejections of the three-dimensional loops are similar to the intermittent downflows observed in the solar flares. The ejection of the three-dimensional loops seems to be random but, numerically and theoretically, it is shown that the aspect ratio of the ejected loops is limited under a criterion.

THE ROLE OF FAST MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON THE RADIO AND GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE NUCLEAR REGIONS OF MICROQUASARS AND LOW LUMINOSITY AGNs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kadowaki, L. H. S.; Pino, E. M. de Gouveia Dal; Singh, C. B.

2015-01-01

Fast magnetic reconnection events can be a very powerful mechanism operating in the core region of microquasars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In earlier work, it has been suggested that the power released by fast reconnection events between the magnetic field lines lifting from the inner accretion disk region and the lines anchored into the central black hole could accelerate relativistic particles and produce the observed radio emission from microquasars and low luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs). Moreover, it has been proposed that the observed correlation between the radio emission and the mass of these sources, spanning 10 10 orders of magnitude in mass, might be related to this process. In the present work, we revisit this model comparing two different fast magnetic reconnection mechanisms, namely, fast reconnection driven by anomalous resistivity (AR) and by turbulence. We apply the scenario above to a much larger sample of sources (including also blazars, and gamma-ray bursts—GRBs), and find that LLAGNs and microquasars do confirm the trend above. Furthermore, when driven by turbulence, not only their radio but also their gamma-ray emission can be due to magnetic power released by fast reconnection, which may accelerate particles to relativistic velocities in the core region of these sources. Thus the turbulent-driven fast reconnection model is able to reproduce verywell the observed emission. On the other hand, the emission from blazars and GRBs does not follow the same trend as that of the LLAGNs and microquasars, indicating that the radio and gamma-ray emission in these cases is produced beyond the core, along the jet, by another population of relativistic particles, as expected

Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Solar Coronal Dynamics with an Initial Non-force-free Magnetic Field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prasad, A.; Bhattacharyya, R.; Kumar, Sanjay [Udaipur Solar Observatory, Physical Research Laboratory, Dewali, Bari Road, Udaipur-313001 (India)

2017-05-01

The magnetic fields in the solar corona are generally neither force-free nor axisymmetric and have complex dynamics that are difficult to characterize. Here we simulate the topological evolution of solar coronal magnetic field lines (MFLs) using a magnetohydrodynamic model. The simulation is initialized with a non-axisymmetric non-force-free magnetic field that best correlates with the observed vector magnetograms of solar active regions (ARs). To focus on these ideas, simulations are performed for the flaring AR 11283 noted for its complexity and well-documented dynamics. The simulated dynamics develops as the initial Lorentz force pushes the plasma and facilitates successive magnetic reconnections at the two X-type null lines present in the initial field. Importantly, the simulation allows for the spontaneous development of mass flow, unique among contemporary works, that preferentially reconnects field lines at one of the X-type null lines. Consequently, a flux rope consisting of low-lying twisted MFLs, which approximately traces the major polarity inversion line, undergoes an asymmetric monotonic rise. The rise is attributed to a reduction in the magnetic tension force at the region overlying the rope, resulting from the reconnection. A monotonic rise of the rope is in conformity with the standard scenario of flares. Importantly, the simulated dynamics leads to bifurcations of the flux rope, which, being akin to the observed filament bifurcation in AR 11283, establishes the appropriateness of the initial field in describing ARs.

Simultaneous Remote Observations of Intense Reconnection Effects by DMSP and MMS Spacecraft During a Storm Time Substorm.

Science.gov (United States)

Varsani, A; Nakamura, R; Sergeev, V A; Baumjohann, W; Owen, C J; Petrukovich, A A; Yao, Z; Nakamura, T K M; Kubyshkina, M V; Sotirelis, T; Burch, J L; Genestreti, K J; Vörös, Z; Andriopoulou, M; Gershman, D J; Avanov, L A; Magnes, W; Russell, C T; Plaschke, F; Khotyaintsev, Y V; Giles, B L; Coffey, V N; Dorelli, J C; Strangeway, R J; Torbert, R B; Lindqvist, P-A; Ergun, R

2017-11-01

During a magnetic storm on 23 June 2015, several very intense substorms took place, with signatures observed by multiple spacecraft including DMSP and Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). At the time of interest, DMSP F18 crossed inbound through a poleward expanding auroral bulge boundary at 23.5 h magnetic local time (MLT), while MMS was located duskward of 22 h MLT during an inward crossing of the expanding plasma sheet boundary. The two spacecraft observed a consistent set of signatures as they simultaneously crossed the reconnection separatrix layer during this very intense reconnection event. These include (1) energy dispersion of the energetic ions and electrons traveling earthward, accompanied with high electron energies in the vicinity of the separatrix; (2) energy dispersion of polar rain electrons, with a high-energy cutoff; and (3) intense inward convection of the magnetic field lines at the MMS location. The high temporal resolution measurements by MMS provide unprecedented observations of the outermost electron boundary layer. We discuss the relevance of the energy dispersion of the electrons, and their pitch angle distribution, to the spatial and temporal evolution of the boundary layer. The results indicate that the underlying magnetotail magnetic reconnection process was an intrinsically impulsive and the active X-line was located relatively close to the Earth, approximately at 16-18 R E .

Transient and intermittent magnetic reconnections in TS-3/UTST merging startup experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Y.; Imazawa, R.; Imanaka, H.; Hayamizu, T.; Inomoto, M.; Sato, M.; Kawamori, E.; Ejiri, A.; Takase, Y.; Asai, T.; Takahashi, T.

2007-01-01

The high-power reconnection heating has been developed in the TS-3 merging experiments, leading us to a new pulsed high-beta spherical tokamak (ST) formation. Two ST plasmas were produced inductively by two or four PF coils without using any central solenoid (CS) coil and were merged together for MW-GW reconnection heating. The magnetic reconnection transformed the magnetic energy of reconnecting magnetic field through the outflow kinetic energy finally to the ion thermal energy, increasing the plasma beta of ST up to 0.5. A new finding is that ejection of current sheet (or plasmoid) causes high-speed merging/ reconnection as well as high-power heating. In the high-q ST merging, the sheet resistivity was almost classical due to the sheet thickness much longer than ion gyroradius. Large inflow flux and low current-sheet dissipation resulted in flux pileup followed by rapid growth of the current sheet. When the flux pileup exceeded a critical limit, the sheet was ejected mechanically from the squeezed X-point area. The reconnection (outflow) speed was slow during the flux pileup and was fast during the ejection, indicating that intermittent reconnection similar to the solar flare increased the averaged reconnection speed. These transient effects enable us to have the fast reconnection as well as the high-power reconnection heating, even if the merging high-q tokamaks have low current-sheet resistivity. (author)

Anomalous heating and plasmoid formation in pulsed power driven magnetic reconnection experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Hare, Jack

2017-10-01

Magnetic reconnection is an important process occurring in various plasma environments, including high energy density plasmas. In this talk we will present results from a recently developed magnetic reconnection platform driven by the MAGPIE pulsed power generator (1 MA, 250 ns) at Imperial College London. In these experiments, supersonic, sub-Alfvénic plasma flows collide, bringing anti-parallel magnetic fields into contact and producing a well-defined, elongated reconnection layer. This layer is long-lasting (>200 ns, > 10 hydrodynamic flow times) and is diagnosed using a suite of high resolution, spatially and temporally resolved diagnostics which include laser interferometry, Thomson scattering and Faraday rotation imaging. We observe significant heating of the electrons and ions inside the reconnection layer, and calculate that the heating must occur on time-scales far faster than can be explained by classical mechanisms. Possible anomalous mechanisms include in-plane electric fields caused by two-fluid effects, and enhanced resistivity and viscosity caused by kinetic turbulence. We also observe the repeated formation of plasmoids in the reconnection layer, which are ejected outwards along the layer at super-Alfvénic velocities. The O-point magnetic field structure of these plasmoids is determined using in situ magnetic probes, and these plasmoids could also play a role in the anomalous heating of the electrons and ions. In addition, we present further modifications to this experimental platform which enable us to study asymmetric reconnection or measure the out-of-plane magnetic field inside the plasmoids. This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Grant No. EP/N013379/1, and by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Awards No. DE-F03-02NA00057 and No. DE-SC-0001063.

On the signatures of magnetic islands and multiple X-lines in the solar wind as observed by ARTEMIS and WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eriksson, S; Newman, D L; Lapenta, G; Angelopoulos, V

2014-01-01

We report the first observation consistent with a magnetic reconnection generated magnetic island at a solar wind current sheet that was observed on 10 June 2012 by the two ARTEMIS satellites and the upstream WIND satellite. The evidence consists of a core magnetic field within the island which is formed by enhanced Hall magnetic fields across a solar wind reconnection exhaust. The core field at ARTEMIS displays a local dip coincident with a peak plasma density enhancement and a locally slower exhaust speed which differentiates it from a regular solar wind exhaust crossing. Further indirect evidence of magnetic island formation is presented in the form of a tripolar Hall magnetic field, which is supported by an observed electron velocity shear, and plasma density depletion regions which are in general agreement with multiple reconnection X-line signatures at the same current sheet on the basis of predicted signatures of magnetic islands as generated by a kinetic reconnection simulation for solar wind-like conditions. The combined ARTEMIS and WIND observations of tripolar Hall magnetic fields across the same exhaust and Grad–Shrafranov reconstructions of the magnetic field suggest that an elongated magnetic island was encountered which displayed a 4R E normal width and a 43R E extent along the exhaust between two neighboring X-lines. (paper)

A Model of Solar Flares Based on Arcade Field Reconnection and Merging of Magnetic Islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choe, G.S.; Cheng, C.Z.

2001-01-01

Solar flares are intense, abrupt releases of energy in the solar corona. In the impulsive phase of a flare, the intensity of hard X-ray emission reaches a sharp peak indicating the highest reconnection rate. It is often observed that an X-ray emitting plasma ejecta (plasmoid) is launched before the impulsive phase and accelerated throughout the phase. Thus, the plasmoid ejection may not be an effect of fast magnetic reconnection as conventionally assumed, but a cause of fast reconnection. Based on resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, a solar flare model is presented, which can explain these observational characteristics of flares. In the model, merging of a newly generated magnetic island and a pre-existing island results in stretching and thinning of a current sheet, in which fast magnetic reconnection is induced. Recurrence of homologous flares naturally arises in this model. Mechanisms of magnetic island formation are also discussed

The Effect of Ion Multi-scales on Magnetic Reconnection in Earth's Magnetotail - Cluster Observations"

Science.gov (United States)

Shojaei Ardakani, A.; Mouikis, C.; Kistler, L. M.; Torbert, R. B.; Roytershteyn, V.; Omelchenko, Y.

2017-12-01

A recent statistical study, using Cluster observations, showed that during substorms, a higher O+ content in the plasma sheet during the substorm growth phase, makes it more difficult to trigger reconnection [Liu et al, 2013]. In addition, they showed that, in contrast to predictions that the reconnection rate during the substorm expansion phase slows down in the presence of O+, the magnetotail unloading rate is actually faster when the O+ content is higher. This could be due to a faster local reconnection rate or due to reconnection occurring over a greater width in the tail when the O+ content of the plasma sheet is high. To address this question, we use reconnection events observed by Cluster that have different densities of O+ and we determine the local reconnection rate. For the calculation of the reconnection rate we use CODIF observations from the boundary layer/lobes around flow reversals where the distribution functions show signatures of the presence of cold plasma convecting towards the current sheet. In addition, we use timing analysis to deduce the movement of the x-line. This methodology will be compared with the estimation of the reconnection rate using results from fully kinetic and hybrid particle-in-cell simulations that model reconnection in the presence of O+ in both local geometry and in a model magnetotail equilibrium. Finally, we use the deduced local reconnection rate together with the total magnetotail pressure rate of change (from Liu et al., [2013]) to estimate the cross-tail extent of the reconnecting plasma sheet.

Forced magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Vekstein, G.

2017-10-01

This is a tutorial-style selective review explaining basic concepts of forced magnetic reconnection. It is based on a celebrated model of forced reconnection suggested by J. B. Taylor. The standard magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory of this process has been pioneered by Hahm & Kulsrud (Phys. Fluids, vol. 28, 1985, p. 2412). Here we also discuss several more recent developments related to this problem. These include energetics of forced reconnection, its Hall-mediated regime, and nonlinear effects with the associated onset of the secondary tearing (plasmoid) instability.

Self-Organization by Stochastic Reconnection: The Mechanism Underlying CMEs/Flares

Science.gov (United States)

Antiochos, S. K.; Knizhnik, K. J.; DeVore, C. R.

2017-12-01

The largest explosions in the solar system are the giant CMEs/flares that produce the most dangerous space weather at Earth, yet may also have been essential for the origin of life. The root cause of CMEs/flares is that the lowest-lying magnetic field lines in the Sun's corona undergo the continual buildup of stress and free energy that can be released only through explosive ejection. We perform the first MHD simulations of a coronal-photospheric magnetic system that is driven by random photospheric convective flows and has a realistic geometry for the coronal field. Furthermore, our simulations accurately preserve the key constraint of magnetic helicity. We find that even though small-scale stress is injected randomly throughout the corona, the net result of "stochastic" coronal reconnection is a coherent stretching of the lowest-lying field lines. This highly counter-intuitive demonstration of self-organization - magnetic stress builds up locally rather than spreading out to a minimum energy state - is the fundamental mechanism responsible for the Sun's magnetic explosions and is likely to be a mechanism that is ubiquitous throughout space and laboratory plasmas. This work was supported in part by the NASA LWS and SR Programs.

Plasma pressure tensor effects on reconnection: Hybrid and Hall-magnetohydrodynamics simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin Lin; Winske, Dan

2003-01-01

Collisionless reconnection is studied using two-dimensional (2-D) hybrid (particle ions, massless fluid electrons) and Hall-magnetohydrodynamics (Hall-MHD) simulations. Both use the full electron pressure tensor instead of a localized resistivity in Ohm's law to initiate reconnection; an initial perturbation or boundary driving to the equilibrium is used. The initial configurations include one-dimensional (1-D) and 2-D current sheets both with and without a guide field. Electron dynamics from the two calculations are compared, and overall agreement is found between the calculations in both reconnection rate and global configuration [L. Yin et al., J. Geophys. Res. 106, 10761 (2001)]. It is shown that the electron drifts in the small-transverse-scale fields near the X point cause the electron motion to decouple from the ion motion, and that reconnection occurs due to electron viscous effects contained in the off-diagonal terms of the electron pressure tensor. Comparing the hybrid and Hall-MHD simulations shows that effects of the off-diagonal terms in the ion pressure tensor, i.e., the ion gyro-radius effects, are necessary in order to model correctly the ion out-of-plane motion. It is shown that these effects can be modeled efficiently in a particle Hall-MHD simulation in which particle ions are used in a predictor/corrector manner to implement ion gyro-radius corrections [L. Yin et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2575 (2002)]. For modeling reconnection in large systems, a new integrated approach is examined in which Hall-MHD calculations using a full electron pressure tensor model is embedded inside a MHD simulation. The embedded simulation of current sheet thinning and reconnection dynamics in a realistic 2-D magnetotail equilibrium exhibits smooth transitions of plasma and field quantities between the two regions, with small-scale physics represented well in the compressed current sheet and in the near-X-point region

Double-reconnected magnetic structures driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices at the Earth's magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borgogno, D.; Califano, F.; Pegoraro, F.; Faganello, M.

2015-01-01

In an almost collisionless magnetohydrodynamic plasma in a relatively strong magnetic field, stresses can be conveyed far from the region where they are exerted, e.g., through the propagation of Alfvèn waves. The forced dynamics of line-tied magnetic structures in solar and stellar coronae (see, e.g., A. F. Rappazzo and E. N. Parker, Astrophys. J. 773, L2 (2013) and references therein) is a paradigmatic case. Here, we investigate how this action at a distance develops from the equatorial region of the Kelvin-Helmholtz unstable flanks of the Earth's magnetosphere leading to the onset, at mid latitude in both hemispheres, of correlated double magnetic field line reconnection events that can allow the solar wind plasma to enter the Earth's magnetosphere

Bursting reconnection of the two co-rotating current loops

Science.gov (United States)

Bulanov, Sergei; Sokolov, Igor; Sakai, Jun-Ichi

2000-10-01

Two parallel plasma filaments carrying electric current (current loops) are considered. The Ampere force induces the filaments' coalescence, which is accompanied by the reconnection of the poloidal magnetic field. Initially the loops rotate along the axii of symmetry. Each of the two loops would be in equilibrium in the absence of the other one. The dynamics of the reconnection is numerically simulated using high-resolution numerical scheme for low-resistive magneto-hydrodynamics. The results of numerical simulation are presented in the form of computer movies. The results show that the rotation strongly modifies the reconnection process, resulting in quasi-periodic (bursting) appearance and disappearance of a current sheet. Fast sliding motion of the plasma along the current sheet is a significant element of the complicated structure of reconnection (current-vortex sheet). The magnetic surfaces in the overal flow are strongly rippled by slow magnetosonic perturbations, so that the specific spiral structures form. This should result in the particle transport enhancement.

Plasmoid statistics in relativistic magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Petropoulou, M.; Christie, I. M.; Sironi, L.; Giannios, D.

2018-04-01

Plasmoids, overdense blobs of plasma containing magnetic fields and high-energy particles, are a self-consistent outcome of the reconnection process in the relativistic regime. Recent two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have shown that plasmoids can undergo a variety of processes (e.g. mergers, bulk acceleration, growth, and advection) within the reconnection layer. We developed a Monte Carlo code, benchmarked with the recent PIC simulations, to examine the effects of these processes on the steady-state size and momentum distributions of the plasmoid chain. The differential plasmoid size distribution is shown to be a power law, ranging from a few plasma skin depths to ˜0.1 of the reconnection layer's length. The power-law slope is shown to be linearly dependent upon the ratio of the plasmoid acceleration and growth rates, which slightly decreases with increasing plasma magnetization. We perform a detailed comparison of our results with those of recent PIC simulations and briefly discuss the astrophysical implications of our findings through the representative case of flaring events from blazar jets.

Magnetic reconnection in the presence of externally driven and self-generated turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karimabadi, H.; Lazarian, A.

2013-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is an important process that violates flux freezing and induces change of magnetic field topology in conducting fluids and, as a consequence, converts magnetic field energy into particle energy. It is thought to be operative in laboratory, heliophysical, and astrophysical plasmas. These environments exhibit wide variations in collisionality, ranging from collisionless in the Earth's magnetosphere to highly collisional in molecular clouds. A common feature among these plasmas is, however, the presence of turbulence. We review the present understanding of the effects of turbulence on the reconnection rate, discussing both how strong pre-existing turbulence modifies Sweet-Parker reconnection and how turbulence may develop as a result of reconnection itself. In steady state, reconnection rate is proportional to the aspect ratio of the diffusion region. Thus, two general MHD classes of models for fast reconnection have been proposed, differing on whether they keep the aspect ratio finite by increasing the width due to turbulent broadening or shortening the length of the diffusion layer due to plasmoid instability. One of the consequences of the plasmoid instability model is the possibility that the current sheet thins down to collisionless scales where kinetic effects become dominant. As a result, kinetic effects may be of importance for many astrophysical applications which were considered to be in the realm of MHD. Whether pre-existing turbulence can significantly modify the transition to the kinetic regime is not currently known. Although most studies of turbulent reconnection have been based on MHD, recent advances in kinetic simulations are enabling 3D studies of turbulence and reconnection in the collisionless regime. A summary of these recent works, highlighting similarities and differences with the MHD models of turbulent reconnection, as well as comparison with in situ observations in the magnetosphere and in the solar wind, are presented

BREAKOUT RECONNECTION OBSERVED BY THE TESIS EUV TELESCOPE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reva, A. A.; Ulyanov, A. S.; Shestov, S. V.; Kuzin, S. V., E-mail: reva.antoine@gmail.com [Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian Federation)

2016-01-10

We present experimental evidence of the coronal mass ejection (CME) breakout reconnection, observed by the TESIS EUV telescope. The telescope could observe solar corona up to 2 R{sub ⊙} from the Sun center in the Fe 171 Å line. Starting from 2009 April 8, TESIS observed an active region (AR) that had a quadrupolar structure with an X-point 0.5 R{sub ⊙} above photosphere. A magnetic field reconstructed from the Michelson Doppler Imager data also has a multipolar structure with an X-point above the AR. At 21:45 UT on April 9, the loops near the X-point started to move away from each other with a velocity of ≈7 km s{sup −1}. At 01:15 UT on April 10, a bright stripe appeared between the loops, and the flux in the GOES 0.5–4 Å channel increased. We interpret the loops’ sideways motion and the bright stripe as evidence of the breakout reconnection. At 01:45 UT, the loops below the X-point started to slowly move up. At 15:10 UT, the CME started to accelerate impulsively, while at the same time a flare arcade formed below the CME. After 15:50 UT, the CME moved with constant velocity. The CME evolution precisely followed the breakout model scenario.

BREAKOUT RECONNECTION OBSERVED BY THE TESIS EUV TELESCOPE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reva, A. A.; Ulyanov, A. S.; Shestov, S. V.; Kuzin, S. V.

2016-01-01

We present experimental evidence of the coronal mass ejection (CME) breakout reconnection, observed by the TESIS EUV telescope. The telescope could observe solar corona up to 2 R ⊙ from the Sun center in the Fe 171 Å line. Starting from 2009 April 8, TESIS observed an active region (AR) that had a quadrupolar structure with an X-point 0.5 R ⊙ above photosphere. A magnetic field reconstructed from the Michelson Doppler Imager data also has a multipolar structure with an X-point above the AR. At 21:45 UT on April 9, the loops near the X-point started to move away from each other with a velocity of ≈7 km s −1 . At 01:15 UT on April 10, a bright stripe appeared between the loops, and the flux in the GOES 0.5–4 Å channel increased. We interpret the loops’ sideways motion and the bright stripe as evidence of the breakout reconnection. At 01:45 UT, the loops below the X-point started to slowly move up. At 15:10 UT, the CME started to accelerate impulsively, while at the same time a flare arcade formed below the CME. After 15:50 UT, the CME moved with constant velocity. The CME evolution precisely followed the breakout model scenario

Electron Scale Structures and Magnetic Reconnection Signatures in the Turbulent Magnetosheath

Science.gov (United States)

Yordanova, E.; Voros, Z.; Varsani, A.; Graham, D. B.; Norgren, C.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Vaivads, A.; Eriksson, E.; Nakamura, R.; Lindqvist, P.-A.;

Magnetotail Reconnection and Flux Circulation: Jupiter and Saturn Compared

Science.gov (United States)

Jackman, C. M.; Vogt, M. F.; Slavin, J. A.; Cowley, S. W. H.; Boardsen, S. A.

2011-01-01

The Jovian magnetosphere has been visited by eight spacecraft, and the magnetometer data have been used to identify dozens of plasmoids and 250 field dipolarizations associated with magnetic reconnection in the tail [e.g. Vogt et al., 2010]. Since the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in 2004, the magnetometer instrument has also been used to identify reconnection signatures. The deepest magnetotail orbits were in 2006, and during this time 34 signatures of plasmoids were identified. In this study we compare the statistical properties of plasmoids at Jupiter and Saturn such as duration, size, location, and recurrence period. Such parameters can be influenced by many factors, including the different Dungey cycle timescales and cross-magnetospheric potential drops at the two planets. We present superposed epoch analyses of plasmoids at the two planets to determine their average properties and to infer their role in the reconfiguration of the nightside of the magnetosphere. We examine the contributions of plasmoids to the magnetic flux transfer cycle at both planets. At Jupiter, there is evidence of an extended interval after reconnection where the field remains northward (analogous to the terrestrial post-plasmoid plasma sheet). At Saturn we see a similar feature, and calculate the amount of flux closed on average in reconnection events, leading us to an estimation of the recurrence rate of plasmoid release.

Reconnection Scaling Experiment (RSX): Magnetic Reconnection in Linear Geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Intrator, T.; Sovinec, C.; Begay, D.; Wurden, G.; Furno, I.; Werley, C.; Fisher, M.; Vermare, L.; Fienup, W.

2001-10-01

The linear Reconnection Scaling Experiment (RSX) at LANL is a new experiment that can create MHD relevant plasmas to look at the physics of magnetic reconnection. This experiment can scale many relevant parameters because the guns that generate the plasma and current channels do not depend on equilibrium or force balance for startup. We describe the experiment and initial electrostatic and magnetic probe data. Two parallel current channels sweep down a long plasma column and probe data accumulated over many shots gives 3D movies of magnetic reconnection. Our first data tries to define an operating regime free from kink instabilities that might otherwise confuse the data and shot repeatability. We compare this with MHD 2 fluid NIMROD simulations of the single current channel kink stability boundary for a variety of experimental conditions.

Magnetic Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Regions of the Low Solar Chromosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Lei; Lukin, Vyacheslav S.; Murphy, Nicholas A.; Lin, Jun

2018-01-01

Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized regions around the temperature minimum region of the low solar atmosphere is studied by employing MHD-based simulations of a partially ionized plasma within a reactive 2.5D multi-fluid model. It is shown that in the absence of magnetic nulls in a low β plasma, the ionized and neutral fluid flows are well-coupled throughout the reconnection region. However, non-equilibrium ionization–recombination dynamics play a critical role in determining the structure of the reconnection region, leading to much lower temperature increases and a faster magnetic reconnection rate as compared to simulations that assume plasma to be in ionization–recombination equilibrium. The rate of ionization of the neutral component of the plasma is always faster than recombination within the current sheet region even when the initial plasma β is as high as {β }0=1.46. When the reconnecting magnetic field is in excess of a kilogauss and the plasma β is lower than 0.0145, the initially weakly ionized plasmas can become fully ionized within the reconnection region and the current sheet can be strongly heated to above 2.5× {10}4 K, even as most of the collisionally dissipated magnetic energy is radiated away. The Hall effect increases the reconnection rate slightly, but in the absence of magnetic nulls it does not result in significant asymmetries or change the characteristics of the reconnection current sheet down to meter scales.

Electromagnetic Fluctuations during Fast Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hantao Ji; Stephen Terry; Masaaki Yamada; Russell Kulsrud; Aleksey Kuritsyn; Yang Ren

2003-01-01

Clear evidence for a positive correlation is established between the magnitude of magnetic fluctuations in the lower-hybrid frequency range and enhancement of reconnection rates in a well-controlled laboratory plasma. The fluctuations belong to the right-hand polarized whistler wave branch, propagating obliquely to the reconnecting magnetic field, with a phase velocity comparable to the relative drift velocity between electrons and ions. The short coherence length and large variation along the propagation direction indicate their strongly nonlinear nature in three dimensions

Observations of magnetic flux ropes during magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. L. Borg

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We present an investigation of magnetic flux ropes observed by the four Cluster spacecraft during periods of magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. Using a list of 21 Cluster encounters with the reconnection process in the period 2001–2006 identified in Borg et al. (2012, we present the distribution and characteristics of the flux ropes. We find 27 flux ropes embedded in the reconnection outflows of only 11 of the 21 reconnection encounters. Reconnection processes associated with no flux rope observations were not distinguishable from those where flux ropes were observed. Only 7 of the 27 flux ropes show evidence of enhanced energetic electron flux above 50 keV, and there was no clear signature of the flux rope in the thermal particle measurements. We found no clear correlation between the flux rope core field and the prevailing IMF By direction.

Self-organized Te Redistribution during Driven Reconnection Processes in High Temperature Plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, H.K.; Mazzucato, E.; Luhmann, N.C. Jr.; Domier, C.W.; Xia, Z.; Munsat, T.; Donne, A.J.H.; Classen, I.G.J.; van de Pol, M.J.

2005-01-01

Two-dimensional (2-D) images of electron temperature fluctuations with a high temporal and spatial resolution were employed to study the sawtooth oscillation in TEXTOR tokamak plasmas. The new findings are: (1) 2-D images revealed that the reconnection is localized and permitted the determination of the physical dimensions of the reconnection zone in the poloidal and toroidal planes. (2) The combination of a pressure driven mode and a kink instability leads to an 'X-point' reconnection process. (3) Reconnection can take place anywhere along the q∼1 rational magnetic surface (both high and low field sides). (4) Heat flow from the core to the outside of the inversion radius during the reconnection time is highly asymmetric and the behavior is collective. These new findings are compared with the characteristics of various theoretical models and experimental results for the study of the sawtooth oscillation in tokamak plasmas

Excitation and propagation of electromagnetic fluctuations with ion-cyclotron range of frequency in magnetic reconnection laboratory experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inomoto, Michiaki; Tanabe, Hiroshi; Ono, Yasushi; Kuwahata, Akihiro

2013-01-01

Large-amplitude electromagnetic fluctuations of ion-cyclotron-frequency range are detected in a laboratory experiment inside the diffusion region of a magnetic reconnection with a guide field. The fluctuations have properties similar to kinetic Alfvén waves propagating obliquely to the guide field. Temporary enhancement of the reconnection rate is observed during the occurrence of the fluctuations, suggesting a relationship between the modification in the local magnetic structure given by these fluctuations and the intermittent fast magnetic reconnection

Non-thermal particle acceleration in collisionless relativistic electron-proton reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, G. R.; Uzdensky, D. A.; Begelman, M. C.; Cerutti, B.; Nalewajko, K.

2018-02-01

Magnetic reconnection in relativistic collisionless plasmas can accelerate particles and power high-energy emission in various astrophysical systems. Whereas most previous studies focused on relativistic reconnection in pair plasmas, less attention has been paid to electron-ion plasma reconnection, expected in black hole accretion flows and relativistic jets. We report a comprehensive particle-in-cell numerical investigation of reconnection in an electron-ion plasma, spanning a wide range of ambient ion magnetizations σi, from the semirelativistic regime (ultrarelativistic electrons but non-relativistic ions, 10-3 ≪ σi ≪ 1) to the fully relativistic regime (both species are ultrarelativistic, σi ≫ 1). We investigate how the reconnection rate, electron and ion plasma flows, electric and magnetic field structures, electron/ion energy partitioning, and non-thermal particle acceleration depend on σi. Our key findings are: (1) the reconnection rate is about 0.1 of the Alfvénic rate across all regimes; (2) electrons can form concentrated moderately relativistic outflows even in the semirelativistic, small-σi regime; (3) while the released magnetic energy is partitioned equally between electrons and ions in the ultrarelativistic limit, the electron energy fraction declines gradually with decreased σi and asymptotes to about 0.25 in the semirelativistic regime; and (4) reconnection leads to efficient non-thermal electron acceleration with a σi-dependent power-law index, p(σ _i)˜eq const+0.7σ _i^{-1/2}. These findings are important for understanding black hole systems and lend support to semirelativistic reconnection models for powering non-thermal emission in blazar jets, offering a natural explanation for the spectral indices observed in these systems.

Magnetic Reconnection Driven by Thermonuclear Burning

Science.gov (United States)

Gatto, R.; Coppi, B.

2017-10-01

Considering that fusion reaction products (e.g. α-particles) deposit their energy on the electrons, the relevant thermal energy balance equation is characterized by a fusion source term, a relatively large longitudinal thermal conductivity and an appropriate transverse thermal conductivity. Then, looking for modes that are radially localized around rational surfaces, reconnected field configurations are found that can be sustained by the electron thermal energy source due to fusion reactions. Then this process can be included in the category of endogenous reconnection processes and may be viewed as a form of the thermonuclear instability that can develop in an ignited inhomogeneous plasma. A complete analysis of the equations supporting the relevant theory is reported. Sponsored in part by the U.S. DoE.

Magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail: Energy conversion and its earthward-tailward asymmetry

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, San; Pritchett, P. L.; Angelopoulos, V.; Artemyev, A. V.

2018-01-01

Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process, releases magnetic energy and converts it to particle energy, by accelerating and heating ions and electrons. This energy conversion plays an important role in the Earth's magnetotail. A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is performed to study such a conversion in a magnetotail topology, one with a nonzero Bz, and the energy conversion is found to be more efficient in the earthward outflow than in the tailward outflow. Such earthward-tailward asymmetry is manifested not only in j .E but also in Poynting flux, Hall electromagnetic fields, bulk kinetic energy flux, enthalpy flux, heat flux, bulk acceleration, heating, and suprathermal particle energization, all of which are more prevalent on the earthward side. Such asymmetries are consistent with spacecraft observations reported in the literature. Our study shows that in the magnetotail, most of the energy converted by reconnection flows predominantly toward the Earth and has the potential of being geoeffective, rather than being expelled to the solar wind by the tailward flow. The energy conversion asymmetry arises from the presence of the non-zero normal magnetic field, the stronger lobe magnetic field, and the stronger cross-tail current earthward of the reconnection site in the pre-reconnecting thin current sheet.

Heating properties of merging/reconnection startup of high-beta ST

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Yasushi

2005-01-01

The high-power reconnection heating of spherical tokamak (ST) has been studied in the TS-3 experiment by use of axial merging of two STs. In this method, the merging/magnetic reconnection transformed a part of magnetic energy of merging STs into their thermal energy within short reconnection time. Our present low-field merging (0.3-0.5kG, R∼0.2m) attained the maximum heating power of 4-10MW and increased the beta-values of STs by factor 2-3 transiently. The ion heating energy was found to increase inversely with the q-value (B t component) of two STs. The most probable cause for this dependence is fast reconnection speed/ outflow speed due to large anomalous resistivity of current sheet in low-q state. After merging startup, decrease in beta was observed especially in low-q STs, indicating that the final beta value of ST increased with the q-value. (author)

Parameterizing the Magnetopause Reconnection Rate from Observations of the Expanding Polar Cap

Science.gov (United States)

Milan, S. E.; Gosling, J. S.; Hubert, B.

2012-04-01

We determine an expression for the magnetopause reconnection rate in terms of upstream interplanetary parameters. We quantify the dayside reconnection rate from observations of the expanding polar cap when the nightside reconnection rate is assumed to be zero. The polar cap open flux is calculated from auroral images collected by the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) Far Ultraviolet camera (FUV), and its rate of increase is correlated with upstream solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field measurements from the OMNI data-set. We find that the reconnection rate is successfully reproduced by considering the magnetic flux transport within a 4 Re-wide channel within the solar wind (with an additional small correction for the solar wind velocity) and an IMF clock angle dependence with an exponent of 9/2. Contrary to several previous studies we do not find a dependence of the reconnection rate on solar wind density. We discuss our findings in the context of previous studies and solar wind-magnetosphere coupling models.

Energy released by the interaction of coronal magnetic fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheeley, N.R. Jr.

1976-01-01

Comparisons between coronal spectroheliograms and photospheric magnetograms are presented to support the idea that as coronal magnetic fields interact, a process of field line reconnection usually takes place as a natural way of preventing magnetic stresses from building up in the lower corona. This suggests that the energy which would have been stored in stressed fields in continuously released as kinetic energy of material being driven aside to make way for the reconnecting fields. However, this kinetic energy is negligible compared to the thermal energy of the coronal plasma. Therefore, it appears that these slow adjustments of coronal magnetic fields cannot account for even the normal heating of the corona, much less the energetic events associated with solar flares. (Auth.)

Assessing the Time Dependence of Reconnection With Poynting's Theorem: MMS Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Genestreti, K. J.; Cassak, P. A.; Varsani, A.; Burch, J. L.; Nakamura, R.; Wang, S.

2018-04-01

We investigate the time dependence of electromagnetic-field-to-plasma energy conversion in the electron diffusion region of asymmetric magnetic reconnection. To do so, we consider the terms in Poynting's theorem. In a steady state there is a perfect balance between the divergence of the electromagnetic energy flux ∇·S→ and the conversion between electromagnetic field and particle energy J→·E→. This energy balance is demonstrated with a particle-in-cell simulation of reconnection. We also evaluate each of the terms in Poynting's theorem during an observation of a magnetopause reconnection region by Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). We take the equivalence of both sides of Poynting's theorem as an indication that the errors associated with the approximation of each term with MMS data are small. We find that, for this event, balance between J→·E→=-∇·S→ is only achieved for a small fraction of the energy conversion region at/near the X-point. Magnetic energy was rapidly accumulating on either side of the current sheet at roughly 3 times the predicted energy conversion rate. Furthermore, we find that while J→·E→>0 and ∇·S→J→·E→. We note that due to the assumptions necessary to do this calculation, the accurate evaluation of ∇·S→ may not be possible for every MMS-observed reconnection event; but, if possible, this is a simple approach to determine if reconnection is or is not in a steady state.

Turbulence, Magnetic Reconnection in Turbulent Fluids and Energetic Particle Acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarian, A.; Vlahos, L.; Kowal, G.; Yan, H.; Beresnyak, A.; de Gouveia Dal Pino, E. M.

2012-11-01

Turbulence is ubiquitous in astrophysics. It radically changes many astrophysical phenomena, in particular, the propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays. We present the modern understanding of compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, in particular its decomposition into Alfvén, slow and fast modes, discuss the density structure of turbulent subsonic and supersonic media, as well as other relevant regimes of astrophysical turbulence. All this information is essential for understanding the energetic particle acceleration that we discuss further in the review. For instance, we show how fast and slow modes accelerate energetic particles through the second order Fermi acceleration, while density fluctuations generate magnetic fields in pre-shock regions enabling the first order Fermi acceleration of high energy cosmic rays. Very importantly, however, the first order Fermi cosmic ray acceleration is also possible in sites of magnetic reconnection. In the presence of turbulence this reconnection gets fast and we present numerical evidence supporting the predictions of the Lazarian and Vishniac (Astrophys. J. 517:700-718, 1999) model of fast reconnection. The efficiency of this process suggests that magnetic reconnection can release substantial amounts of energy in short periods of time. As the particle tracing numerical simulations show that the particles can be efficiently accelerated during the reconnection, we argue that the process of magnetic reconnection may be much more important for particle acceleration than it is currently accepted. In particular, we discuss the acceleration arising from reconnection as a possible origin of the anomalous cosmic rays measured by Voyagers as well as the origin cosmic ray excess in the direction of Heliotail.

Investigation of the viscous reconnection phenomenon of two vortex tubes through spectral simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Beardsell, Guillaume; Dufresne, Louis; Dumas, Guy

2016-09-01

This paper aims to shed further light on the viscous reconnection phenomenon. To this end, we propose a robust and efficient method in order to quantify the degree of reconnection of two vortex tubes. This method is used to compare the evolutions of two simple initial vortex configurations: orthogonal and antiparallel. For the antiparallel configuration, the proposed method is compared with alternative estimators and it is found to improve accuracy since it can account properly for the formation of looping structures inside the domain. This observation being new, the physical mechanism for the formation of those looping structures is discussed. For the orthogonal configuration, we report results from simulations that were performed at a much higher vortex Reynolds number (ReΓ ≡ circulation/viscosity = 104) and finer resolution (N3 = 10243) than previously presented in the literature. The incompressible Navier-stokes equations are solved directly (Direct Numerical Simulation or DNS) using a Fourier pseudospectral algorithm with triply periodic boundary conditions. The associated zero-circulation constraint is circumvented by solving the governing equations in a proper rotating frame of reference. Using ideas similar to those behind our method to compute the degree of reconnection, we split the vorticity field into its reconnected and non-reconnected parts, which allows to create insightful visualizations of the evolving vortex topology. It also allows to detect regions in the vorticity field that are neither reconnected nor non-reconnected and thus must be associated to internal looping structures. Finally, the Reynolds number dependence of the reconnection time scale Trec is investigated in the range 500 ≤ ReΓ ≤ 10 000. For both initial configurations, the scaling is generally found to vary continuously as ReΓ is increased from T rec ˜ R eΓ - 1 to T rec ˜ R eΓ - 1 / 2 , thus providing quantitative support for previous claims that the reconnection

Physics of the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Kagan, Daniel; Nakar, Ehud; Piran, Tsvi

2018-05-01

We investigate the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic reconnection using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations at various magnetizations σ. We find that the particle energy spectrum produced in reconnection quickly saturates as a hard power law that cuts off at γ ≈ 4σ, confirming previous work. Using particle tracing, we find that particle acceleration by the reconnection electric field in X-points determines the shape of the particle energy spectrum. By analysing the current sheet structure, we show that physical cause of saturation is the spontaneous formation of secondary magnetic islands that can disrupt particle acceleration. By comparing the size of acceleration regions to the typical distance between disruptive islands, we show that the maximum Lorentz factor produced in reconnection is γ ≈ 5σ, which is very close to what we find in our particle energy spectra. We also show that the dynamic range in Lorentz factor of the power-law spectrum in reconnection is ≤40. The hardness of the power law combined with its narrow dynamic range implies that relativistic reconnection is capable of producing the hard narrow-band flares observed in the Crab nebula but has difficulty producing the softer broad-band prompt gamma-ray burst emission.

Toward multi-scale simulation of reconnection phenomena in space plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Den, M.; Horiuchi, R.; Usami, S.; Tanaka, T.; Ogawa, T.; Ohtani, H.

2013-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is considered to play an important role in space phenomena such as substorm in the Earth's magnetosphere. It is well known that magnetic reconnection is controlled by microscopic kinetic mechanism. Frozen-in condition is broken due to particle kinetic effects and collisionless reconnection is triggered when current sheet is compressed as thin as ion kinetic scales under the influence of external driving flow. On the other hand configuration of the magnetic field leading to formation of diffusion region is determined in macroscopic scale and topological change after reconnection is also expressed in macroscopic scale. Thus magnetic reconnection is typical multi-scale phenomenon and microscopic and macroscopic physics are strongly coupled. Recently Horiuchi et al. developed an effective resistivity model based on particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results obtained in study of collisionless driven reconnection and applied to a global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation of substorm in the Earth's magnetosphere. They showed reproduction of global behavior in substrom such as dipolarization and flux rope formation by global three dimensional MHD simulation. Usami et al. developed multi-hierarchy simulation model, in which macroscopic and microscopic physics are solved self-consistently and simultaneously. Based on the domain decomposition method, this model consists of three parts: a MHD algorithm for macroscopic global dynamics, a PIC algorithm for microscopic kinetic physics, and an interface algorithm to interlock macro and micro hierarchies. They verified the interface algorithm by simulation of plasma injection flow. In their latest work, this model was applied to collisionless reconnection in an open system and magnetic reconnection was successfully found. In this paper, we describe our approach to clarify multi-scale phenomena and report the current status. Our recent study about extension of the MHD domain to global system is presented. We

Physical conditions in the reconnection layer in pulsar magnetospheres

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uzdensky, Dmitri A. [Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, University of Colorado, UCB 390, Boulder, CO 80309-0390 (United States); Spitkovsky, Anatoly, E-mail: uzdensky@colorado.edu, E-mail: anatoly@astro.princeton.edu [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

2014-01-01

The magnetosphere of a rotating pulsar naturally develops a current sheet (CS) beyond the light cylinder (LC). Magnetic reconnection in this CS inevitably dissipates a nontrivial fraction of the pulsar spin-down power within a few LC radii. We develop a basic physical picture of reconnection in this environment and discuss its implications for the observed pulsed gamma-ray emission. We argue that reconnection proceeds in the plasmoid-dominated regime, via a hierarchical chain of multiple secondary islands/flux ropes. The inter-plasmoid reconnection layers are subject to strong synchrotron cooling, leading to significant plasma compression. Using the conditions of pressure balance across these current layers, the balance between the heating by magnetic energy dissipation and synchrotron cooling, and Ampere's law, we obtain simple estimates for key parameters of the layers—temperature, density, and layer thickness. In the comoving frame of the relativistic pulsar wind just outside of the equatorial CS, these basic parameters are uniquely determined by the strength of the reconnecting upstream magnetic field. For the case of the Crab pulsar, we find them to be of order 10 GeV, 10{sup 13} cm{sup –3}, and 10 cm, respectively. After accounting for the bulk Doppler boosting due to the pulsar wind, the synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission from the reconnecting CS can explain the observed pulsed high-energy (GeV) and very high energy (∼100 GeV) radiation, respectively. Also, we suggest that the rapid relative motions of the secondary plasmoids in the hierarchical chain may contribute to the production of the pulsar radio emission.

FAST MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE MEDIATED BY THE PLASMOID INSTABILITY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ni, Lei; Kliem, Bernhard; Lin, Jun; Wu, Ning

2015-01-01

Magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar chromosphere is studied in 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including radiative cooling and ambipolar diffusion. A Harris current sheet with and without a guide field is considered. Characteristic values of the parameters in the middle chromosphere imply a high magnetic Reynolds number of ∼10 6 -10 7 in the present simulations. Fast magnetic reconnection then develops as a consequence of the plasmoid instability without the need to invoke anomalous resistivity enhancements. Multiple levels of the instability are followed as it cascades to smaller scales, which approach the ion inertial length. The reconnection rate, normalized to the asymptotic values of magnetic field and Alfvén velocity in the inflow region, reaches values in the range ∼0.01-0.03 throughout the cascading plasmoid formation and for zero as well as for strong guide field. The outflow velocity reaches ≈40 km s –1 . Slow-mode shocks extend from the X-points, heating the plasmoids up to ∼8 × 10 4 K. In the case of zero guide field, the inclusion of both ambipolar diffusion and radiative cooling causes a rapid thinning of the current sheet (down to ∼30 m) and early formation of secondary islands. Both of these processes have very little effect on the plasmoid instability for a strong guide field. The reconnection rates, temperature enhancements, and upward outflow velocities from the vertical current sheet correspond well to their characteristic values in chromospheric jets

FAST MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE MEDIATED BY THE PLASMOID INSTABILITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ni, Lei; Kliem, Bernhard; Lin, Jun [Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011 (China); Wu, Ning, E-mail: leini@ynao.ac.cn [School of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650031 (China)

2015-01-20

Magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar chromosphere is studied in 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including radiative cooling and ambipolar diffusion. A Harris current sheet with and without a guide field is considered. Characteristic values of the parameters in the middle chromosphere imply a high magnetic Reynolds number of ∼10{sup 6}-10{sup 7} in the present simulations. Fast magnetic reconnection then develops as a consequence of the plasmoid instability without the need to invoke anomalous resistivity enhancements. Multiple levels of the instability are followed as it cascades to smaller scales, which approach the ion inertial length. The reconnection rate, normalized to the asymptotic values of magnetic field and Alfvén velocity in the inflow region, reaches values in the range ∼0.01-0.03 throughout the cascading plasmoid formation and for zero as well as for strong guide field. The outflow velocity reaches ≈40 km s{sup –1}. Slow-mode shocks extend from the X-points, heating the plasmoids up to ∼8 × 10{sup 4} K. In the case of zero guide field, the inclusion of both ambipolar diffusion and radiative cooling causes a rapid thinning of the current sheet (down to ∼30 m) and early formation of secondary islands. Both of these processes have very little effect on the plasmoid instability for a strong guide field. The reconnection rates, temperature enhancements, and upward outflow velocities from the vertical current sheet correspond well to their characteristic values in chromospheric jets.

An Investigation of Hall Currents Associated with Tripolar Magnetic Fields During Magnetospheric Kelvin Helmholtz Waves

Science.gov (United States)

Sturner, A. P.; Eriksson, S.; Newman, D. L.; Lapenta, G.; Gershman, D. J.; Plaschke, F.; Ergun, R.; Wilder, F. D.; Torbert, R. B.; Giles, B. L.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Burch, J. L.

2016-12-01

Kinetic simulations and observations of magnetic reconnection suggest the Hall term of Ohm's Law is necessary for understanding fast reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere. During high (>1) guide field plasma conditions in the solar wind and in Earth's magnetopause, tripolar variations in the guide magnetic field are often observed during current sheet crossings, and have been linked to reconnection Hall magnetic fields. Two proposed mechanisms for these tripolar variations are the presence of multiple nearby X-lines and magnetic island coalescence. We present results of an investigation into the structure of the electron currents supporting tripolar guide magnetic field variations during Kelvin-Helmholtz wave current sheet crossings using the Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) Mission, and compare with bipolar magnetic field structures and with kinetic simulations to understand how these tripolar structures may be used as tracers for magnetic islands.

The Effect of a Guide Field on the Structures of Magnetic Islands: 2D PIC Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, C.; Lu, Q.; Lu, S.; Wang, P.; Wang, S.

2014-12-01

Magnetic island plays an important role in magnetic reconnection. Using a series of 2D PIC simulations, we investigate the magnetic structures of a magnetic island formed during multiple X-line magnetic reconnection, considering the effects of the guide field in symmetric and asymmetric current sheets. In a symmetric current sheet, the current in the direction forms a tripolar structure inside a magnetic island during anti-parallel reconnection, which results in a quadrupole structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field. With the increase of the guide field, the symmetry of both the current system and out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island is distorted. When the guide field is sufficiently strong, the current forms a ring along the magnetic field lines inside magnetic island. At the same time, the current carried by the energetic electrons accelerated in the vicinity of the X lines forms another ring at the edge of the magnetic island. Such a dual-ring current system enhance the out-of-plane magnetic field inside the magnetic island with a dip in the center of the magnetic island. In an asymmetric current sheet, when there is no guide field, electrons flows toward the X lines along the separatrices from the side with a higher density, and are then directed away from the X lines along the separatrices to the side with a lower density. The formed current results in the enhancement of the out-of-plane magnetic field at one end of the magnetic island, and the attenuation at the other end. With the increase of the guide field, the structures of both the current system and the out-of-plane magnetic field are distorted.

Whistler dominated quasi-collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biskamp, D.; Drake, J.F.

1995-05-01

A theory of fast quasi-collisionless reconnection is presented. For spatial scales smaller than the ion inertia length the electrons decouple from the ions and the dynamics is described by electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD). A qualitative analysis of the reconnection region is obtained, which is corroborated by numerical simulations. The main results are that in contrast to resistive reconnection no macroscopic current sheet is generated, and the reconnection rate is independent of the smallness parameters of the system, i.e. the electron inertia length and the dissipation coefficients. At larger scales the coupling to the ions is important, which, however, does not change the small-scale dynamics. The reconnection rate is only limited by ion inertia being independent of the electron inertia scale and the dissipation coefficients. Reconnection is much faster than in the absence of the whistler mode. (orig.)

Identification of Y-shaped and O-shaped diffusion regions during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, H.; Hsu, S.; Carter, T.; Kulsrud, R.; Ono, Yasushi; Perkins, F.

1997-01-01

Two strikingly different shapes of diffusion regions are identified during magnetic reconnection in a magnetohydrodynamic laboratory plasma. The shapes depend on the third vector component of the reconnecting magnetic fields. Without the third component (anti-parallel or null-helicity reconnection), a thin double-Y shaped diffusion region is identified. In this case, the neutral sheet current profile is accurately measured to be as narrow as the order of the ion gyro-radius. In the presence of an appreciable third component (co-helicity reconnection), an O-shaped diffusion region appears and grows into a spheromak configuration

Simulations of Hall reconnection in partially ionized plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Innocenti, Maria Elena; Jiang, Wei; Lapenta, Giovanni

2017-04-01

heavily affected by collisions with the neutrals. In line with experimental results, we observe reduction of the reconnection rate and no variation of the half-thickness of the ion diffusion region with decreasing IP (increasing gas density). Contrarily to the experiments, we can confidently state that these effects are not influenced by boundary constraints. We then provide an explanation for the behaviour observed.

Magnetic field in laser plasmas: non-local electron transport and reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riquier, Raphael

2016-01-01

In the framework of the inertial confinement fusion, a pellet filled with the deuterium-tritium fuel is imploded, either through laser irradiation (direct drive, laser - low atomic number target interaction) or by the black body radiation from a cavity converting the laser radiation (indirect drive, laser - high atomic number target interaction). In both cases, a correct modeling of the electron transport is of first importance in order to have predictive hydro-radiative simulations. Nonetheless, it has been shown early on that the hypothesis of the linear transport are not valid in the framework of a solid target irradiated by a high power laser (I≅10 14 W/cm 2 ). This is due in part to very steep temperature gradients (kinetic effects, so-called 'non-local') and because of a magnetic field self-generated through the thermo-electric effect. Finally, the heat flux and the magnetic field are strongly coupled through two mechanisms: the advection of the field with the heat flux (Nernst effect) and the rotation and inhibition of the heat flux by the plasma's magnetization (Righi-Leduc effect).In this manuscript, we will first present the various electron transport models, particularly the non-local with magnetic field model included in the hydro-radiative code FCI2. Following, in order to validate this model, we will compare it first against a kinetic code, and then with an experiment during which the magnetic field has been probed through proton radiography. Once the model validated, we will use FCI2 simulations to explain the source and transport of the field, as well as its effect on the interaction. Finally, the reconnection of the magnetic field, during the irradiation of a solid target by two laser beams, will be studied. (author) [fr

The MMS Dayside Magnetic Reconnection Locations During Phase 1 and Their Relation to the Predictions of the Maximum Magnetic Shear Model

Science.gov (United States)

Trattner, K. J.; Burch, J. L.; Ergun, R.; Eriksson, S.; Fuselier, S. A.; Giles, B. L.; Gomez, R. G.; Grimes, E. W.; Lewis, W. S.; Mauk, B.; Petrinec, S. M.; Russell, C. T.; Strangeway, R. J.; Trenchi, L.; Wilder, F. D.

2017-12-01

Several studies have validated the accuracy of the maximum magnetic shear model to predict the location of the reconnection site at the dayside magnetopause. These studies found agreement between model and observations for 74% to 88% of events examined. It should be noted that, of the anomalous events that failed the prediction of the model, 72% shared a very specific parameter range. These events occurred around equinox for an interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle of about 240°. This study investigates if this remarkable grouping of events is also present in data from the recently launched MMS. The MMS magnetopause encounter database from the first dayside phase of the mission includes about 4,500 full and partial magnetopause crossings and flux transfer events. We use the known reconnection line signature of switching accelerated ion beams in the magnetopause boundary layer to identify encounters with the reconnection region and identify 302 events during phase 1a when the spacecraft are at reconnection sites. These confirmed reconnection locations are compared with the predicted location from the maximum magnetic shear model and revealed an 80% agreement. The study also revealed the existence of anomalous cases as mentioned in an earlier study. The anomalies are concentrated for times around the equinoxes together with IMF clock angles around 140° and 240°. Another group of anomalies for the same clock angle ranges was found during December events.

Low-β magnetic reconnection driven by the intense lasers with a double-turn capacitor-coil

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Xiaoxia; Zhong, Jiayong; Zhang, Zhe; Zhou, Weimin; Teng, Jian; Li, Yutong; Han, Bo; Yuan, Dawei; Lin, Jun; Liu, Chang; Li, Yanfei; Zhu, Baojun; Wei, Huigang; Liang, Guiyun; Hong, Wei; He, Shukai; Yang, Siqian; Zhao, Yongqiang; Deng, Zhigang; Lu, Feng; Zhang, Zhimeng; Zhu, Bin; Zhou, Kainan; Su, Jingqin; Zhao, Zongqing; Gu, Yuqiu; Zhao, Gang; Zhang, Jie

2018-06-01

A double-turn capacitor-coil is used to produce a magnetic field (38.5 T) and construct a topology of magnetic reconnection in a low-β (β magnetic field topology. We demonstrated through experiments and numerical simulations that the reconnection process takes place between two non-uniform magnetic fields created by the coils, and that the plasma state and the associated magnetic topology in the process can be seen via the technology of the optical probe beam and the proton backlight.

Observations of photospheric magnetic fields and shear flows in flaring active regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarbell, T.; Ferguson, S.; Frank, Z.; Title, A.; Topka, K.

1988-01-01

Horizontal flows in the photosphere and subsurface convection zone move the footpoints of coronal magnetic field lines. Magnetic energy to power flares can be stored in the corona if the flows drive the fields far from the potential configuration. Videodisk movies were shown with 0.5 to 1 arcsecond resolution of the following simultaneous observations: green continuum, longitudinal magnetogram, Fe I 5576 A line center (mid-photosphere), H alpha wings, and H alpha line center. The movies show a 90 x 90 arcsecond field of view of an active region at S29, W11. When viewed at speeds of a few thousand times real-time, the photospheric movies clearly show the active region fields being distorted by a remarkable combination of systematic flows and small eruptions of new flux. Magnetic bipoles are emerging over a large area, and the polarities are systematically flowing apart. The horizontal flows were mapped in detail from the continuum movies, and these may be used to predict the future evolution of the region. The horizontal flows are not discernable in H alpha. The H alpha movies strongly suggest reconnection processes in the fibrils joining opposite polarities. When viewed in combination with the magnetic movies, the cause for this evolution is apparent: opposite polarity fields collide and partially cancel, and the fibrils reconnect above the surface. This type of reconnection, driven by subphotospheric flows, complicates the chromospheric and coronal fields, causing visible braiding and twisting of the fibrils. Some of the transient emission events in the fibrils and adjacent plage may also be related

Connecting and disconnecting nematic disclination lines in microfluidic channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Agha, Hakam; Bahr, Christian

2016-05-14

Disclination lines in nematic liquid crystals can be used as "soft rails" for the transport of colloids or droplets through microfluidic channels [A. Sengupta, C. Bahr and S. Herminghaus, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 7251]. In the present study we report on a method to connect and disconnect disclination lines in microfluidic channels using the interplay between anchoring, flow, and electric field. We show that the application of an electric field establishes a continuous disclination that spans across a channel region in which a disclination usually would not exist (because of different anchoring conditions), demonstrating an interruptible and reconnectable soft rail for colloidal transport.

Simulation study of solar plasma eruptions caused by interactions between emerging flux and coronal arcade fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaneko, Takafumi; Yokoyama, Takaaki

2014-01-01

We investigate the triggering mechanisms of plasma eruptions in the solar atmosphere due to interactions between emerging flux and coronal arcade fields by using two-dimensional MHD simulations. We perform parameter surveys with respect to arcade field height, magnetic field strength, and emerging flux location. Our results show that two possible mechanisms exist, and which mechanism is dominant depends mostly on emerging flux location. One mechanism appears when the location of emerging flux is close to the polarity inversion line (PIL) of an arcade field. This mechanism requires reconnection between the emerging flux and the arcade field, as pointed out by previous studies. The other mechanism appears when the location of emerging flux is around the edge of an arcade field. This mechanism does not require reconnection between the emerging flux and the arcade field but does demand reconnection in the arcade field above the PIL. Furthermore, we found that the eruptive condition for this mechanism can be represented by a simple formula.

Magnetic reconnection processes induced by a CME expansion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Bemporad

2008-10-01

Full Text Available On 10–11 December 2005 a slow CME occurred in the Western Hemisphere in between two coronal streamers. SOHO/MDI magnetograms show a multipolar magnetic configuration at the photosphere: a complex of active regions located at the CME source and two bipoles at the base of the lateral coronal streamers. White light observations reveal that the CME expansion affects both of them and induces the release of plasma within or close to the nearby streamers. These transient phenomena are possibly due to magnetic reconnections induced by the CME expansion and occurring inside the streamer current sheet or between the CME flanks and the streamer. These events have been observed by the SOHO/UVCS with the spectrometer slit centered at 1.8 R⊙ over about a full day. In this work we focus on the interaction between the CME and the streamer: the UVCS spectral interval included UV lines from ions at different temperatures of maximum formation such as O VI, Si XIII and Al Xi. These data gave us the opportunity to infer the evolution of plasma temperature and density at the reconnection site and adjacent regions. These are relevant to characterize secondary reconnection processes occurring during a CME development.

Simultaneous high- and low-latitude reconnection: ESR and DMSP observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Pitout

2002-09-01

Full Text Available We present EISCAT Svalbard Radar and DMSP observations of a double cusp during an interval of predominantly northward IMF on 26 November 2000. In the cusp region, the ESR dish, pointing northward, recorded sun-ward ionospheric flow at high latitudes (above 82° GL, indicating reconnection occuring in the magnetospheric lobe. Meanwhile, the same dish also recorded bursts of poleward flow, indicative of bursty reconnection at the subsolar magnetopause. Within this time interval, the DMSP F13 satellite passed in the close vicinity of the Svalbard archipelago. The particle measurement on board exhibited a double cusp structure in which two oppositely oriented ion dispersions are recorded. We interpret this set of data in terms of simultaneous merging at low- and high-latitude magnetopause. We discuss the conditions for which such simultaneous high-latitude and low-latitude reconnection can be anticipated. We also discuss the consequences of the presence of two X-lines in the dayside polar ionosphere.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (solar wind-magnetosphere interactions – Ionosphere (polar ionosphere; plasma convection

Improved theory of forced magnetic reconnection due to error field and its application to seed island formation for NTM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishizawa, A.; Tokuda, S.; Wakatani, M.

2001-01-01

A seed island is required for destabilizing the neo-classical tearing mode (NTM), which degrades confinement in long sustained, high-confinement, high beta plasmas. The seed island formation due to an MHD event, such as a sawtooth crash, is investigated by applying the improved boundary layer theory of forced magnetic reconnection. This improved theory introduces the non-constant-ψ matching and reveals the complicated feature of the reconnection described by two reconnected fluxes. In the initial evolution, these reconnected fluxes grow on the time scale including the ideal time scale, typical time scale of the MHD event and the time scale of resistive kink mode. The surface current is negative, Δ' (t) A S 1/3 . (author)

Particle acceleration and reconnection in the solar wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zank, G. P.; Hunana, P.; Mostafavi, P.; Le Roux, J. A.; Webb, G. M. [Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Department of Space Science, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States); Khabarova, O. [Heliophysical Laboratory, IZMIRAN, Troitsk, Moscow 142190 (Russian Federation); Cummings, A. C.; Stone, E. C. [California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 290-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Decker, R. B. [Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab., Laurel, MD 20723-6099 (United States)

2016-03-25

An emerging paradigm for the dissipation of magnetic turbulence in the supersonic solar wind is via localized quasi-2D small-scale magnetic island reconnection processes. An advection-diffusion transport equation for a nearly isotropic particle distribution describes particle transport and energization in a region of interacting magnetic islands [1; 2]. The dominant charged particle energization processes are 1) the electric field induced by quasi-2D magnetic island merging, and 2) magnetic island contraction. The acceleration of charged particles in a “sea of magnetic islands” in a super-Alfvénic flow, and the energization of particles by combined diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) and downstream magnetic island reconnection processes are discussed.

NONTHERMALLY DOMINATED ELECTRON ACCELERATION DURING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN A LOW-β PLASMA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Xiaocan; Li, Gang; Guo, Fan; Li, Hui

2015-01-01

By means of fully kinetic simulations, we investigate electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection in a nonrelativistic proton–electron plasma with conditions similar to solar corona and flares. We demonstrate that reconnection leads to a nonthermally dominated electron acceleration with a power-law energy distribution in the nonrelativistic low-β regime but not in the high-β regime, where β is the ratio of the plasma thermal pressure and the magnetic pressure. The accelerated electrons contain most of the dissipated magnetic energy in the low-β regime. A guiding-center current description is used to reveal the role of electron drift motions during the bulk nonthermal energization. We find that the main acceleration mechanism is a Fermi-type acceleration accomplished by the particle curvature drift motion along the electric field induced by the reconnection outflows. Although the acceleration mechanism is similar for different plasma β, low-β reconnection drives fast acceleration on Alfvénic timescales and develops power laws out of thermal distribution. The nonthermally dominated acceleration resulting from magnetic reconnection in low-β plasma may have strong implications for the  highly efficient electron acceleration in solar flares and other astrophysical systems

Magnetic reconnection and stochastic plasmoid chains in high-Lundquist-number plasmas

KAUST Repository

Loureiro, N. F.

2012-04-13

A numerical study of magnetic reconnection in the large-Lundquist-number (S), plasmoid-dominated regime is carried out for S up to 10 7. The theoretical model of Uzdensky [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 235002 (2010)] is confirmed and partially amended. The normalized reconnection rate is Ẽ eff ∼ 0.02 independently of S for S ≫ 10 4. The plasmoid flux (ψ) and half-width (w x) distribution functions scale as f (ψ) ∼ - ψ -2 and f (w x) ∼ w x -2. The joint distribution of ψ and w x shows that plasmoids populate a triangular region w x ≲ψ/B 0, where B 0 is the reconnecting field. It is argued that this feature is due to plasmoid coalescence. Macroscopic "monster" plasmoids with w x ∼ 10 % of the system size are shown to emerge in just a few Alfvén times, independently of S, suggesting that large disruptive events are an inevitable feature of large-S reconnection. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Magnetic reconnection and stochastic plasmoid chains in high-Lundquist-number plasmas

KAUST Repository

Loureiro, N. F.; Samtaney, Ravi; Schekochihin, A. A.; Uzdensky, D. A.

2012-01-01

A numerical study of magnetic reconnection in the large-Lundquist-number (S), plasmoid-dominated regime is carried out for S up to 10 7. The theoretical model of Uzdensky [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 235002 (2010)] is confirmed and partially amended. The normalized reconnection rate is Ẽ eff ∼ 0.02 independently of S for S ≫ 10 4. The plasmoid flux (ψ) and half-width (w x) distribution functions scale as f (ψ) ∼ - ψ -2 and f (w x) ∼ w x -2. The joint distribution of ψ and w x shows that plasmoids populate a triangular region w x ≲ψ/B 0, where B 0 is the reconnecting field. It is argued that this feature is due to plasmoid coalescence. Macroscopic "monster" plasmoids with w x ∼ 10 % of the system size are shown to emerge in just a few Alfvén times, independently of S, suggesting that large disruptive events are an inevitable feature of large-S reconnection. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Endogenous magnetic reconnection and associated high energy plasma processes

Science.gov (United States)

Coppi, B.; Basu, B.

2018-02-01

An endogenous reconnection process involves a driving factor that lays inside the layer where a drastic change of magnetic field topology occurs. A process of this kind is shown to take place when an electron temperature gradient is present in a magnetically confined plasma and the evolving electron temperature fluctuations are anisotropic. The width of the reconnecting layer remains significant even when large macroscopic distances are considered. In view of the fact that there are plasmas in the Universe with considerable electron thermal energy contents this feature can be relied upon in order to produce generation or conversion of magnetic energy, high energy particle populations and momentum and angular momentum transport.

ELECTRON ACCELERATION BY CASCADING RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR CORONA. II. RESISTIVE ELECTRIC FIELD EFFECTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, X.; Gan, W.; Liu, S. [Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); Büchner, J.; Bárta, M., E-mail: zhou@mps.mpg.de, E-mail: liusm@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: buechner@mps.mpg.de [Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany)

2016-08-20

We investigate electron acceleration by electric fields induced by cascading reconnections in current sheets trailing coronal mass ejections via a test particle approach in the framework of the guiding-center approximation. Although the resistive electric field is much weaker than the inductive electric field, the electron acceleration is still dominated by the former. Anomalous resistivity η is switched on only in regions where the current carrier’s drift velocity is large enough. As a consequence, electron acceleration is very sensitive to the spatial distribution of the resistive electric fields, and electrons accelerated in different segments of the current sheet have different characteristics. Due to the geometry of the 2.5-dimensional electromagnetic fields and strong resistive electric field accelerations, accelerated high-energy electrons can be trapped in the corona, precipitating into the chromosphere or escaping into interplanetary space. The trapped and precipitating electrons can reach a few MeV within 1 s and have a very hard energy distribution. Spatial structure of the acceleration sites may also introduce breaks in the electron energy distribution. Most of the interplanetary electrons reach hundreds of keV with a softer distribution. To compare with observations of solar flares and electrons in solar energetic particle events, we derive hard X-ray spectra produced by the trapped and precipitating electrons, fluxes of the precipitating and interplanetary electrons, and electron spatial distributions.