Actions for Evolutions of nonsteady state magnetic reconnection [electronic resource].

Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

Evolutions of nonsteady state magnetic reconnection [electronic resource].

Published
Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 2008.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Additional Creators
Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Access Online

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

Restrictions on Access
Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
Summary
The full evolutions of collisionless non-steady-state magnetic reconnection are studied with full kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. There are different stages of reconnection: the onset or early growing stage when the out-of-plane electric field (Ey) structure is a monopole at the X-point, the bipolar stage when the Ey structure is bipolar and the outer electron diffusion region (EDR) is being elongated over time, and the possible final steady-state stage when E{sub y} is uniform in the reconnection plane. We find the change of reconnection rate is not empowered or dependent on the length of the EDR. During the early growing stage, the EDR is elongated while the reconnection rate is growing. During the later stage, the reconnection rate may significantly decrease but the length of the inner EDR is largely stable. The results indicate that reconnection is not controlled by the downstream physics, but rather by the availability of plasma inflows from upstream. The physical mechanism of the EDR elongation is studied. The Hall current induced by the quadrupole magnetic field (B{sub y}) is discovered to play an important role in this process. The condition of forming an extended electron super-Alfvenic outflow jet structure in nature is discussed. The jet structure could be elongated during the bipolar stage, and remains stable during steady state. The sufficiency of the electron inflow is crucial for the elongation. Open boundary conditions are applied in the outflow direction.
Report Numbers
E 1.99:la-ur-08-04693
E 1.99: la-ur-08-4693
la-ur-08-4693
la-ur-08-04693
Other Subject(s)
Note
Published through SciTech Connect.
01/01/2008.
"la-ur-08-04693"
" la-ur-08-4693"
Physics of Plasmas ISSN 1070-664X; PHPAEN FT
Wan, Weigang; Lapenta, Giovanni.
Funding Information
AC52-06NA25396
View MARC record | catkey: 14738517