Kinetic Simulations of Current-Sheet Formation and Reconnection at a Magnetic X Line

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2011-01-01

The integration of kinetic effects into macroscopic numerical models is currently of great interest to the plasma physics community, particularly in the context of magnetic reconnection. 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 potential magnetic field is perturbed by thermal pressure introduced into the particle distribution far from the X line. The relaxation of this added stress leads to the development of a current sheet, which reconnects for imposed stress of sufficient strength. We compare the evolution and final state of our PIC simulations with magnetohydrodynamic simulations assuming both uniform and localized resistivities, and with force-free magnetic-field equilibria in which the amount of reconnect ion 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 reconnection onset and cessation at kinetic scales in dynamically formed current sheets, such as those occurring in the terrestrial magnetotail and solar corona.

Bright Points and Subflares in Ultraviolet Lines and X-Rays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rovira, M.; Schmieder, B.; Demoulin, P.; Simnett, G. M.; Hagyard, M. J.; Reichmann, E.; Reichmann, E.; Tandberg-Hanssen, E.

1999-01-01

We have analyzed an active region which was observed in H.alpha (Multichannel Subtractive Double Pass Spectrograph), in UV lines (SMM/UVSP), and in X-rays (SMM/HXIS). In this active region there were only a few subflares and many small bright points visible in UV and in X-rays. Using an extrapolation based on the Fourier transform, we have computed magnetic field lines connecting different photospheric magnetic polarities from ground-based magnetograms. Along the magnetic inversion lines we find two different zones: (1) a high-shear region (> 70 deg) where subflares occur, and (2) a low-shear region along the magnetic inversion line where UV bright points are observed. In these latter regions the magnetic topology is complex with a mixture of polarities. According to the velocity field observed in the Si IV lamda.1402 line and the extrapolation of the magnetic field, we notice that each UV bright point is consistent with emission from low-rising loops with downflows at both ends. We notice some hard X-ray emissions above the bright-point regions with temperatures up to 8 x 10(exp 6) K, which suggests some induced reconnection due to continuous emergence of new flux. This reconnection is also enhanced by neighboring subflares.

Asymmetric Reconnection With A Shear Flow and Applications to X-line Motion at the Polar Cusps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doss, C.; Komar, C. M.; Beidler, M.; Cassak, P.; Wilder, F. D.; Eriksson, S.

2014-12-01

Magnetic reconnection at the polar cusps of the magnetosphere is marked by strong asymmetries in plasma density and magnetic field strength in addition to a potentially strong bulk flow shear parallel to the reconnecting magnetic field caused by the solar wind. Much has been learned about the effect of either asymmetries or shear flow on reconnection, but only a handful of studies have addressed systems with both. We perform a careful theoretical, numerical, and observational study of such systems. It is known that an asymmetry in magnetic field offsets the X-line from the center of the diffusion region in the inflow direction toward the weaker magnetic field. A key finding is that this alters the flow profile seen at the X-line relative to expectations from symmetric reconnection results. This causes the X-line to drift in the outflow direction due to the shear flow. We calculate a prediction for the X-line drift speed for arbitrary asymmetric magnetic field strengths and show the result is consistent with two-fluid numerical simulations. These predictions are also shown to be consistent with recent observations of a tailward moving X-line in Cluster observations of reconnection at the polar cusp. The reconnection rate with a shear flow is observed to drop as in symmetric reconnection, and the behavior of the reconnection qualitatively changes when the shear flow speed exceeds the hybrid Alfven speed of the outflow known from asymmetric reconnection theory.

Low Altitude Solar Magnetic Reconnection, Type III Solar Radio Bursts, and X-ray Emissions.

PubMed

Cairns, I H; Lobzin, V V; Donea, A; Tingay, S J; McCauley, P I; Oberoi, D; Duffin, R T; Reiner, M J; Hurley-Walker, N; Kudryavtseva, N A; Melrose, D B; Harding, J C; Bernardi, G; Bowman, J D; Cappallo, R J; Corey, B E; Deshpande, A; Emrich, D; Goeke, R; Hazelton, B J; Johnston-Hollitt, M; Kaplan, D L; Kasper, J C; Kratzenberg, E; Lonsdale, C J; Lynch, M J; McWhirter, S R; Mitchell, D A; Morales, M F; Morgan, E; Ord, S M; Prabu, T; Roshi, A; Shankar, N Udaya; Srivani, K S; Subrahmanyan, R; Wayth, R B; Waterson, M; Webster, R L; Whitney, A R; Williams, A; Williams, C L

2018-01-26

Type III solar radio bursts are the Sun's most intense and frequent nonthermal radio emissions. They involve two critical problems in astrophysics, plasma physics, and space physics: how collective processes produce nonthermal radiation and how magnetic reconnection occurs and changes magnetic energy into kinetic energy. Here magnetic reconnection events are identified definitively in Solar Dynamics Observatory UV-EUV data, with strong upward and downward pairs of jets, current sheets, and cusp-like geometries on top of time-varying magnetic loops, and strong outflows along pairs of open magnetic field lines. Type III bursts imaged by the Murchison Widefield Array and detected by the Learmonth radiospectrograph and STEREO B spacecraft are demonstrated to be in very good temporal and spatial coincidence with specific reconnection events and with bursts of X-rays detected by the RHESSI spacecraft. The reconnection sites are low, near heights of 5-10 Mm. These images and event timings provide the long-desired direct evidence that semi-relativistic electrons energized in magnetic reconnection regions produce type III radio bursts. Not all the observed reconnection events produce X-ray events or coronal or interplanetary type III bursts; thus different special conditions exist for electrons leaving reconnection regions to produce observable radio, EUV, UV, and X-ray bursts.

Exploring the statistics of magnetic reconnection X-points in kinetic particle-in-cell turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haggerty, C. C.; Parashar, T. N.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Shay, M. A.; Yang, Y.; Wan, M.; Wu, P.; Servidio, S.

2017-10-01

Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous phenomenon in turbulent plasmas. It is an important part of the turbulent dynamics and heating of space and astrophysical plasmas. We examine the statistics of magnetic reconnection using a quantitative local analysis of the magnetic vector potential, previously used in magnetohydrodynamics simulations, and now employed to fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Different ways of reducing the particle noise for analysis purposes, including multiple smoothing techniques, are explored. We find that a Fourier filter applied at the Debye scale is an optimal choice for analyzing PIC data. Finally, we find a broader distribution of normalized reconnection rates compared to the MHD limit with rates as large as 0.5 but with an average of approximately 0.1.

Comparative Study of Three Reconnection X-Line Models at the Earth's Dayside Magnetopause Using In Situ Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Souza, V. M. C. E. S.; Gonzalez, W.; Sibeck, D. G.; Koga, D.; Walsh, B.; Mendes, O., Jr.

2017-12-01

This work examines the large-scale aspects of magnetic field reconnection at the Earth's dayside magnetopause. We use two sets of reconnection events, which are identified mostly by the in situ detection of accelerated and Alfvénic plasma flows. We intercompare three analytical models that predict the reconnection X-line location and orientation, namely the Trattner et al., (2007) and Swisdak and Drake (2007) models, and also a modified version of the component merging model (Gonzalez and Mozer 1974, Sonnerup 1974). In the first set of reconnection observations, we show three fortuitous, quasi-simultaneous dayside magnetopause crossing events where two widely separated spacecraft detect reconnection signatures, and the X-line location and orientation can be inferred from the observations. We compare X-line model predictions to those inferred from observations. These three reconnection events indicate the presence of an extended (>7 Earth radii in length), component-type reconnection X-line on Earth's dayside magnetopause connecting and structuring the reconnection signatures at locations far apart. In the second set of reconnection events, we analyze the X-line models' performance in predicting the observed reconnection outflow direction, i.e., its north-south and/or east-west senses, in a total of 75 single, rather than multiple and quasi-simultaneous, magnetopause crossing events, where reconnection-associated plasma flows were clearly present. We found that the Swisdak and Drake's (2007) X-line model performs slightly better, albeit not statistically significant, when predicting both accelerated plasma flow north-south and east-west components in 73% and 53% of the cases, respectively, as compared to the Trattner et al., (2007) model (70% north-south, 42% east-west), and the modified component merging model (66% north-south, 50% east-west).

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Magnetic Reconnections in Mast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turri, G.; Buttery, R. J.; Hastie, R. J.; Gimblett, C. G.; Cowley, S. C.; Lehane, I.

2004-11-01

In MAST the appearance of a spontaneous snake in the plasma core has many of the properties of a full reconnection. Analysis of SXR and TS data indicates a strongly radiating core with high impurity levels forming before the onset of the snake. Following the appearance of an x-point (island on the q=1 surface) the former core is hypothesised to move off axis and shrink, appearing as a radiative region with flux-tube-like rotating helical structure (the snake). A code has been developed to compare this with a slow full Kadomtsev type reconnection process including effects of impurities, density and temperature perturbations, current profile evolution and transport. The code reproduces many of the trends and effects seen in the data, confirming the event as consistent with full reconnection. The time-scale of the event is also consistent with estimates of hybrid growth times for such a reconnection process. Further analysis will be presented exploring the physics of this process in more detail.

Structure of Exhausts in Magnetic Reconnection with an X-line of Finite Extent

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shepherd, L. S.; Cassak, P. A.; Drake, J. F.

2017-10-20

We present quantitative predictions of the structure of reconnection exhausts in three-dimensional magnetic reconnection with an X-line of finite extent in the out-of-plane direction. Sasunov et al. showed that they have a tilted ribbon-like shape bounded by rotational discontinuities and tangential discontinuities. We show analytically and numerically that this prediction is largely correct. When there is an out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field, the presence of the upstream field that does not reconnect acts as a boundary condition in the normal direction, which forces the normal magnetic field to be zero outside the exhaust. This condition constrains the normal magnetic field insidemore » the exhaust to be small. Thus, rather than the ribbon tilting in the inflow direction, the exhaust remains collimated in the normal direction and is forced to expand nearly completely in the out-of-plane direction. This exhaust structure is in stark contrast to the two-dimensional picture of reconnection, where reconnected flux expands in the normal direction. We present analytical predictions for the structure of the exhausts in terms of upstream conditions. The predictions are confirmed using three-dimensional resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations with a finite-length X-line achieved using a localized (anomalous) resistivity. Implications to reconnection in the solar wind are discussed. In particular, the results can be used to estimate a lower bound for the extent of the X-line in the out-of-plane direction solely using single-spacecraft data taken downstream in the exhausts.« less

Three-dimensional simulations of the orientation and structure of reconnection X-lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreier, R.; Swisdak, M.; Drake, J. F.; Cassak, P. A.

2010-11-01

This letter employs Hall magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study X-lines formed during the reconnection of magnetic fields with differing strengths and orientations embedded in plasmas of differing densities. Although random initial perturbations trigger the growth of X-lines with many orientations, a few robust X-lines sharing an orientation consistent with the direction of maximal outflow speed, as predicted by Swisdak and Drake [Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L11106 (2007)] eventually dominate the system. Reconnection in the geometry examined here contradicts the suggestion of Sonnerup [J. Geophys. Res. 79, 1546 (1974)] that it occurs in a plane normal to the equilibrium current. At late time, the X-lines' growth stagnates, leaving them shorter than the simulation domain.

Acceleration during magnetic reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beresnyak, Andrey; Li, Hui

2015-07-16

The presentation begins with colorful depictions of solar x-ray flares and references to pulsar phenomena. Plasma reconnection is complex, could be x-point dominated or turbulent, field lines could break due to either resistivity or non-ideal effects, such as electron pressure anisotropy. Electron acceleration is sometimes observed, and sometimes not. One way to study this complex problem is to have many examples of the process (reconnection) and compare them; the other way is to simplify and come to something robust. Ideal MHD (E=0) turbulence driven by magnetic energy is assumed, and the first-order acceleration is sought. It is found that dissipationmore » in big (length >100 ion skin depths) current sheets is universal and independent on microscopic resistivity and the mean imposed field; particles are regularly accelerated while experiencing curvature drift in flows driven by magnetic tension. One example of such flow is spontaneous reconnection. This explains hot electrons with a power-law tail in solar flares, as well as ultrashort time variability in some astrophysical sources.« less

High power heating of magnetic reconnection in merging tokamak experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ono, Y.; Tanabe, H.; Gi, K.

2015-05-15

Significant ion/electron heating of magnetic reconnection up to 1.2 keV was documented in two spherical tokamak plasma merging experiment on MAST with the significantly large Reynolds number R∼10{sup 5}. Measured 1D/2D contours of ion and electron temperatures reveal clearly energy-conversion mechanisms of magnetic reconnection: huge outflow heating of ions in the downstream and localized heating of electrons at the X-point. Ions are accelerated up to the order of poloidal Alfven speed in the reconnection outflow region and are thermalized by fast shock-like density pileups formed in the downstreams, in agreement with recent solar satellite observations and PIC simulation results. The magneticmore » reconnection efficiently converts the reconnecting (poloidal) magnetic energy mostly into ion thermal energy through the outflow, causing the reconnection heating energy proportional to square of the reconnecting (poloidal) magnetic field B{sub rec}{sup 2}  ∼  B{sub p}{sup 2}. The guide toroidal field B{sub t} does not affect the bulk heating of ions and electrons, probably because the reconnection/outflow speeds are determined mostly by the external driven inflow by the help of another fast reconnection mechanism: intermittent sheet ejection. The localized electron heating at the X-point increases sharply with the guide toroidal field B{sub t}, probably because the toroidal field increases electron confinement and acceleration length along the X-line. 2D measurements of magnetic field and temperatures in the TS-3 tokamak merging experiment also reveal the detailed reconnection heating mechanisms mentioned above. The high-power heating of tokamak merging is useful not only for laboratory study of reconnection but also for economical startup and heating of tokamak plasmas. The MAST/TS-3 tokamak merging with B{sub p} > 0.4 T will enables us to heat the plasma to the alpha heating regime: T{sub i} > 5 keV without using any additional heating

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Observations of Hall Reconnection Physics Far Downstream of the X Line.

PubMed

Mistry, R; Eastwood, J P; Haggerty, C C; Shay, M A; Phan, T D; Hietala, H; Cassak, P A

2016-10-28

Observations made using the Wind spacecraft of Hall magnetic fields in solar wind reconnection exhausts are presented. These observations are consistent with the generation of Hall fields by a narrow ion inertial scale current layer near the separatrix, which is confirmed with an appropriately scaled particle-in-cell simulation that shows excellent agreement with observations. The Hall fields are observed thousands of ion inertial lengths downstream from the reconnection X line, indicating that narrow regions of kinetic dynamics can persist extremely far downstream.

Intermittent magnetic reconnection in TS-3 merging experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ono, Y.; Hayashi, Y.; Ii, T.

2011-11-15

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 intermittentmore » 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.« less

Cold Ion Demagnetization near the X-line of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toledo-Redondo, Serio; Andre, Mats; Khotyaintsev, Yuri V.; Vaivads, Andris; Walsh, Andrew; Li, Wenya; Graham, Daniel B.; Lavraud, Benoit; Masson, Arnaud; Aunai, Nicolas;

3D Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parnell, Clare E.; Maclean, Rhona C.; Haynes, Andrew L.; Galsgaard, Klaus

2011-08-01

Magnetic reconnection is an important process that is prevalent in a wide range of astrophysical bodies. It is the mechanism that permits magnetic fields to relax to a lower energy state through the global restructuring of the magnetic field and is thus associated with a range of dynamic phenomena such as solar flares and CMEs. The characteristics of three-dimensional reconnection are reviewed revealing how much more diverse it is than reconnection in two dimensions. For instance, three-dimensional reconnection can occur both in the vicinity of null points, as well as in the absence of them. It occurs continuously and continually throughout a diffusion volume, as opposed to at a single point, as it does in two dimensions. This means that in three-dimensions field lines do not reconnect in pairs of lines making the visualisation and interpretation of three-dimensional reconnection difficult. By considering particular numerical 3D magnetohydrodynamic models of reconnection, we consider how magnetic reconnection can lead to complex magnetic topologies and current sheet formation. Indeed, it has been found that even simple interactions, such as the emergence of a flux tube, can naturally give rise to `turbulent-like' reconnection regions.

Localized Electron Heating by Strong Guide-Field Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Breakout Reconnection Observed by the TESIS EUV Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 acceleration by turbulent plasmoid reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The observation of possible reconnection events in the boundary changes of solar coronal holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahler, S. W.; Moses, J. Daniel

1989-01-01

Coronal holes are large scale regions of magnetically open fields which are easily observed in solar soft X-ray images. The boundaries of coronal holes are separatrices between large scale regions of open and closed magnetic fields where one might expect to observe evidence of solar magnetic reconnection. Previous studies by Nolte and colleagues using Skylab X-ray images established that large scale (greater than or equal to 9 x 10(4) km) changes in coronal hole boundaries were due to coronal processes, i.e., magnetic reconnection, rather than to photospheric motions. Those studies were limited to time scales of about one day, and no conclusion could be drawn about the size and time scales of the reconnection process at hole boundaries. Sequences of appropriate Skylab X-ray images were used with a time resolution of about 90 min during times of the central meridian passages of the coronal hole labelled Coronal Hole 1 to search for hole boundary changes which can yield the spatial and temporal scales of coronal magnetic reconnection. It was found that 29 of 32 observed boundary changes could be associated with bright points. The appearance of the bright point may be the signature of reconnection between small scale and large scale magnetic fields. The observed boundary changes contributed to the quasi-rigid rotation of Coronal Hole 1.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Electron and Ion Acceleration Associated with Magnetotail Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Haoming

This dissertation is dedicated to understanding electron and ion acceleration associated with magnetotail reconnection during substorms by using numerical simulations. Electron dynamics were investigated by using the UCLA global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model and large scale kinetic (LSK) simulations. The neutral line configurations and magnetotail flows modify the amounts of the adiabatic and non-adiabatic acceleration that electrons undergo. This causes marked differences in the temperature anisotropy for different substorms. In particular, one substorm event analyzed shows T⊥ > T∥ (T⊥ / T ∥ ≈ 2.3)at -10RE while another shows T ∥ > T⊥ (T ⊥ / T∥ ≈ 0.8), where T⊥ and T∥ (second order moments of the distribution functions) are defined with respect to the magnetic field. These differences determine the subsequent acceleration of the energetic electrons in the inner magnetosphere. Whether the acceleration is mostly parallel or perpendicular is determined by the location of dayside reconnection. A 2.5D implicit Particle-in-Cell simulation was used to study the effects produced by oxygen ions on magnetotail reconnection, and the associated acceleration of protons and oxygen ions. The inertia of oxygen ions reduces the reconnection rate and slows down the earthward propagation of dipolarization fronts (DFs). An ambipolar electric field in the oxygen diffusion region contributes to the smaller reconnection rate. This change in the reconnection rate affects the ion acceleration. In particular 67% of protons and 58% of oxygen ions were accelerated in the exhaust (between the X-point and the DF) in a simulation corresponding to a magnetic storm in which there was a 50% concentration of oxygen ions. In addition, 42% of lobe oxygen-ions are accelerated locally by the Hall electric field, far away from the X-point without entering the exhaust. Protons at the same locations experience Ex B drift. This finding extends previous knowledge that oxygen and

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 qualitatively different way of creating MHD relevant plasmas to look at the physics of magnetic reconnection. We show here an overview of the experiment and initial electrostatic and magnetic probe data. Plasma creation using plasma guns is independent of equilibrium or force balance, so we can scale many relevant parameters. As the magnetic reconnection region between two parallel current channels sweeps down a long plasma column we can generate 3D movies of magnetic reconnection from many repetitive shots. If two current channels were to move because of kink instabilities instead of mutual J x B forces and reconnection effects, each shot would less reproducible. Our data show the kink stability boundary for a single current channel. We compare this with MHD 2 fluid NIMROD simulations of the single current channel kink stability boundary for a variety of experimental conditions.

Topology and convection of a northward interplanetary magnetic field reconnection event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wendel, Deirdre E.

>From observations and global MHD simulations, we deduce the local and global magnetic topology and current structure of a northward IMF reconnection event in the dayside magnetopause. The ESA four-satellite Cluster suite crossed the magnetopause at a location mapping along field lines to an ionospheric H-alpha emission observed by the IMAGE spacecraft. Therefore, we seek reconnection signatures in the Cluster data. From the four-point Cluster observations, we develop a superposed epoch method to find the instantaneous x-line, its associated current sheet, and the nature of the reconnecting particle flows. This method is unique in that it removes the motion of the hyperbolic structure and the magnetopause relative to the spacecraft. We detect singular field line reconnection--planar hyperbolic reconnecting fields superposed on an out-of- plane field. We also detect the non-ideal electric field that is required to certify reconnection at locations where the magnetic field does not vanish, and estimate a reconnection electric field of - 4 mV/m. The current sheet appears bifurcated, embedding a 30 km current sheet of opposite polarity within a broader current sheet about 130 km thick. Using a resistive MHD simulation and ionospheric satellite data, we examine the same event at global length scales. This gives a 3D picture of where reconnection occurs on the magnetopause for northward IMF with B x and B y components and a tilted dipole field. It also demonstrates that northward IMF 3D reconnection couples the reconnection electric field and field-aligned currents to the ionosphere, driving sunward convection in a manner that agrees with satellite measurements of sunward flows. We find singular field line reconnection of the IMF with both open and closed field lines near nulls in both hemispheres. The reconnection in turn produces both open and closed field lines. We discuss for the first time how line-tying in the ionosphere and draping of open and IMF field lines

Explosive X-point collapse in relativistic magnetically dominated plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyutikov, Maxim; Sironi, Lorenzo; Komissarov, Serguei S.; Porth, Oliver

2017-12-01

The extreme properties of the gamma-ray flares in the Crab nebula present a clear challenge to our ideas on the nature of particle acceleration in relativistic astrophysical plasma. It seems highly unlikely that standard mechanisms of stochastic type are at work here and hence the attention of theorists has switched to linear acceleration in magnetic reconnection events. In this series of papers, we attempt to develop a theory of explosive magnetic reconnection in highly magnetized relativistic plasma which can explain the extreme parameters of the Crab flares. In the first paper, we focus on the properties of the X-point collapse. Using analytical and numerical methods (fluid and particle-in-cell simulations) we extend Syrovatsky's classical model of such collapse to the relativistic regime. We find that the collapse can lead to the reconnection rate approaching the speed of light on macroscopic scales. During the collapse, the plasma particles are accelerated by charge-starved electric fields, which can reach (and even exceed) values of the local magnetic field. The explosive stage of reconnection produces non-thermal power-law tails with slopes that depend on the average magnetization . For sufficiently high magnetizations and vanishing guide field, the non-thermal particle spectrum consists of two components: a low-energy population with soft spectrum that dominates the number census; and a high-energy population with hard spectrum that possesses all the properties needed to explain the Crab flares.

FLARE (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments): A Major Next-Step for Laboratory Studies of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Hantao; Bhattacharjee, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W.; Bale, Stuart D.; Carter, T.; Crocker, N.; Drake, J.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Fox, W.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C.; Ren, Y.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.

2015-04-01

A new intermediate-scale plasma experiment, called the Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments or FLARE (flare.pppl.gov), is under construction at Princeton as a joint project by five universities and two national labs to study magnetic reconnection in regimes directly relevant to heliophysical and astrophysical plasmas. The currently existing small-scale experiments have been focusing on the single X-line reconnection process in plasmas either with small effective sizes or at low Lundquist numbers, both of which are typically very large in natural plasmas. These new regimes involve multiple X-lines as guided by a reconnection "phase diagram", in which different coupling mechanisms from the global system scale to the local dissipation scale are classified into different reconnection phases [H. Ji & W. Daughton, Phys. Plasmas 18, 111207 (2011)]. The design of the FLARE device is based on the existing Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) (mrx.pppl.gov) and is to provide experimental access to the new phases involving multiple X-lines at large effective sizes and high Lundquist numbers, directly relevant to magnetospheric, solar wind, and solar coronal plasmas. After a brief summary of recent laboratory results on the topic of magnetic reconnection, the motivating major physics questions, the construction status, and the planned collaborative research especially with heliophysics communities will be discussed.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.;

Reconnection in Three Dimensions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael

1999-01-01

Analyzing the qualitative three-dimensional magnetic structure of a plasmoid, we were led to reconsider the concept of magnetic reconnection from a general point of view. The properties of relatively simple magnetic field models provide a strong preference for one of two definitions of magnetic reconnection that exist in the literature. Any concept of magnetic reconnection defined in terms of magnetic topology seems naturally restricted to cases where the magnetic field vanishes somewhere in the nonideal (diffusion) region. The main part of this paper is concerned with magnetic reconnection in nonvanishing magnetic fields (finite-B reconnection), which has attracted less attention in the past. We show that the electric field component parallel to the magnetic field plays a crucial physical role in finite-B reconnection, and we present two theorems involving the former. The first states a necessary and sufficient condition on the parallel electric field for global reconnection to occur. Here the term "global" means the generic case where the breakdown of magnetic connection occurs for plasma elements that stay outside the nonideal region. The second theorem relates the change of magnetic helicity to the parallel electric field for cases where the electric field vanishes at large distances. That these results provide new insight into three-dimensional reconnection processes is illustrated in terms of the plasmoid configuration, which was our starting point.

A Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of Magnetic Null-point Reconnections in NOAA AR 12192, Initiated with an Extrapolated Non-force-free Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, A.; Bhattacharyya, R.; Hu, Qiang; Kumar, Sanjay; Nayak, Sushree S.

2018-06-01

The magnetohydrodynamics of the solar corona is simulated numerically. The simulation is initialized with an extrapolated non-force-free magnetic field using the vector magnetogram of the active region NOAA 12192, which was obtained from the solar photosphere. Particularly, we focus on the magnetic reconnections (MRs) occurring close to a magnetic null point that resulted in the appearance of circular chromospheric flare ribbons on 2014 October 24 around 21:21 UT, after the peak of an X3.1 flare. The extrapolated field lines show the presence of the three-dimensional (3D) null near one of the polarity-inversion lines—where the flare was observed. In the subsequent numerical simulation, we find MRs occurring near the null point, where the magnetic field lines from the fan plane of the 3D null form a X-type configuration with underlying arcade field lines. The footpoints of the dome-shaped field lines, inherent to the 3D null, show high gradients of the squashing factor. We find slipping reconnections at these quasi-separatrix layers, which are co-located with the post-flare circular brightening observed at chromospheric heights. This demonstrates the viability of the initial non-force-free field, along with the dynamics it initiates. Moreover, the initial field and its simulated evolution are found to be devoid of any flux rope, which is congruent with the confined nature of the flare.

Recent progress of magnetic reconnection research in the MAST spherical tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanabe, Hiroshi

2016-10-01

In the last three years, magnetic reconnection research in the MAST spherical tokamak achieved major progress by use of new 32 chord ion Doppler tomography, 130 channel YAG- and 300 channel Ruby-Thomson scattering diagnostics. In addition to the significant plasma heating up to 1 keV, detailed full temperature profile measurements including the diffusion region have been achieved for the first time. 2D imaging measurements of Ti and Te profiles have revealed that magnetic reconnection mostly heats ions globally in the downstream region of outflow jet and electrons locally at the X-point. The higher toroidal field in MAST (Bt > 0.3 T) strongly inhibits cross-field thermal transport scaling as 1 /Bt2 and the characteristic peaked Te profile at the X point is sustained on a millisecond time scale. In contrast, ions are mostly heated in the downstream region of outflow acceleration inside the current sheet width (c /ωpi 0.1 m) and around the stagnation point formed by reconnected flux mostly by viscosity dissipation and shock-like compressional damping of the outflow jet. Toroidal confinement also contributes to the characteristic Ti profile, forming a ring structure aligned with the closed flux surface. There is an effective confinement of the downstream thermal energy due to a thick layer of reconnected flux. The characteristic structure is sustained for longer than an ion-electron energy relaxation time (τeiE 4 - 11 ms) and the energy exchange between ions and electrons contributes to the bulk electron heating in the downstream region. The toroidal guide field mostly contributes to the formation of a localized electron heating structure at the X-point but not to bulk ion heating downstream. This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 15H05750, 15K14279 and 15K20921.

SLIPPING MAGNETIC RECONNECTIONS WITH MULTIPLE FLARE RIBBONS DURING AN X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Ruisheng; Chen, Yao; Wang, Bing, E-mail: ruishengzheng@sdu.edu.cn

2016-06-01

With the observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory , we present the slipping magnetic reconnections with multiple flare ribbons (FRs) during an X1.2 eruptive flare on 2014 January 7. A center negative polarity was surrounded by several positive ones, and three FRs appeared. The three FRs showed apparent slipping motions, and hook structures formed at their ends. Due to the moving footpoints of the erupting structures, one tight semi-circular hook disappeared after the slippage along its inner and outer edges, and coronal dimmings formed within the hook. The east hook also faded as a result of the magnetic reconnection betweenmore » the arcades of a remote filament and a hot loop that was impulsively heated by the under flare loops. Our results are accordant with the slipping magnetic reconnection regime in three-dimensional standard model for eruptive flares. We suggest that the complex structures of the flare are likely a consequence of the more complex flux distribution in the photosphere, and the eruption involves at least two magnetic reconnections.« less

Rapid magnetic reconnection caused by finite amplitude fluctuations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthaeus, W. H.; Lamkin, S. L.

1985-01-01

The nonlinear dynamics of the magnetohydrodynamic sheet pinch have been investigated as an unforced initial value problem for large scale Reynolds numbers up to 1000. Reconnection is triggered by adding to the sheet pinch a small but finite level of broadband random perturbations. Effects of turbulence in the solutions include the production of reconnected magnetic islands at rates that are insensitive to resistivity at early times. This is explained by noting that electric field fluctuations near the X point produce irregularities in the vector potential, sometimes taking the form of 'magnetic bubbles', which allow rapid change of field topology.

Particle distributions in collisionless magnetic reconnection: An implicit Particle-In-Cell (PIC) description

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

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

1990-06-29

Evidence from magnetospheric and solar flare research supports the belief that collisionless magnetic reconnection can proceed on the Alfven-wave crossing timescale. Reconnection behavior that occurs this rapidly in collisionless plasmas is not well understood because underlying mechanisms depend on the details of the ion and electron distributions in the vicinity of the emerging X-points. We use the direct implicit Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code AVANTI to study the details of these distributions as they evolve in the self-consistent E and B fields of magnetic reconnection. We first consider a simple neutral sheet model. We observe rapid movement of the current-carrying electrons awaymore » from the emerging X-point. Later in time an oscillation of the trapped magnetic flux is found, superimposed upon continued linear growth due to plasma inflow at the ion sound speed. The addition of a current-aligned and a normal B field widen the scope of our studies.« less

FLARE (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments): A Major Next-Step for Laboratory Studies of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W. S.; Bale, S. D.; Carter, T. A.; Crocker, N.; Drake, J. F.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Wallace, J.; Belova, E.; Ellis, R.; Fox, W. R., II; Heitzenroeder, P.; Kalish, M.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C. E.; Que, W.; Ren, Y.; Titus, P.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.

2014-12-01

A new intermediate-scale plasma experiment, called the Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments or FLARE, is under construction at Princeton as a joint project by five universities and two national labs to study magnetic reconnection in regimes directly relevant to space, solar and astrophysical plasmas. The currently existing small-scale experiments have been focusing on the single X-line reconnection process in plasmas either with small effective sizes or at low Lundquist numbers, both of which are typically very large in natural plasmas. These new regimes involve multiple X-lines as guided by a reconnection "phase diagram", in which different coupling mechanisms from the global system scale to the local dissipation scale are classified into different reconnection phases [H. Ji & W. Daughton, Phys. Plasmas 18, 111207 (2011)]. The design of the FLARE device is based on the existing Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) at Princeton (http://mrx.pppl.gov) and is to provide experimental access to the new phases involving multiple X-lines at large effective sizes and high Lundquist numbers, directly relevant to space and solar plasmas. The motivating major physics questions, the construction status, and the planned collaborative research especially with space and solar research communities will be discussed.

Reconnection, Particle Acceleration, and Hard X-ray Emission in Eruptive Solar Flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martens, Petrus C.

1998-11-01

The frequent occurrence of Hard X-ray emission from the top of flaring loops was one of the discoveries by the Hard X-ray telescope on board the Japanese Yohkoh satellite. I will show how the combined effect of magnetic field convergence and pitch- angle scattering of non-thermal electrons injected at the top of the loop results in the generation of looptop sources with properties akin to those observed by Yohkoh. In addition it is shown that the injection of proton beams in the loop legs, expected from theory, reproduces the observed high temperature ``ridges" in the loop legs by mirroring and energy loss through collisions. I will interpret these numerical results as supporting the now widely accepted model of an erupting magnetic flux tube generating a reconnecting current sheet in its wake, where most of the energy release takes place. The strong similarity with the reconnection observed in the MRX experiment in Princeton will be analyzed in detail.

Comparison of reconnection in magnetosphere and solar corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Hard X-Ray Burst Detected From Caltech Plasma Jet Experiment Magnetic Reconnection Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, Ryan S.; Bellan, Paul M.

2016-10-01

In the Caltech plasma jet experiment a 100 kA MHD driven jet becomes kink unstable leading to a Rayleigh-Taylor instability that quickly causes a magnetic reconnection event. Movies show that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability is simultaneous with voltage spikes across the electrodes that provide the current that drives the jet. Hard x-rays between 4 keV and 9 keV have now been observed using an x-ray scintillator detector mounted just outside of a kapton window on the vacuum chamber. Preliminary results indicate that the timing of the x-ray burst coincides with a voltage spike on the electrodes occurring in association with the Rayleigh-Taylor event. The x-ray signal accompanies the voltage spike and Rayleigh-Taylor event in approximately 50% of the shots. A possible explanation for why the x-ray signal is sometimes missing is that the magnetic reconnection event may be localized to a specific region of the plasma outside the line of sight of the scintillator. The x-ray signal has also been seen accompanying the voltage spike when no Rayleigh-Taylor is observed. This may be due to the interframe timing on the camera being longer than the very short duration of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

THE MECHANISMS OF ELECTRON ACCELERATION DURING MULTIPLE X LINE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION WITH A GUIDE FIELD

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Huanyu; Lu, Quanming; Huang, Can

2016-04-20

The interactions between magnetic islands are considered to play an important role in electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection. In this paper, two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are performed to study electron acceleration during multiple X line reconnection with a guide field. Because the electrons remain almost magnetized, we can analyze the contributions of the parallel electric field, Fermi, and betatron mechanisms to electron acceleration during the evolution of magnetic reconnection through comparison with a guide-center theory. The results show that with the magnetic reconnection proceeding, two magnetic islands are formed in the simulation domain. Next, the electrons are accelerated by both themore » parallel electric field in the vicinity of the X lines and the Fermi mechanism due to the contraction of the two magnetic islands. Then, the two magnetic islands begin to merge into one, and, in such a process, the electrons can be accelerated by both the parallel electric field and betatron mechanisms. During the betatron acceleration, the electrons are locally accelerated in the regions where the magnetic field is piled up by the high-speed flow from the X line. At last, when the coalescence of the two islands into one big island finishes, the electrons can be further accelerated by the Fermi mechanism because of the contraction of the big island. With the increase of the guide field, the contributions of the Fermi and betatron mechanisms to electron acceleration become less and less important. When the guide field is sufficiently large, the contributions of the Fermi and betatron mechanisms are almost negligible.« less

Magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas - Prescribed fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burkhart, G. R.; Drake, J. F.; Chen, J.

1990-01-01

The structure of the dissipation region during magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is investigated by examining a prescribed two-dimensional magnetic x line configuration with an imposed inductive electric field E(y). The calculations represent an extension of recent MHD simulations of steady state reconnection (Biskamp, 1986; Lee and Fu, 1986) to the collisionless kinetic regime. It is shown that the structure of the x line reconnection configuration depends on only two parameters: a normalized inductive field and a parameter R which represents the opening angle of the magnetic x lines.

Oxygen Ions in Magnetotail Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, H.; Walker, R. J.; Lapenta, G.; Schriver, D.; El-Alaoui, M.; Berchem, J.

2016-12-01

Spacecraft have observed a significant fraction of oxygen ions (O+) in Earth's magnetotail X-line during the periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity. It is important to understand how such O+ influences the reconnection process and how the O+ ions are heated due to reconnection. To this end we have used a 2.5D implicit Particle-in-Cell simulation (iPic3D) in a 2D Harris current sheet in the presence of H+ and O+. By comparing the simulation runs for oxygen concentrations of 50%, 5% and 0% (i.e. latter run only H+ ions), we found that (1) the dipolarization front (DF) propagation is encumbered by the current sheet O+ inertia, which reduces the DF speed and delays the fast reconnection phase; (2) the reconnection rate in the 50% O+ Run is much less than the 0% O+ Run, which can be attributed to the O+ drag on the convective magnetic flux via an ambipolar electric field in the O+ diffusion region; (3) without entering the exhaust, the lobe O+ can be accelerated near the separatrices away from the X-point by the Hall electric field and form the hot population downstream of the DFs; (4) the pre-existing current sheet O+ ions are reflected by the DFs and form a hook-shaped distribution in phase space, from which the DF speed history can be deduced; (5) the DF thickness is proportional to the O+ concentration in the pre-existing current sheet. These results illustrate the differences between storm-time and non-storm substorms due to a significant concentration of oxygen ions. The oxygen heating results are expected to be observable by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the magnetotail.

Investigation of merging/reconnection heating during solenoid-free startup of plasmas in the MAST Spherical Tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanabe, H.; Yamada, T.; Watanabe, T.; Gi, K.; Inomoto, M.; Imazawa, R.; Gryaznevich, M.; Scannell, R.; Conway, N. J.; Michael, C.; Crowley, B.; Fitzgerald, I.; Meakins, A.; Hawkes, N.; McClements, K. G.; Harrison, J.; O'Gorman, T.; Cheng, C. Z.; Ono, Y.; The MAST Team

2017-05-01

We present results of recent studies of merging/reconnection heating during central solenoid (CS)-free plasma startup in the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST). During this process, ions are heated globally in the downstream region of an outflow jet, and electrons locally around the X-point produced by the magnetic field of two internal P3 coils and of two plasma rings formed around these coils, the final temperature being proportional to the reconnecting field energy. There is an effective confinement of the downstream thermal energy, due to a thick layer of reconnected flux. The characteristic structure is sustained for longer than an ion-electron energy relaxation time, and the energy exchange between ions and electrons contributes to the bulk electron heating in the downstream region. The peak electron temperature around the X-point increases with toroidal field, but the downstream electron and ion temperatures do not change.

Stellar flare oscillations: evidence for oscillatory reconnection and evolution of MHD modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doyle, J. G.; Shetye, J.; Antonova, A. E.; Kolotkov, D. Y.; Srivastava, A. K.; Stangalini, M.; Gupta, G. R.; Avramova, A.; Mathioudakis, M.

2018-04-01

Here, we report on the detection of a range of quasi-periodic pulsations (20-120 s; QPPs) observed during flaring activity of several magnetically active dMe stars, namely AF Psc, CR Dra, GJ 3685A, Gl 65, SDSS J084425.9+513830, and SDSS J144738.47+035312.1 in the GALEX NUV filter. Based on a solar analogy, this work suggests that many of these flares may be triggered by external drivers creating a periodic reconnection in the flare current sheet or an impulsive energy release giving rise to an avalanche of periodic bursts that occur at time intervals that correspond to the detected periods, thus generating QPPs in their rising and peak phases. Some of these flares also show fast QPPs in their decay phase, indicating the presence of fast sausage mode oscillations either driven externally by periodic reconnection or intrinsically in the post-flare loop system during the flare energy release.

Magnetic reconnection in terms of catastrophe theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Echkina, E. Y.; Inovenkov, I. N.; Nefedov, V. V.

2017-12-01

Magnetic field line reconnection (magnetic reconnection) is a phenomenon that occurs in space and laboratory plasma. Magnetic reconnection allows both the change the magnetic topology and the conversion of the magnetic energy into energy of fast particles. The critical point (critical line or plane in higher dimensional cases) of the magnetic field play an important role in process of magnetic reconnection, as in its neighborhood occurs a change of its topology of a magnetic field and redistribution of magnetic field energy. A lot of literature is devoted to the analytical and numerical investigation of the reconnection process. The main result of these investigations as the result of magnetic reconnection the current sheet is formed and the magnetic topology is changed. While the studies of magnetic reconnection in 2D and 3D configurations have a led to several important results, many questions remain open, including the behavior of a magnetic field in the neighborhood of a critical point of high order. The magnetic reconnection problem is closely related to the problem of the structural stability of vector fields. Since the magnetic field topology changes during both spontaneous and induced magnetic reconnection, it is natural to expect that the magnetic field should evolve from a structurally unstable into a structurally stable configuration. Note that, in this case, the phenomenon under analysis is more complicated since, during magnetic reconnection in a highly conducting plasma, we deal with the non-linear interaction between two vector fields: the magnetic field and the field of the plasma velocities. The aim of our article is to consider the process of magnetic reconnection and transformation of the magnetic topology from the viewpoint of catastrophe theory. Bifurcations in similar configurations (2D magnetic configuration with null high order point) with varying parameters were thoroughly discussed in a monograph by Poston and Stewart.

Toward laboratory torsional spine magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

ASYMMETRIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN WEAKLY IONIZED CHROMOSPHERIC PLASMAS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Nicholas A.; Lukin, Vyacheslav S., E-mail: namurphy@cfa.harvard.edu

2015-06-01

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,more » 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.« less

Magnetic reconnection process in transient coaxial helicity injection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ebrahimi, F.; Hooper, E. B.; Sovinec, C. R.

The physics of magnetic reconnection and fast flux closure in transient coaxial helicity injection experiments in NSTX is examined using resistive MHD simulations. These simulations have been performed using the NIMROD code with fixed boundary flux (including NSTX poloidal coil currents) in the NSTX experimental geometry. Simulations show that an X point is formed in the injector region, followed by formation of closed flux surfaces within 0.5 ms after the driven injector voltage and injector current begin to rapidly decrease. As the injector voltage is turned off, the field lines tend to untwist in the toroidal direction and magnetic fieldmore » compression exerts a radial J × B force and generates a bi-directional radial E{sub toroidal}×B{sub poloidal} pinch flow to bring oppositely directed field lines closer together to reconnect. At sufficiently low magnetic diffusivity (high Lundquist number), and with a sufficiently narrow injector flux footprint width, the oppositely directed field lines have sufficient time to reconnect (before dissipating), leading to the formation of closed flux surfaces. The reconnection process is shown to have transient Sweet-Parker characteristics.« less

First results from ideal 2-D MHD reconstruction: magnetopause reconnection event seen by Cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teh, W.-L.; Ã-. Sonnerup, B. U.

2008-09-01

We have applied a new reconstruction method (Sonnerup and Teh, 2008), based on the ideal single-fluid MHD equations in a steady-state, two-dimensional geometry, to a reconnection event observed by the Cluster-3 (C3) spacecraft on 5 July 2001, 06:23 UT, at the dawn-side Northern-Hemisphere magnetopause. The event has been previously studied by use of Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction, performed in the deHoffmann-Teller frame, and using the assumption that the flow effects were either negligible or the flow was aligned with the magnetic field. Our new method allows the reconstruction to be performed in the frame of reference moving with the reconnection site (the X-line). In the event studied, this motion is tailward/equatorward at 140 km/s. The principal result of the study is that the new method functions well, generating a magnetic field map that is qualitatively similar to those obtained in the earlier GS-based reconstructions but now includes the reconnection site itself. In comparison with the earlier map by Hasegawa et al. (2004), our new map has a slightly improved ability (cc=0.979 versus cc=0.975) to predict the fields measured by the other three Cluster spacecraft, at distances from C3 ranging from 2132 km (C1) to 2646 km (C4). The new field map indicates the presence of a magnetic X-point, located some 5300 km tailward/equatorward of C3 at the time of its traversal of the magnetopause. In the immediate vicinity of the X-point, the ideal-MHD assumption breaks down, i.e. resistive and/or other effects should be included. We have circumvented this problem by an ad-hoc procedure in which we allow the axial part of convection electric field to be non-constant near the reconnection site. The new reconstruction method also provides a map of the velocity field, in which the inflow into the wedge of reconnected field lines and the plasma jet within it can be seen, and maps of the electric potential and of the electric current distribution. Even though the

Perspectives on magnetic reconnection

PubMed Central

Yamada, Masaaki

2016-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a topological rearrangement of magnetic field that occurs on time scales much faster than the global magnetic diffusion time. Since the field lines break on microscopic scales but energy is stored and the field is driven on macroscopic scales, reconnection is an inherently multi-scale process that often involves both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic phenomena. In this article, we begin with the MHD point of view and then describe the dynamics and energetics of reconnection using a two-fluid formulation. We also focus on the respective roles of global and local processes and how they are coupled. We conclude that the triggers for reconnection are mostly global, that the key energy conversion and dissipation processes are either local or global, and that the presence of a continuum of scales coupled from microscopic to macroscopic may be the most likely path to fast reconnection. PMID:28119547

Electron energization mechanisms in collisionless magnetic reconnection for different guide-field intensities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pucci, F.; Usami, S.; Guo, X.; Ji, H.; Horiuchi, R.; Okamura, S.

2017-12-01

Electron dynamics and energization are a key component of magnetic field dissipation in collisionless reconnection. Indeed, in 2D reconnection, the main mechanism that limits the current density and provides the resistivity most probably relies on the electron pressure tensor term which has been shown to break the frozen-in condition at the x-point (Ishizawa and Horiuchi 2005; Horiuchi et al. 2014). In addition the electron-meandering-orbit scale controls the width of the electron dissipation region around the x-point, where the electron temperature is observed to increase, so understanding the electron heating mechanism is fundamental for magnetic reconnection. It has been shown by Guo et al. 2017 that for a 2D high guide field configuration (Bz/B0 = 3) electron perpendicular heating is mainly due to the breaking of magnetic moment conservation in the separatrix region while electron perpendicular acceleration takes place mainly in the downstream near the X-point. Electron velocity distributions have been shown to exhibit highly structured features within a few electron skin depths from the X line (Bessho et al. 2014) as well as in the exhaust (Shuster et al. 2014). By means of two-dimensional, full-particle simulations in an open system (Pei et al. 2001; Ohtani and R. Horiuchi 2009), we investigate how the energization mechanism depends on the guide field intensity. We compare electron distribution functions as well as particles orbits, in the electron diffusion region and the exhaust, in order to clarify the preferential electron heating/acceleration in two-dimensional systems. We will then compare our results with observations using the present catalogue of MMS diffusion region crossings.

Perspectives on magnetic reconnection

DOE PAGES

Zweibel, Ellen G.; Yamada, Masaaki

2016-12-07

Magnetic reconnection is a topological rearrangement of magnetic field that occurs on time scales much faster than the global magnetic diffusion time. Since the field lines break on microscopic scales but energy is stored and the field is driven on macroscopic scales, reconnection is an inherently multi-scale process that often involves both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic phenomena. In this article, we begin with the MHD point of view and then describe the dynamics and energetics of reconnection using a two-fluid formulation. We also focus on the respective roles of global and local processes and how they are coupled. Here, wemore » conclude that the triggers for reconnection are mostly global, that the key energy conversion and dissipation processes are either local or global, and that the presence of a continuum of scales coupled from microscopic to macroscopic may be the most likely path to fast reconnection.« less

A RECONNECTION-DRIVEN MODEL OF THE HARD X-RAY LOOP-TOP SOURCE FROM FLARE 2004 FEBRUARY 26

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Longcope, Dana; Qiu, Jiong; Brewer, Jasmine

A compact X-class flare on 2004 February 26 showed a concentrated source of hard X-rays at the tops of the flare’s loops. This was analyzed in previous work and interpreted as plasma heated and compressed by slow magnetosonic shocks (SMSs) generated during post-reconnection retraction of the flux. That work used analytic expressions from a thin flux tube (TFT) model, which neglected many potentially important factors such as thermal conduction and chromospheric evaporation. Here we use a numerical solution of the TFT equations to produce a more comprehensive and accurate model of the same flare, including those effects previously omitted. Thesemore » simulations corroborate the prior hypothesis that slow-mode shocks persist well after the retraction has ended, thus producing a compact, loop-top source instead of an elongated jet, as steady reconnection models predict. Thermal conduction leads to densities higher than analytic estimates had predicted, and evaporation enhances the density still higher, but at lower temperatures. X-ray light curves and spectra are synthesized by convolving the results from a single TFT simulation with the rate at which flux is reconnected, as measured through motion of flare ribbons, for example. These agree well with light curves observed by RHESSI and GOES and spectra from RHESSI . An image created from a superposition of TFT model runs resembles one produced from RHESSI observations. This suggests that the HXR loop-top source, at least the one observed in this flare, could be the result of SMSs produced in fast reconnection models like Petschek’s.« less

Particle acceleration in laser-driven magnetic reconnection

DOE PAGES

Totorica, S. R.; Abel, T.; Fiuza, F.

2017-04-03

Particle acceleration induced by magnetic reconnection is thought to be a promising candidate for producing the nonthermal emissions associated with explosive phenomena such as solar flares, pulsar wind nebulae, and jets from active galactic nuclei. Laboratory experiments can play an important role in the study of the detailed microphysics of magnetic reconnection and the dominant particle acceleration mechanisms. We have used two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to study particle acceleration in high Lundquist number reconnection regimes associated with laser-driven plasma experiments. For current experimental conditions, we show that nonthermal electrons can be accelerated to energies more than an order ofmore » magnitude larger than the initial thermal energy. The nonthermal electrons gain their energy mainly from the reconnection electric field near the X points, and particle injection into the reconnection layer and escape from the finite system establish a distribution of energies that resembles a power-law spectrum. Energetic electrons can also become trapped inside the plasmoids that form in the current layer and gain additional energy from the electric field arising from the motion of the plasmoid. We compare simulations for finite and infinite periodic systems to demonstrate the importance of particle escape on the shape of the spectrum. Based on our findings, we provide an analytical estimate of the maximum electron energy and threshold condition for observing suprathermal electron acceleration in terms of experimentally tunable parameters. We also discuss experimental signatures, including the angular distribution of the accelerated particles, and construct synthetic detector spectra. Finally, these results open the way for novel experimental studies of particle acceleration induced by reconnection.« less

ON MULTIPLE RECONNECTION X-LINES AND TRIPOLAR PERTURBATIONS OF STRONG GUIDE MAGNETIC FIELDS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eriksson, S.; Gosling, J. T.; Lapenta, G.

We report new multi-spacecraft Cluster observations of tripolar guide magnetic field perturbations at a solar wind reconnection exhaust in the presence of a guide field B{sub M} {sub  }which is almost four times as strong as the reversing field B{sub L}. The novel tripolar field consists of two narrow regions of depressed B{sub M}, with an observed 7%–14% ΔB{sub M} magnitude relative to the external field, which are found adjacent to a wide region of enhanced B{sub M} within the exhaust. A stronger reversing field is associated with each B{sub M} depression. A kinetic reconnection simulation for realistic solar windmore » conditions and the observed strong guide field reveals that tripolar magnetic fields preferentially form across current sheets in the presence of multiple X-lines as magnetic islands approach one another and merge into fewer and larger islands. The simulated ΔB{sub M}/ΔX{sub N} over the normal width ΔX{sub N} between a B{sub M} minimum and the edge of the external region agree with the normalized values observed by Cluster. We propose that a tripolar guide field perturbation may be used to identify candidate regions containing multiple X-lines and interacting magnetic islands at individual solar wind current sheets with a strong guide field.« less

Evidence for Precursors of the Coronal Hole Jets in Solar Bright Points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagashvili, Salome R.; Shergelashvili, Bidzina M.; Japaridze, Darejan R.; Kukhianidze, Vasil; Poedts, Stefaan; Zaqarashvili, Teimuraz V.; Khodachenko, Maxim L.; De Causmaecker, Patrick

2018-03-01

A set of 23 observations of coronal jet events that occurred in coronal bright points has been analyzed. The focus was on the temporal evolution of the mean brightness before and during coronal jet events. In the absolute majority of the cases either single or recurrent coronal jets (CJs) were preceded by slight precursor disturbances observed in the mean intensity curves. The key conclusion is that we were able to detect quasi-periodical oscillations with characteristic periods from sub-minute up to 3–4 minute values in the bright point brightness that precedes the jets. Our basic claim is that along with the conventionally accepted scenario of bright-point evolution through new magnetic flux emergence and its reconnection with the initial structure of the bright point and the coronal hole, certain magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) oscillatory and wavelike motions can be excited and these can take an important place in the observed dynamics. These quasi-oscillatory phenomena might play the role of links between different epochs of the coronal jet ignition and evolution. They can be an indication of the MHD wave excitation processes due to the system entropy variations, density variations, or shear flows. It is very likely a sharp outflow velocity transverse gradients at the edges between the open and closed field line regions. We suppose that magnetic reconnections can be the source of MHD waves due to impulsive generation or rapid temperature variations, and shear flow driven nonmodel MHD wave evolution (self-heating and/or overreflection mechanisms).

Physics of the saturation of particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Electron acceleration in pulsed-power driven magnetic-reconnection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halliday, Jonathan; Hare, Jack; Lebedev, Sergey; Suttle, Lee; Bland, Simon; Clayson, Thomas; Tubman, Eleanor; Pikuz, Sergei; Shelkovenko, Tanya

2017-10-01

We present recent results from pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments, fielded on the MAGPIE generator (1.2 MA, 250 ns). The setup used in these experiments produces plasma inflows which are intrinsically magnetised; persist for many hydrodynamic time-scales; and are supersonic. Previous work has focussed on characterising the dynamics of bulk plasma flows, using a suite of diagnostics including laser interferometry, (imaging) Faraday rotation, and Thompson scattering. Measurements show the formation of a well defined, long lasting reconnection layer and demonstrate a power balance between the power into and out of the reconnection region. The work presented here focuses on diagnosing non-thermal electron acceleration by the reconnecting electric field. To achieve this, metal foils were placed in the path of accelerated electrons. Atomic transitions in the foil were collisionally exited by the electron beam, producing a characteristic X-Ray spectrum. This X-Ray emission was diagnosed using spherically bent crystal X-Ray spectrometry, filtered X-Ray pinhole imaging, and X-Ray sensitive PIN diodes.

Implosive Collapse about Magnetic Null Points: A Quantitative Comparison between 2D and 3D Nulls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2018-03-01

Null collapse is an implosive process whereby MHD waves focus their energy in the vicinity of a null point, forming a current sheet and initiating magnetic reconnection. We consider, for the first time, the case of collapsing 3D magnetic null points in nonlinear, resistive MHD using numerical simulation, exploring key physical aspects of the system as well as performing a detailed parameter study. We find that within a particular plane containing the 3D null, the plasma and current density enhancements resulting from the collapse are quantitatively and qualitatively as per the 2D case in both the linear and nonlinear collapse regimes. However, the scaling with resistivity of the 3D reconnection rate—which is a global quantity—is found to be less favorable when the magnetic null point is more rotationally symmetric, due to the action of increased magnetic back-pressure. Furthermore, we find that, with increasing ambient plasma pressure, the collapse can be throttled, as is the case for 2D nulls. We discuss this pressure-limiting in the context of fast reconnection in the solar atmosphere and suggest mechanisms by which it may be overcome. We also discuss the implications of the results in the context of null collapse as a trigger mechanism of Oscillatory Reconnection, a time-dependent reconnection mechanism, and also within the wider subject of wave–null point interactions. We conclude that, in general, increasingly rotationally asymmetric nulls will be more favorable in terms of magnetic energy release via null collapse than their more symmetric counterparts.

On the electron dynamics during island coalescence in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cazzola, E., E-mail: emanuele.cazzola@wis.kuleuven.be; Innocenti, M. E., E-mail: mariaelena.innocenti@wis.kuleuven.be; Lapenta, G., E-mail: giovanni.lapenta@wis.kuleuven.be

We present an analysis of the electron dynamics during rapid island merging in asymmetric magnetic reconnection. We consider a doubly periodic system with two asymmetric transitions. The upper layer is an asymmetric Harris sheet of finite width perturbed initially to promote a single reconnection site. The lower layer is a tangential discontinuity that promotes the formation of many X-points, separated by rapidly merging islands. Across both layers, the magnetic field and the density have a strong jump, but the pressure is held constant. Our analysis focuses on the consequences of electron energization during island coalescence. We focus first on themore » parallel and perpendicular components of the electron temperature to establish the presence of possible anisotropies and non-gyrotropies. Thanks to the direct comparison between the two different layers simulated, we can distinguish three main types of behavior characteristic of three different regions of interest. The first type represents the regions where traditional asymmetric reconnections take place without involving island merging. The second type of regions instead shows reconnection events between two merging islands. Finally, the third regions identify the regions between two diverging island and where typical signature of reconnection is not observed. Electrons in these latter regions additionally show a flat-top distribution resulting from the saturation of a two-stream instability generated by the two interacting electron beams from the two nearest reconnection points. Finally, the analysis of agyrotropy shows the presence of a distinct double structure laying all over the lower side facing the higher magnetic field region. This structure becomes quadrupolar in the proximity of the regions of the third type. The distinguishing features found for the three types of regions investigated provide clear indicators to the recently launched Magnetospheric Multiscale NASA mission for investigating

Electron dynamics surrounding the X line in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zenitani, S.; Hasegawa, H.; Nagai, T.

2017-12-01

Electron dynamics surrounding the X line in magnetopause-type asymmetric reconnection is investigated using a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. We study electron properties of three characteristic regions in the vicinity of the X line. The fluid properties, velocity distribution functions (VDFs), and orbits are studied and cross-compared. On the magnetospheric side of the X line, the normal electric field enhances the electron meandering motion from the magnetosheath side. The motion leads to a crescent-shaped component in the electron VDF, in agreement with recent studies. On the magnetosheath side of the X line, the magnetic field line is so stretched in the third dimension that its curvature radius is comparable with typical electron Larmor radius. The electron motion becomes nonadiabatic, and therefore the electron idealness is no longer expected to hold. Around the middle of the outflow regions, the electron nonidealness is coincident with the region of the nonadiabatic motion. Finally, we introduce a finite-time mixing fraction (FTMF) to evaluate electron mixing. The FTMF marks the magnetospheric side of the X line, where the nonideal energy dissipation occurs.

The Relation between Reconnected Flux, the Parallel Electric Field, and the Reconnection Rate in a Three-Dimensional Kinetic Simulation of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wendel, D. E.; Olson, D. K.; Hesse, M.; Karimabadi, H.; Daughton, W. S.

2013-12-01

We investigate the distribution of parallel electric fields and their relationship to the location and rate of magnetic reconnection of a large particle-in-cell simulation of 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions. The simulation's guide field geometry inhibits the formation of topological features such as separators and null points. Therefore, we derive the location of potential changes in magnetic connectivity by finding the field lines that experience a large relative change between their endpoints, i.e., the quasi-separatrix layer. We find a correspondence between the locus of changes in magnetic connectivity, or the quasi-separatrix layer, and the map of large gradients in the integrated parallel electric field (or quasi-potential). Furthermore, we compare the distribution of parallel electric fields along field lines with the reconnection rate. We find the reconnection rate is controlled by only the low-amplitude, zeroth and first-order trends in the parallel electric field, while the contribution from high amplitude parallel fluctuations, such as electron holes, is negligible. The results impact the determination of reconnection sites within models of 3D turbulent reconnection as well as the inference of reconnection rates from in situ spacecraft measurements. It is difficult through direct observation to isolate the locus of the reconnection parallel electric field amidst the large amplitude fluctuations. However, we demonstrate that a positive slope of the partial sum of the parallel electric field along the field line as a function of field line length indicates where reconnection is occurring along the field line.

Location and characteristics of the reconnection X-line deduced from low-altitude satellite and radar observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lockwood, M.; Davis, C. J.; Smith, M. F.; Onsager, T. G.; Denig, W. F.

1994-01-01

We present an analysis of a cusp ion step observed between two poleward-moving events of enhanced ionospheric electron temperature. From the computed variation of the reconnection rate and the onset times of the associated ionospheric events, the distance between the satellite and the X-line can be estimated, but with a large uncertainty due to that in the determination of the low-energy cut-off of the ion velocity distribution function, f(E). Nevertheless, analysis of the time series f(t) shows the reconnection site to be on the dayside magnetopause, consistent with the pulsating cusp model, and the best estimate of the X-line location is 13 R(E) from the satellite. The ion precipitation is used to reconstruct the field-parallel part of the Cowley-D ion distribution function injected into the open low latitude boundary layer (LLBL) in the vicinity of the X-line. From this the Alfven speed, plasma density, magnetic field, parallel ion temperature, and flow velocity of the magnetosheath near the X-line can be derived.

Study of Electron-scale Dissipation near the X-line During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Yoo, J.; Dorfman, S. E.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Yamada, M.; Swanson, C.; Daughton, W. S.; Roytershteyn, V.; Kuwahata, A.; Ii, T.; Inomoto, M.; Ono, Y.; von Stechow, A.; Grulke, O.; Phan, T.; Mozer, F.; Bale, S. D.

2013-12-01

Despite its disruptive influences on the large-scale structures of space and solar plasmas, the crucial topological changes and associated dissipation during magnetic reconnection take place only near an X-line within thin singular layers. In the modern collisionless models where electrons and ions are allowed to move separately, it has been predicted that ions exhaust efficiently through a thicker, ion-scale dissipative layer while mobile electrons can evacuate through a thinner, electron-scale dissipation layer, allowing for efficient release of magnetic energy. While ion dissipation layers have been frequently detected, the existence of election layers near the X-line and the associated dissipation structures and mechanisms are still an open question, and will be a main subject of the coming MMS mission. In this presentation, we will summarize our efforts in the past a few years to study electron-scale dissipation in a well-controlled and well-diagnosed reconnecting current sheet in a laboratory plasma, with close comparisons with the state-of-the-art, 2D and 3D fully kinetic simulations. Key results include: (1) positive identification of electromagnetic waves detected at the current sheet center as long wave-length, lower-hybrid drift instabilities (EM-LHDI), (2) however, there is strong evidence that this EM-LHDI cannot provide the required force to support the reconnection electric field, (3) detection of 3D flux-rope-like magnetic structures during impulsive reconnection events, and (4) electrons are heated through non-classical mechanisms near the X-line with a small but clear temperature anisotropy. These results, unfortunately, do not resolve the outstanding discrepancies on electron layer thickness between best available experiments and fully kinetic simulations. To make further progress, we are continuously pushing in the both experimental and numerical frontiers. Experimentally, we started investigations on EM-LHDI and electron heating as a function

Dipolarization Fronts from Reconnection Onset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Magnetic Reconnection as Revealed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Study of Multiple Scale Physics of Magnetic Reconnection on the FLARE (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W. S.; Bale, S. D.; Carter, T. A.; Crocker, N.; Drake, J. F.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Wallace, J.; Chen, Y.; Cutler, R.; Fox, W. R., II; Heitzenroeder, P.; Kalish, M.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C. E.; Ren, Y.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.

2015-12-01

The FLARE device (flare.pppl.gov) is a new intermediate-scale plasma experiment under construction at Princeton to study magnetic reconnection in regimes directly relevant to space, solar and astrophysical plasmas. The existing small-scale experiments have been focusing on the single X-line reconnection process either with small effective sizes or at low Lundquist numbers, but both of which are typically very large in natural plasmas. The configuration of the FLARE device is designed to provide experimental access to the new regimes involving multiple X-lines, as guided by a reconnection "phase diagram" [Ji & Daughton, PoP (2011)]. Most of major components of the FLARE device have been designed and are under construction. The device will be assembled and installed in 2016, followed by commissioning and operation in 2017. The planned research on FLARE as a user facility will be discussed on topics including the multiple scale nature of magnetic reconnection from global fluid scales to ion and electron kinetic scales. Results from scoping simulations based on particle and fluid codes and possible comparative research with space measurements will be presented.

Vortex line topology during vortex tube reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGavin, P.; Pontin, D. I.

2018-05-01

This paper addresses reconnection of vortex tubes, with particular focus on the topology of the vortex lines (field lines of the vorticity). This analysis of vortex line topology reveals key features of the reconnection process, such as the generation of many small flux rings, formed when reconnection occurs in multiple locations in the vortex sheet between the tubes. Consideration of three-dimensional reconnection principles leads to a robust measurement of the reconnection rate, even once instabilities break the symmetry. It also allows us to identify internal reconnection of vortex lines within the individual vortex tubes. Finally, the introduction of a third vortex tube is shown to render the vortex reconnection process fully three-dimensional, leading to a fundamental change in the topological structure of the process. An additional interesting feature is the generation of vorticity null points.

SLIPPING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION, CHROMOSPHERIC EVAPORATION, IMPLOSION, AND PRECURSORS IN THE 2014 SEPTEMBER 10 X1.6-CLASS SOLAR FLARE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dudík, Jaroslav; Karlický, Marian; Dzifčáková, Elena

2016-05-20

We investigate the occurrence of slipping magnetic reconnection, chromospheric evaporation, and coronal loop dynamics in the 2014 September 10 X-class flare. Slipping reconnection is found to be present throughout the flare from its early phase. Flare loops are seen to slip in opposite directions toward both ends of the ribbons. Velocities of 20–40 km s{sup −1} are found within time windows where the slipping is well resolved. The warm coronal loops exhibit expanding and contracting motions that are interpreted as displacements due to the growing flux rope that subsequently erupts. This flux rope existed and erupted before the onset ofmore » apparent coronal implosion. This indicates that the energy release proceeds by slipping reconnection and not via coronal implosion. The slipping reconnection leads to changes in the geometry of the observed structures at the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph slit position, from flare loop top to the footpoints in the ribbons. This results in variations of the observed velocities of chromospheric evaporation in the early flare phase. Finally, it is found that the precursor signatures, including localized EUV brightenings as well as nonthermal X-ray emission, are signatures of the flare itself, progressing from the early phase toward the impulsive phase, with the tether-cutting being provided by the slipping reconnection. The dynamics of both the flare and outlying coronal loops is found to be consistent with the predictions of the standard solar flare model in three dimensions.« less

A First-Principles Analytical Theory for 2D Magnetic Reconnection in Electron and Hall Magnetohydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chacon, L.; Simakov, A. N.; Zocco, A.

2007-12-01

Although the relevance of two-fluid effects in fast magnetic reconnection is well-known, (J. Birn et al., J. Geophys. Res., 106 (A3), 3715 (2001) a first-principles theory -- akin to Sweet and Parker's in resistive MHD -- has been elusive. Here, we present such a first principles steady-state analytical theory for electron MHD, (L. Chacón, A. N. Simakov, A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett., submitted) and its extension to Hall MHD. (A. N. Simakov, L. Chacón, in preparation) The theory discretizes the extended MHD equations at the reconnection site, leading to a set of time-dependent ODEs. Their steady-state analysis, which describes the system at or around the point of maximum reconnection rate, provides predictions for the scaling of relevant quantities with the dissipation coefficients (e.g, resistivity and hyper-resistivity) and other relevant parameters. In particular, we will show that EMHD admits both elongated and open-X point configurations of the reconnection region, and that the reconnection rate can be shown not to scale explicitly with the dissipation parameters. This result is, to our knowledge, the first analytical confirmation of the possibility of fast magnetic reconnection in EMHD. In Hall MHD, the transition between resistive MHD and EMHD is studied, and scalings with the ion inertial length are obtained.

On Multiple Reconnection X-lines and Tripolar Perturbations of Strong Guide Magnetic Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eriksson, S.; Lapenta, G.; Newman, D. L.; Phan, T. D.; Gosling, J. T.; Lavraud, B.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Carr, C. M.; Markidis, S.; Goldman, M. V.

2015-05-01

We report new multi-spacecraft Cluster observations of tripolar guide magnetic field perturbations at a solar wind reconnection exhaust in the presence of a guide field BM which is almost four times as strong as the reversing field BL. The novel tripolar field consists of two narrow regions of depressed BM, with an observed 7%-14% ΔBM magnitude relative to the external field, which are found adjacent to a wide region of enhanced BM within the exhaust. A stronger reversing field is associated with each BM depression. A kinetic reconnection simulation for realistic solar wind conditions and the observed strong guide field reveals that tripolar magnetic fields preferentially form across current sheets in the presence of multiple X-lines as magnetic islands approach one another and merge into fewer and larger islands. The simulated ΔBM/ΔXN over the normal width ΔXN between a BM minimum and the edge of the external region agree with the normalized values observed by Cluster. We propose that a tripolar guide field perturbation may be used to identify candidate regions containing multiple X-lines and interacting magnetic islands at individual solar wind current sheets with a strong guide field.

Turbulent reconnection and its implications

PubMed Central

Lazarian, A.; Eyink, G.; Vishniac, E.; Kowal, G.

2015-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a process of magnetic field topology change, which is one of the most fundamental processes happening in magnetized plasmas. In most astrophysical environments, the Reynolds numbers corresponding to plasma flows are large and therefore the transition to turbulence is inevitable. This turbulence, which can be pre-existing or driven by magnetic reconnection itself, must be taken into account for any theory of magnetic reconnection that attempts to describe the process in the aforementioned environments. This necessity is obvious as three-dimensional high-resolution numerical simulations show the transition to the turbulence state of initially laminar reconnecting magnetic fields. We discuss ideas of how turbulence can modify reconnection with the focus on the Lazarian & Vishniac (Lazarian & Vishniac 1999 Astrophys. J. 517, 700–718 ()) reconnection model. We present numerical evidence supporting the model and demonstrate that it is closely connected to the experimentally proven concept of Richardson dispersion/diffusion as well as to more recent advances in understanding of the Lagrangian dynamics of magnetized fluids. We point out that the generalized Ohm's law that accounts for turbulent motion predicts the subdominance of the microphysical plasma effects for reconnection for realistically turbulent media. We show that one of the most dramatic consequences of turbulence is the violation of the generally accepted notion of magnetic flux freezing. This notion is a cornerstone of most theories dealing with magnetized plasmas, and therefore its change induces fundamental shifts in accepted paradigms, for instance, turbulent reconnection entails reconnection diffusion process that is essential for understanding star formation. We argue that at sufficiently high Reynolds numbers the process of tearing reconnection should transfer to turbulent reconnection. We discuss flares that are predicted by turbulent reconnection and relate this process to

Slipping magnetic reconnection during an X-class solar flare observed by SDO/AIA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dudík, J.; Del Zanna, G.; Mason, H. E.

2014-04-01

We present SDO/AIA observations of an eruptive X-class flare of 2012 July 12, and compare its evolution with the predictions of a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation. We focus on the dynamics of flare loops that are seen to undergo slipping reconnection during the flare. In the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 131 Å observations, lower parts of 10 MK flare loops exhibit an apparent motion with velocities of several tens of km s{sup –1} along the developing flare ribbons. In the early stages of the flare, flare ribbons consist of compact, localized bright transition-region emission from the footpoints of the flaremore » loops. A differential emission measure analysis shows that the flare loops have temperatures up to the formation of Fe XXIV. A series of very long, S-shaped loops erupt, leading to a coronal mass ejection observed by STEREO. The observed dynamics are compared with the evolution of magnetic structures in the 'standard solar flare model in 3D.' This model matches the observations well, reproducing the apparently slipping flare loops, S-shaped erupting loops, and the evolution of flare ribbons. All of these processes are explained via 3D reconnection mechanisms resulting from the expansion of a torus-unstable flux rope. The AIA observations and the numerical model are complemented by radio observations showing a noise storm in the metric range. Dm-drifting pulsation structures occurring during the eruption indicate plasmoid ejection and enhancement of the reconnection rate. The bursty nature of radio emission shows that the slipping reconnection is still intermittent, although it is observed to persist for more than an hour.« less

Understanding Magnetic Reconnection: The Physical Mechanism Driving Space Weather

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, Carrie; Antiochos, Spiro K.; Karpen, Judith T.; Germaschewski, Kai; Bessho, Naoki

2015-04-01

The explosive energy release in solar eruptive events is believed to be due to magnetic reconnection. In the standard model for coronal mass ejections (CME) and/or solar flares, the free energy for the event resides in the strongly sheared magnetic field of a filament channel. The pre-eruption force balance consists of an upward force due to the magnetic pressure of the sheared field countered by the downward tension of the overlying unsheared field. Magnetic reconnection disrupts this force balance. Therefore, to understand CME/flare initiation, it is critical to model the onset of reconnection driven by the build-up of magnetic shear. In MHD simulations, the application of a magnetic-field shear is trivial. However, kinetic effects are important in the diffusion region and thus, it is important to examine this process with PIC simulations as well. The implementation of such a driver in PIC methods is nontrivial, however, and indicates the necessity of a true multiscale model for such processes in the solar environment. The field must be sheared self-consistently and indirectly to prevent the generation of waves that destroy the desired system. In the work presented here, we show reconnection in an X-Point geometry due to a velocity shear driver perpendicular to the plane of reconnection.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. AGS-1331356 and NASA's Living With a Star Targeted Research and Technology program.

Observation of Three-Dimensional Magnetic Reconnection in the Terrestrial Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Meng; Ashour-Abdalla, Maha; Deng, Xiaohua; Pang, Ye; Fu, Huishan; Walker, Raymond; Lapenta, Giovanni; Huang, Shiyong; Xu, Xiaojun; Tang, Rongxin

2017-09-01

Study of magnetic reconnection has been focused on two-dimensional geometry in the past decades, whereas three-dimensional structures and dynamics of reconnection X line are poorly understood. In this paper, we report Cluster multispacecraft observations of a three-dimensional magnetic reconnection X line with a weak guide field ( 25% of the upstream magnetic field) in the Earth's magnetotail. We find that the X line not only retreated tailward but also expanded across the tail following the electron flow direction with a maximum average speed of (0.04-0.15) VA,up, where VA,up is the upstream Alfvén speed, or (0.14-0.57) Vde, where Vde is the electron flow speed in the out-of-plane direction. An ion diffusion region was observed by two spacecraft that were separated about 10 ion inertial lengths along the out-of-plane direction; however, these two spacecraft observed distinct magnetic structures associated with reconnection: one spacecraft observed dipolarization fronts, while the other one observed flux ropes. This indicates that reconnection proceeds in drastically different ways in different segments along the X line only a few ion inertial lengths apart.

Source of Quasi-Periodic Brightenings of Solar Coronal Bright Points: Waves or Repeated Reconnections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Tanmoy; Tian, Hui; Banerjee, Dipankar

2016-07-01

Coronal bright points (BPs) are small-scale luminous features seen in the solar corona. Quasi-periodic brightenings are frequently observed in the BPs and are generally linked with underlying magnetic flux changes. We study the dynamics of a BP seen in the coronal hole using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly images, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetogram on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and spectroscopic data from the newly launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The detailed analysis shows that the BP evolves throughout our observing period along with changes in underlying photospheric magnetic flux and shows periodic brightenings in different EUV and far-UV images. With the highest possible spectral and spatial resolution of IRIS, we attempted to identify the sources of these oscillations. IRIS sit-and-stare observation provided a unique opportunity to study the time evolution of one footpoint of the BP as the slit position crossed it. We noticed enhanced line profile asymmetry, enhanced line width, intensity enhancements, and large deviation from the average Doppler shift in the line profiles at specific instances, which indicate the presence of sudden flows along the line-of-sight direction. We propose that transition region explosive events originating from small-scale reconnections and the reconnection outflows are affecting the line profiles. The correlation between all these parameters is consistent with the repetitive reconnection scenario and could explain the quasi-periodic nature of the brightening.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thurgood, Jonathan O.; McLaughlin, James A.; Pontin, David I., E-mail: jonathan.thurgood@northumbria.ac.uk

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 periodicmore » 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.« less

Cold ion demagnetization near the X-line of magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toledo Redondo, S.; Andre, M.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Vaivads, A.; Walsh, A. P.; Li, W.; Graham, D. B.; Lavraud, B.; Masson, A.; Aunai, N.; Divin, A. V.; Dargent, J.; Fuselier, S. A.; Gershman, D. J.; Dorelli, J.; Giles, B. L.; Avanov, L. A.; Pollock, C. J.; Saito, Y.; Moore, T. E.; Coffey, V. N.; Chandler, M. O.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Torbert, R. B.; Russell, C. T.

2016-12-01

We report observatios of the Ion Diffusion Region (IDR) of magnetic reconnection by MMS at the dayside magnetopause. Cold plasma (tens of eV) of ionospheric origin was present inside the IDR the 22 October 2015 and its behavior differed from the hot plasma (several keV). In particular, cold ions remained magnetized and followed E x B inside most of the IDR. We identify a sub-region and name it the cold IDR of the size of the cold ion gyroradius ( 15 km) where cold ions are demagnetized and accelerated parallel to E. Using multi-spacecraft measurements we identify a sharp cold ion density gradient separating the two regions.

Reconnection Processes in the Chromosphere and Corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shibata, Kazunari

2012-07-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental key physical process in magnetized plasmas. Recent space solar observations revealed that magnetic reconnection is ubiquitous in the solar chromospheres and corona. Especially recent Hinode observations has found various types of tiny chromospheric jets, such as chromospheric anemone jets (Shibata et al. 2007), penumbral microjets (Katsukawa et al. 2007), light bridge jets from sunspot umbra (Shimizu et al. 2009), etc. It was also found that the corona is full of tiny X-ray jets (Cirtain et al. 2007). Often they are seen as helical spinning jets (Shimojo et al. 2007, Patsourakos et al. 2008, Pariat et al. 2009, Filippov et al. 2009, Kamio et al. 2010) with Alfvenic waves (Nishizuka et al. 2008, Liu et al. 2009) and there are increasing evidence of magnetic reconnection in these tiny jets. We can now say that as spatial resolution of observations become better and better, smaller and smaller flares and jets have been discovered, which implies that the magnetized solar atmosphere consist of fractal structure and dynamics, i.e., fractal reconnection. Bursty radio and hard X-ray emissions from flares also suggest the fractal reconnection and associated particle acceleration. Since magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) does not contain any characteristic length and time scale, it is natural that MHD structure, dynamics, and reconnection, tend to become fractal in ideal MHD plasmas with large magnetic Reynolds number such as in the solar atmosphere. We would discuss recent observations and theories related to fractal reconnection in the chromospheres and corona, and discuss possible implication to chromospheric and coronal heating.

Collective phase description of oscillatory convection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawamura, Yoji; Nakao, Hiroya

2013-12-01

We formulate a theory for the collective phase description of oscillatory convection in Hele-Shaw cells. It enables us to describe the dynamics of the oscillatory convection by a single degree of freedom which we call the collective phase. The theory can be considered as a phase reduction method for limit-cycle solutions in infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, namely, stable time-periodic solutions to partial differential equations, representing the oscillatory convection. We derive the phase sensitivity function, which quantifies the phase response of the oscillatory convection to weak perturbations applied at each spatial point, and analyze the phase synchronization between two weakly coupled Hele-Shaw cells exhibiting oscillatory convection on the basis of the derived phase equations.

Velocity Space Evolution of Dayside Reconnection Outflow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broll, J. M.; Fuselier, S. A.; Trattner, K. J.

2015-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a universal phenomenon occurring when energy stored in a complicated magnetic field topology is released into the surrounding plasma as the field simplifies its configuration. At Earth's dayside magnetopause, reconnection is responsible for mass and energy input from the solar wind into the magnetosphere. We describe the evolution of the velocity-space evolution of plasma outflow from a dayside magnetic reconnection region. We analyze Cluster magnetopause crossings between 1 and 10 Earth radii from the reconnection X-line predicted by the maximum magnetic shear model. The effects of nonadiabatic processes, such as deformation of the profile due to finite-gyroradius-induced pitch-angle scattering and wave-particle interactions, are described. We compare observations and simulation results to describe the outflow evolution and infer the field-aligned distance between an observation and the reconnection site producing it.

Detection of different reconnection regions from kinetic simulations during island coalescence after asymmetric magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cazzola, Emanuele; Berchem, Jean; Innocenti, Maria Elena; Goldman, Martin V.; Newman, David L.; Zhou, Meng; Lapenta, Giovanni

2017-04-01

In this work we present new results from fully kinetic simulations of the magnetic islands coalescence dynamics after asymmetric magnetic reconnection. In a previous work, we have shown that three different reconnection regions can be identified when a new frame of reference based on the local magnetic field is set. These regions were marked as X, D and M whether they describe, respectively, a traditional X-line event, an event between two diverging islands or an event between two merging islands [1, 2]. The results shown here extend the previous analysis to a more realistic regime, including a remarkable temperature transition across the current sheet. In particular, regions X, D, and M are also observed within this new regime, featuring yet new interesting characteristics. Special attention is given to the particles agyrotropic and anisotropic behavior as fundamental signatures for the detection of these regions with satellites. These results are timely for the ongoing MMS mission, whose data from the magnetopause crossing are presently being analyzed. In fact, data revealed that an intense flux-ropes activity takes place in this region of the magnetosphere, which makes the presence of this set of reconnection regions highly expected. [1] Cazzola, E., et al. "On the electron dynamics during island coalescence in asymmetric magnetic reconnection." Physics of Plasmas (1994-present) 22.9 (2015): 092901. [2] Cazzola, E., et al. "On the electron agyrotropy during rapid asymmetric magnetic island coalescence in presence of a guide field." Geophysical Research Letters 43.15 (2016): 7840-7849.

RECONNECTION PROPERTIES OF LARGE-SCALE CURRENT SHEETS DURING CORONAL MASS EJECTION ERUPTIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lynch, B. J.; Kazachenko, M. D.; Edmondson, J. K.

2016-07-20

We present a detailed analysis of the properties of magnetic reconnection at large-scale current sheets (CSs) in a high cadence version of the Lynch and Edmondson 2.5D MHD simulation of sympathetic magnetic breakout eruptions from a pseudostreamer source region. We examine the resistive tearing and break-up of the three main CSs into chains of X- and O-type null points and follow the dynamics of magnetic island growth, their merging, transit, and ejection with the reconnection exhaust. For each CS, we quantify the evolution of the length-to-width aspect ratio (up to ∼100:1), Lundquist number (∼10{sup 3}), and reconnection rate (inflow-to-outflow ratiosmore » reaching ∼0.40). We examine the statistical and spectral properties of the fluctuations in the CSs resulting from the plasmoid instability, including the distribution of magnetic island area, mass, and flux content. We show that the temporal evolution of the spectral index of the reconnection-generated magnetic energy density fluctuations appear to reflect global properties of the CS evolution. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent, high-resolution reconnection-in-a-box simulations even though our CSs’ formation, growth, and dynamics are intrinsically coupled to the global evolution of sequential sympathetic coronal mass ejection eruptions.« less

New Expression for Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection Rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alexander J.

2014-01-01

For 2D, symmetric, anti-parallel, collisionless magnetic reconnection, a new expression for the reconnection rate in the electron diffusion region is introduced. It is shown that this expression can be derived in just a few simple steps from a physically intuitive starting point; the derivation is given in its entirety and the validity of each step is confirmed. The predictions of this expression are compared to the results of several long-duration, open-boundary PIC reconnection simulations to demonstrate excellent agreement.

Collective phase description of oscillatory convection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kawamura, Yoji, E-mail: ykawamura@jamstec.go.jp; Nakao, Hiroya

We formulate a theory for the collective phase description of oscillatory convection in Hele-Shaw cells. It enables us to describe the dynamics of the oscillatory convection by a single degree of freedom which we call the collective phase. The theory can be considered as a phase reduction method for limit-cycle solutions in infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, namely, stable time-periodic solutions to partial differential equations, representing the oscillatory convection. We derive the phase sensitivity function, which quantifies the phase response of the oscillatory convection to weak perturbations applied at each spatial point, and analyze the phase synchronization between two weakly coupled Hele-Shawmore » cells exhibiting oscillatory convection on the basis of the derived phase equations.« less

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

PubMed

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Scaling Study of Reconnection Heating in Torus Plasma Merging Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ono, Yasushi; Akimitsu, Moe; Sawada, Asuka; Cao, Qinghong; Koike, Hideya; Hatano, Hironori; Kaneda, Taishi; Tanabe, Hiroshi

2017-10-01

We have been investigating toroidal plasma merging and reconnection for high-power heating of spherical tokamak (ST) and field-reversed configuration (FRC), using TS-3 (ST, FRC: R =0.2m, 1985-), TS-4 (ST, FRC: R =0.5m, 2000-), UTST (ST: R =0.45m, 2008-) and MAST (ST: R =0.9m, 2000-) devices. The series of merging experiments made clear the promising scaling and characteristics of reconnection heating: (i) its ion heating energy that scales with square of the reconnecting magnetic field Brec, (ii) its energy loss lower than 10%, (iii) its ion heating energy (in the downstream) 10 time larger than its electron heating energy (at around X-point) and (iv) low dependence of ion heating on the guide (toroidal) field Bg. The Brec2-scalingwas obtained when the current sheet was compressed to the order of ion gyrodadius. When the sheet was insufficiently compressed, the measured ion temperature was lower than the scaling prediction. Based on this scaling, we realized significant ion heating up to 1.2keV in MAST after 2D elucidation of ion heating up to 250eV in TS-3 [3,4]. This promising scaling leads us to new high Brec reconnection heating experiments for future direct access to burning plasma: TS-U (2017-) in Univ. Tokyo and ST-40 in Tokamak Energy Inc. (2017-). This presentation reviews major progresses in those toroidal plasma merging experiments for physics and fusion applications of magnetic reconnection.

Non-ideal energy conversion during asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a moderate guide field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genestreti, K. J.; Varsani, A.; Hesse, M.; Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J.; Cassak, P.; Ergun, R.; Phan, T.; Nakamura, R.; Giles, B. L.; Schwartz, S. J.; Wang, S.; Toledo Redondo, S.; Hwang, K. J.; Laignel, B.; Escoubet, C. P.; Fear, R. C.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.

2017-12-01

Using data from NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, we investigate the local (in time and space) rate of work done by the non-ideal electric field on the plasma during a crossing through the magnetopause reconnection region. The four MMS spacecraft were in a tight tetrahedral formation ( 7 km separation) and observed several ion and electron-scale signatures of asymmetric reconnection, one of which was J.E' (=J.(E+vexB))>0. The data indicate that the magnetic field was expending energy both (1) near the magnetosphere-side separator, where the current was carried by counter-streaming electrons with crescent-shaped velocity distribution functions, and (2) near the magnetic X-point, where the current was carried by accelerated inflowing magnetosheath electrons moving against the guide field. Near the X-point, the current-aligned portion of the non-ideal electric field is largely a result of electron pressure divergence. We further investigate the pressure tensor divergence, separating the components from in and out-of-the-plane gradients as well as gyrotropic and non-gyrotropic pressures.

Dynamic balance in turbulent reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokoi, N.; Higashimori, K.; Hoshino, M.

2012-12-01

Dynamic balance between the enhancement and suppression of transports due to turbulence in magnetic reconnection is discussed analytically and numerically by considering the interaction of the large-scale field structures with the small-scale turbulence in a consistent manner. Turbulence is expected to play an important role in bridging small and large scales related to magnetic reconnection. The configurations of the mean-field structure are determined by turbulence through the effective transport. At the same time, statistical properties of turbulence are determined by the mean-field structure through the production mechanisms of turbulence. This suggests that turbulence and mean fields should be considered simultaneously in a self-consistent manner. Following the theoretical prediction on the interaction between the mean-fields and turbulence in magnetic reconnection presented by Yokoi and Hoshino (2011), a self-consistent model for the turbulent reconnection is constructed. In the model, the mean-field equations for compressible magnetohydrodynamics are treated with the turbulence effects incorporated through the turbulence correlation such as the Reynolds stress and turbulent electromotive force. Transport coefficients appearing in the expression for these correlations are not adjustable parameters but are determined through the transport equations of the turbulent statistical quantities such as the turbulent MHD energy, the turbulent cross helicity. One of the prominent features of this reconnection model lies in the point that turbulence is not implemented as a prescribed one, but the generation and sustainment of turbulence through the mean-field inhomogeneities are treated. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by the numerical simulation of the model equations. These predictions include the quadrupole cross helicity distribution around the reconnection region, enhancement of reconnection rate due to turbulence, localization of the reconnection region

Development of High-Field ST Merging Experiment: TS-U for High Power Reconnection Heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ono, Y.; Koike, H.; Tanabe, H.; Himeno, S.; Ishida, S.; Kimura, K.; Kawanami, M.; Narita, M.; Takahata, Y.; Yokoyama, T.; Inomoto, M.; Cheng, C. Z.

2016-10-01

We are developing high-magnetic field ST merging/ reconnection experiment TS-U with Brec = 0.3-0.5T, based on our scaling law of reconnection heating energy proportional to square of the reconnecting (poloidal) magnetic field Brec. This scaling law indicates that the high-Brec ST merging will heat ions to the burning plasma regime without using any additional heating facility. Its mechanism is that the reconnection outflow accelerates mainly ions up to the poloidal Alfven speed like the Sweet-Parker model. The shock-like density pileups thermalize the accelerated ions in the down-streams in agreement with recent solar satellite observations and PIC simulation results. We already documented significant ion heating of spheromak and ST mergings up to 0.25keV in TS-3 and 1.2keV in MAST, leading us to the high-Brec merging experiment TS-U. It is noted that high-resolution (>500 channel) 2D measurements of ion and electron temperatures is being developed for the purpose of solving all acceleration and heating effects of magnetic reconnection, such as the huge outflow heating of ions in the downstream and electron heating localized at the X-point.

Particle acceleration in explosive relativistic reconnection events and Crab Nebula gamma-ray flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyutikov, Maxim; Komissarov, Serguei; Sironi, Lorenzo

2018-04-01

We develop a model of gamma-ray flares of the Crab Nebula resulting from the magnetic reconnection events in a highly magnetised relativistic plasma. We first discuss physical parameters of the Crab Nebula and review the theory of pulsar winds and termination shocks. We also review the principle points of particle acceleration in explosive reconnection events [Lyutikov et al., J. Plasma Phys., vol. 83(6), p. 635830601 (2017a); J. Plasma Phys., vol. 83(6), p. 635830602 (2017b)]. It is required that particles producing flares are accelerated in highly magnetised regions of the nebula. Flares originate from the poleward regions at the base of the Crab's polar outflow, where both the magnetisation and the magnetic field strength are sufficiently high. The post-termination shock flow develops macroscopic (not related to the plasma properties on the skin-depth scale) kink-type instabilities. The resulting large-scale magnetic stresses drive explosive reconnection events on the light-crossing time of the reconnection region. Flares are produced at the initial stage of the current sheet development, during the X-point collapse. The model has all the ingredients needed for Crab flares: natural formation of highly magnetised regions, explosive dynamics on the light travel time, development of high electric fields on macroscopic scales and acceleration of particles to energies well exceeding the average magnetic energy per particle.

Interchange Slip-Running Reconnection and Sweeping SEP-Beams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Fire Hose Instability in the Multiple Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

A first-principles analytical theory for 2D magnetic reconnection in electron and Hall MHD.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zocco, A.; Simakov, A. N.; Chacon, L.

2007-11-01

While the relevance of two-fluid effects in fast magnetic reconnection is well-known,ootnotetextJ. Birn et al., J. Geophys. Res., 106 (A3), pp. 3715--3719 (2001) a first-principles theory --akin to Sweet and Parker's in resistive MHD-- has been elusive. Here, we present such a first principles steady-state theory for electron MHD,ootnotetextL. Chac'on, A. N. Simakov, A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett., submitted and its extension to Hall.ootnotetextA. N. Simakov, L. Chac'on, in preparation The theory discretizes the extended MHD equations at the reconnection site, leading to a set of time-dependent ODEs. Their steady-state analysis provides predictions for the scaling of relevant quantities with the dissipation coefficients (e.g, resistivity and hyper-resistivity) and other relevant parameters. In particular, we will show that EMHD admits both elongated and open-X point configurations of the reconnection region, and that the reconnection rate Ez can be shown not to scale explicitly with the dissipation parameters. This analytic result confirms earlier computational work on the possibility of fast (dissipation-independent) magnetic reconnection in EMHD. We have extended the EMHD results to Hall MHD, and have found a general scaling law for the reconnection rate (and associated length scales) that bridges the gap between resistive and EMHD.

Fine scale structure in the current sheet and electrostatic fields during driven magnetic reconnection on the VTF experiment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, William

2005-10-01

We have conducted a series of experiments in the VTF reconnection experiment[1] to measure with high resolution the current channel and electric structures that form in response to driven reconnection. Preliminary measurements have revealed that the current sheet is not symmetric across the X-line, contradicting an assumption fundamental to nearly every reconnection theory. Importantly, effects related to this asymmetry can account for momentum balance for the electrons at the X-line (i.e. fulfillment of the generalized Ohm's law) via convective inertia (m n v.∇v||). Measurements of strong in-plane electric field structures (E˜ 1 kV/m) near the X-point reveal a mechanism to efficiently heat ions, as has been recently observed by laser induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements of the ion distribution function[2].This work was supported by a DoE Fusion Energy Sciences Fellowship.[1] J. Egedal, et. al. (2001), Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71, 3351 [2] A. Stark, W. Fox, J.Egedal, O. Grulke, T. Klinger, (2005), submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.

A quantitative, comprehensive analytical model for ``fast'' magnetic reconnection in Hall MHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simakov, Andrei N.

2008-11-01

Magnetic reconnection in nature usually happens on fast (e.g. dissipation independent) time scales. While such scales have been observed computationally [1], a fundamental analytical model capable of explaining them has been lacking. Here, we propose such a quantitative model for 2D Hall MHD reconnection without a guide field. The model recovers the Sweet-Parker and the electron MHD [2] results in the appropriate limits of the ion inertial length, di, and is valid everywhere in between [3]. The model predicts the dissipation region aspect ratio and the reconnection rate Ez in terms of dissipation and inertial parameters, and has been found to be in excellent agreement with non-linear simulations. It confirms a number of long-standing empirical results and resolves several controversies. In particular, we find that both open X-point and elongated dissipation regions allow ``fast'' reconnection and that Ez depends on di. Moreover, when applied to electron-positron plasmas, the model demonstrates that fast dispersive waves are not instrumental for ``fast'' reconnection [4]. [1] J. Birn et al., J. Geophys. Res. 106, 3715 (2001). [2] L. Chac'on, A. N. Simakov, and A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 235001 (2007). [3] A. N. Simakov and L. Chac'on, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. [4] L. Chac'on, A. N. Simakov, V. Lukin, and A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 025003 (2008).

Locating dayside magnetopause reconnection with exhaust ion distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broll, J. M.; Fuselier, S. A.; Trattner, K. J.

2017-05-01

Magnetic reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause is essential to magnetospheric dynamics. Determining where reconnection takes place is important to understanding the processes involved, and many questions about reconnection location remain unanswered. We present a method for locating the magnetic reconnection X line at Earth's dayside magnetopause under southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions using only ion velocity distribution measurements. Particle-in-cell simulations based on Cluster magnetopause crossings produce ion velocity distributions that we propagate through a model magnetosphere, allowing us to calculate the field-aligned distance between an exhaust observation and its associated reconnection line. We demonstrate this procedure for two events and compare our results with those of the Maximum Magnetic Shear Model; we find good agreement with its results and show that when our method is applicable, it produces more precise locations than the Maximum Shear Model.

Highly localized, fully 3-D disruptions of the reconnection layer in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorfman, Seth

2011-10-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasmas which converts magnetic energy to plasma kinetic and thermal energy through topological changes. One of the important goals in magnetic reconnection research is to explain the fast reconnection rate observed in real three-dimensional laboratory and astrophysical systems. In the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX), an enhancement of the reconnection electric field is often associated with a wholesale disruption of the reconnection current layer, an intrinsically 3-D phenomena observed in the presence of out-of-plane gradients of local quantities such as reconnection layer current and density. During a disruption, the out-of-plane current decreases as current carrying electrons are redirected in the outflow direction. Observed ``O-point'' signatures and density striations suggest that this redirection often occurs though the ejection of 3-D flux rope structures. Large fluctuations in the lower hybrid frequency range are also routinely seen, but the ratio of the phase speed to the diamagnetic drift speed does not match what is predicted by 3-D kinetic simulations without disruptions. A 2-D Hall MHD analysis of the out-of-plane gradients is consistent with the buildup of magnetic energy leading to the event, but variation in all three spacial dimensions is required in order to obtain results in agreement with the disruptive behavior observed. Analysis and comparison with 3-D simulations is ongoing to determine if the fluctuations and/or disruptive behavior are responsible for the corresponding discrepancies in the layer structure between the experiments and 2-D kinetic simulations,,. Supported by DOE, NASA, and NSF.

Evidence of 3-D Reconnection at Null Point from the Observations of Circular Flares and Homologous Jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haimin; Liu, C.

2012-05-01

In recent studies by Pariat, Antiochos and DeVore (2009, 2010), fan-separatrix topology and magnetic reconnection at the null-point were simulated and found to produce homologous jets. This motivates us to search for axisymmetric magnetic structure and associated flaring/jetting activity. Using high-resolution ( 0.15" per pixel) and high-cadence ( 15 s) H-alpha center/offband observations obtained from the recently digitized films of Big Bear Solar Observatory, we were able to identify five large circular flares with associated surges. All the events exhibit a central parasite magnetic field surrounded by opposite polarity, forming a circular polarity inversion line (PIL). Consequently, a compact flare kernel at the center is surrounded by a circular ribbon, and together with the upward ejecting dark surge, these seem to depict a dome-like magnetic structure. Very interestingly, (1) the circular ribbon brightens sequentially rather than simultaneously, (2) the central compact flare kernel shows obvious motion, and (3) a remote elongated, co-temporal flare ribbon at a region with the same polarity as the central parasite site is seen in the series of four homologous events on 1991 March 17 and 18. The remote ribbon is 120" away from the jet location. Moreover, magnetic reconnection across the circular PIL is evident from the magnetic flux cancellation. These rarely observed homologous surges with circular as well as central and remote flare ribbons provide valuable evidence concerning the dynamics of magnetic reconnection in a null-point topology. This study is dedicated to Professor Hal Zirin, the founder of Big Bear Solar Observatory, who passed away on January 3, 2012.

Plasma Waves and Structures Associated with Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ergun, R.; Wilder, F. D.; Ahmadi, N.; Goodrich, K.; Holmes, J.; Newman, D. L.; Burch, J.; Torbert, R. B.; Le Contel, O.; Giles, B. L.; Strangeway, R. J.; Lindqvist, P. A.

2017-12-01

Space observations of magnetic reconnection indicate a variety of plasma wave modes and structures in the vicinity of the electron diffusion region including electromagnetic whistler waves, quasi-electrostatic whistler waves, electron phase-space holes, double layers, electron acoustic waves, lower hybrid waves, upper hybrid waves, and electromagnetic drift waves. These waves and plasma structures are seen in magnetotail reconnection and subsolar reconnection. The MMS mission has the unique ability to unequivocally identify the electron diffusion region and distinguish waves in the EDR from those in the extended separatrix. Such a distinction is critical since some of the observed waves may be involved the reconnection process while others may result from subsequent or associated events and do not directly influence the reconnection process. For example, some of the largest amplitude (> 100 mV/m) electrostatic waves have been identified as electron acoustic waves and upper hybrid waves. These waves are likely generated as a result of reconnection and do not appear to strongly influence the reconnection process. On the other hand, large-amplitude electrostatic whistler waves have been observed very near the X-line, are seen in simulations, and may be participating in reconnection physics. Electromagnetic drift waves almost always appear in cases of asymmetric reconnection and may lead to a more turbulent process. We summarize wave observations by MMS and discuss the relative their possible role in magnetic reconnection physics, concentrating on recent magnetotail observations.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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→<0 are observed, as is expected for reconnection, the energy accumulation is driven by the overcompensation for J→·E→ by -∇·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.

3D Solar Null Point Reconnection MHD Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumann, G.; Galsgaard, K.; Nordlund, Å.

2013-06-01

Numerical MHD simulations of 3D reconnection events in the solar corona have improved enormously over the last few years, not only in resolution, but also in their complexity, enabling more and more realistic modeling. Various ways to obtain the initial magnetic field, different forms of solar atmospheric models as well as diverse driving speeds and patterns have been employed. This study considers differences between simulations with stratified and non-stratified solar atmospheres, addresses the influence of the driving speed on the plasma flow and energetics, and provides quantitative formulas for mapping electric fields and dissipation levels obtained in numerical simulations to the corresponding solar quantities. The simulations start out from a potential magnetic field containing a null-point, obtained from a Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) magnetogram magnetogram extrapolation approximately 8 hours before a C-class flare was observed. The magnetic field is stressed with a boundary motion pattern similar to - although simpler than - horizontal motions observed by SOHO during the period preceding the flare. The general behavior is nearly independent of the driving speed, and is also very similar in stratified and non-stratified models, provided only that the boundary motions are slow enough. The boundary motions cause a build-up of current sheets, mainly in the fan-plane of the magnetic null-point, but do not result in a flare-like energy release. The additional free energy required for the flare could have been partly present in non-potential form at the initial state, with subsequent additions from magnetic flux emergence or from components of the boundary motion that were not represented by the idealized driving pattern.

Cold ion demagnetization near the X-line of magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toledo-Redondo, Sergio; André, Mats; Khotyaintsev, Yuri V.; Vaivads, Andris; Walsh, Andrew; Li, Wenya; Graham, Daniel B.; Lavraud, Benoit; Masson, Arnaud; Aunai, Nicolas; Divin, Andrey; Dargent, Jeremy; Fuselier, Stephen; Gershman, Daniel J.; Dorelli, John; Giles, Barbara; Avanov, Levon; Pollock, Craig; Saito, Yoshifumi; Moore, Thomas E.; Coffey, Victoria; Chandler, Michael O.; Lindqvist, Per-Arne; Torbert, Roy; Russell, Christopher T.

2016-07-01

Although the effects of magnetic reconnection in magnetospheres can be observed at planetary scales, reconnection is initiated at electron scales in a plasma. Surrounding the electron diffusion region, there is an Ion-Decoupling Region (IDR) of the size of the ion length scales (inertial length and gyroradius). Reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause often includes cold magnetospheric (few tens of eV), hot magnetospheric (10 keV), and magnetosheath (1 keV) ions, with different gyroradius length scales. We report observations of a subregion inside the IDR of the size of the cold ion population gyroradius (˜15 km) where the cold ions are demagnetized and accelerated parallel to the Hall electric field. Outside the subregion, cold ions follow the E × B motion together with electrons, while hot ions are demagnetized. We observe a sharp cold ion density gradient separating the two regions, which we identify as the cold and hot IDRs.

Quasi-periodic Oscillations in Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections Associated with Magnetic Reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Takuya; Shibata, Kazunari; Qiu, Jiong, E-mail: takahasi@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp

We propose a mechanism for quasi-periodic oscillations of both coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and flare loops as related to magnetic reconnection in eruptive solar flares. We perform two-dimensional numerical MHD simulations of magnetic flux rope eruption, with three different values of the global Lundquist number. In the low Lundquist number run, no oscillatory behavior is found. In the moderate Lundquist number run, on the other hand, quasi-periodic oscillations are excited both at the bottom of the flux rope and at the flare loop top. In the high Lundquist number run, quasi-periodic oscillations are also excited; in the meanwhile, the dynamicsmore » become turbulent owing to the formation of multiple plasmoids in the reconnection current sheet. In high and moderate Lundquist number runs, thin reconnection jets collide with the flux rope bottom or flare loop top and dig them deeply. Steep oblique shocks are formed as termination shocks where reconnection jets are bent (rather than decelerated) in the horizontal direction, resulting in supersonic backflows. The structure becomes unstable, and quasi-periodic oscillations of supersonic backflows appear at locally confined high-beta regions at both the flux rope bottom and flare loop top. We compare the observational characteristics of quasi-periodic oscillations in erupting flux ropes, post-CME current sheets, flare ribbons, and light curves with corresponding dynamical structures found in our simulation.« less

Quasi-periodic Oscillations in Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections Associated with Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Takuya; Qiu, Jiong; Shibata, Kazunari

2017-10-01

We propose a mechanism for quasi-periodic oscillations of both coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and flare loops as related to magnetic reconnection in eruptive solar flares. We perform two-dimensional numerical MHD simulations of magnetic flux rope eruption, with three different values of the global Lundquist number. In the low Lundquist number run, no oscillatory behavior is found. In the moderate Lundquist number run, on the other hand, quasi-periodic oscillations are excited both at the bottom of the flux rope and at the flare loop top. In the high Lundquist number run, quasi-periodic oscillations are also excited; in the meanwhile, the dynamics become turbulent owing to the formation of multiple plasmoids in the reconnection current sheet. In high and moderate Lundquist number runs, thin reconnection jets collide with the flux rope bottom or flare loop top and dig them deeply. Steep oblique shocks are formed as termination shocks where reconnection jets are bent (rather than decelerated) in the horizontal direction, resulting in supersonic backflows. The structure becomes unstable, and quasi-periodic oscillations of supersonic backflows appear at locally confined high-beta regions at both the flux rope bottom and flare loop top. We compare the observational characteristics of quasi-periodic oscillations in erupting flux ropes, post-CME current sheets, flare ribbons, and light curves with corresponding dynamical structures found in our simulation.

Driving reconnection in sheared magnetic configurations with forced fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Driving Magnetic Field and Reconnection in CME/Flare Eruptions and Coronal Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Ronald L.

2010-01-01

Signatures of reconnection in major CME (coronal mass ejection)/flare eruptions and in coronal X-ray jets are illustrated and interpreted. The signatures are magnetic field lines and their feet that brighten in flare emission. CME/flare eruptions are magnetic explosions in which: 1. The field that erupts is initially a closed arcade. 2. At eruption onset, most of the free magnetic energy to be released is not stored in field bracketing a current sheet, but in sheared field in the core of the arcade. 3. The sheared core field erupts by a process that from its start or soon after involves fast "tether-cutting" reconnection at an initially small current sheet low in the sheared core field. If the arcade has oppositely-directed field over it, the eruption process from its start or soon after also involves fast "breakout" reconnection at an initially small current sheet between the arcade and the overarching field. These aspects are shown by the small area of the bright field lines and foot-point flare ribbons in the onset of the eruption. 4. At either small current sheet, the fast reconnection progressively unleashes the erupting core field to erupt with progressively greater force. In turn, the erupting core field drives the current sheet to become progressively larger and to undergo progressively greater fast reconnection in the explosive phase of the eruption, and the flare arcade and ribbons grow to become comparable to the pre-eruption arcade in lateral extent. In coronal X-ray jets: 1. The magnetic energy released in the jet is built up by the emergence of a magnetic arcade into surrounding unipolar "open" field. 2. A simple jet is produced when a burst of reconnection occurs at the current sheet between the arcade and the open field. This produces a bright reconnection jet and a bright reconnection arcade that are both much smaller in diameter that the driving arcade. 3. A more complex jet is produced when the arcade has a sheared core field and undergoes an

Neuromuscular control of the point to point and oscillatory movements of a sagittal arm with the actor-critic reinforcement learning method.

PubMed

Golkhou, Vahid; Parnianpour, Mohamad; Lucas, Caro

2005-04-01

In this study, we have used a single link system with a pair of muscles that are excited with alpha and gamma signals to achieve both point to point and oscillatory movements with variable amplitude and frequency.The system is highly nonlinear in all its physical and physiological attributes. The major physiological characteristics of this system are simultaneous activation of a pair of nonlinear muscle-like-actuators for control purposes, existence of nonlinear spindle-like sensors and Golgi tendon organ-like sensor, actions of gravity and external loading. Transmission delays are included in the afferent and efferent neural paths to account for a more accurate representation of the reflex loops.A reinforcement learning method with an actor-critic (AC) architecture instead of middle and low level of central nervous system (CNS), is used to track a desired trajectory. The actor in this structure is a two layer feedforward neural network and the critic is a model of the cerebellum. The critic is trained by state-action-reward-state-action (SARSA) method. The critic will train the actor by supervisory learning based on the prior experiences. Simulation studies of oscillatory movements based on the proposed algorithm demonstrate excellent tracking capability and after 280 epochs the RMS error for position and velocity profiles were 0.02, 0.04 rad and rad/s, respectively.

Cold Ionospheric Ions in the Magnetic Reconnection Outflow Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W. Y.; André, M.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Vaivads, A.; Fuselier, S. A.; Graham, D. B.; Toledo-Redondo, S.; Lavraud, B.; Turner, D. L.; Norgren, C.; Tang, B. B.; Wang, C.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Young, D. T.; Chandler, M.; Giles, B.; Pollock, C.; Ergun, R.; Russell, C. T.; Torbert, R.; Moore, T.; Burch, J.

2017-10-01

Magnetosheath plasma usually determines properties of asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the subsolar region of Earth's magnetopause. However, cold plasma that originated from the ionosphere can also reach the magnetopause and modify the kinetic physics of asymmetric reconnection. We present a magnetopause crossing with high-density (10-60 cm-3) cold ions and ongoing reconnection from the observation of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The magnetopause crossing is estimated to be 300 ion inertial lengths south of the X line. Two distinct ion populations are observed on the magnetosheath edge of the ion jet. One population with high parallel velocities (200-300 km/s) is identified to be cold ion beams, and the other population is the magnetosheath ions. In the deHoffman-Teller frame, the field-aligned magnetosheath ions are Alfvénic and move toward the jet region, while the field-aligned cold ion beams move toward the magnetosheath boundary layer, with much lower speeds. These cold ion beams are suggested to be from the cold ions entering the jet close to the X line. This is the first observation of the cold ionospheric ions in the reconnection outflow region, including the reconnection jet and the magnetosheath boundary layer.

Investigations of plasmoid reconnection in the presence of strong guide fields in CHI plasma start-up on HIST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagata, Masayoshi; Fujita, Akihiro; Ibragi, Youhei; Matsui, Takahiro; Kikuchi, Yusuke; Fukumoto, Naoyuki; Kanki, Takashi

2017-10-01

Plasmoid magnetic reconnections have been examined in the Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI) experiments on HIST. Magnetic reconnections are required for the formation of closed flux surfaces in the transient-CHI start-up plasmas. So far, we have observed formation of plasmoids inside an elongated current layer to create the multiple X-points during the CHI process. According to the MHD simulation by F. Ebrahimi and R. Raman, the reconnection rate based on the plasmoid instability is faster than that by Sweet-Parker (S-P) model. To estimate the Lundquist number S number, we have measured spatial profiles of magnetic field strength, electron density and temperature in the current layer. In this meeting, we will present the effect of the guide (toroidal) magnetic field and mass (H, D and He) on the current layer thickness and reconnection rates of plasmoids. It is found that behavior of plasmoids is synchronized with Ion Doppler temperature, leading to ion heating.

Scaling of Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection Rate with Guide Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, H.; Cassak, P.; Swisdak, M.; Hartke, T.; Oieroset, M.; Phan, T.; Liu, Y. H.; Hesse, M.; Shay, M.; Beidler, M.

2017-12-01

An out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field in asymmetric magnetic reconnection with an in-plane gas pressure gradient can lead to diamagnetic effects in the plane of reconnection. Simulations showed that such effects can make the X-line convect in the outflow direction and reduce the reconnection rate. They can even suppress the reconnection completely under certain upstream conditions. The complete suppression of reconnection due to these effects has been observed in the solar wind and Earth's magnetopause, and it has also been discussed as being important in the outer heliosphere, the magnetospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury, and in magnetically confined fusion devices. Recent studies showed that diamagnetic effects set up by a density gradient are different from those set up by a temperature gradient. Although it is known that reconnection can be significantly slowed down and even suppressed by diamagnetic effects, there is neither a comprehensive understanding of the impact of the guide field and the diamagnetic effects on asymmetric reconnection nor quantitative scaling prediction for the reconnection rate as a function of arbitrary upstream conditions including guide fields. The purpose of this work is a first step towards these goals. We investigate the scaling of the reconnection rate using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. This study will be important for asymmetric reconnections in many settings, including those in the solar wind and those at planetary magnetospheres in reference to solar wind-magnetospheric coupling at the dayside magnetopause. It will also be useful for gaining perspective and making comparisons to Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of dayside reconnection.

Investigation of Magnetic Reconnection Suppression at Saturn's Magnetopause

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawyer, R.; Fuselier, S. A.; Mukherjee, J.; Steven, P. M.; Masters, A.

2017-12-01

At Earth, one of the fundamental processes that govern the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere is magnetic reconnection. It remains to be seen how significant a role magnetic reconnection plays in the magnetospheric dynamics of the outer planets. In particular, there may be conditions that cause suppression of reconnection. For fast rotators, like Saturn, the strong co-rotation may be dominant throughout the magnetosphere, out to the magnetopause. These strong internal co-rotational flows may create a shear flow across the magnetopause that may act to suppress reconnection, especially on the dawn flank. Cassini has given us an extraordinary insight into the plasma environment around Saturn. The electron spectrometer (ELS) on the Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS) instrument provides data on the plasma density and temperatures as well as electron pitch angle distributions and their associated energies. In this study we examine magnetopause crossing events where heated electrons were observed in the magnetosheath. We use a modified empirical model for the location of the reconnection X-line to show where reconnection may be taking place at Saturn's magnetopause. From these results, we determine if any events considered fall in the predicted suppression region along the dawn flanks.

Direct evidence for kinetic effects associated with solar wind reconnection.

PubMed

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

2015-01-28

Kinetic effects resulting from the two-fluid physics play a crucial role in the fast collisionless reconnection, which is a process to explosively release massive energy stored in magnetic fields in space and astrophysical plasmas. In-situ observations in the Earth's magnetosphere provide solid consistence with theoretical models on the point that kinetic effects are required in the collisionless reconnection. However, all the observations associated with solar wind reconnection have been analyzed in the context of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) although a lot of solar wind reconnection exhausts have been reported. Because of the absence of kinetic effects and substantial heating, whether the reconnections are still ongoing when they are detected in the solar wind remains unknown. Here, by dual-spacecraft observations, we report a solar wind reconnection with clear Hall magnetic fields. Its corresponding Alfvenic electron outflow jet, derived from the decouple between ions and electrons, is identified, showing direct evidence for kinetic effects that dominate the collisionless reconnection. The turbulence associated with the exhaust is a kind of background solar wind turbulence, implying that the reconnection generated turbulence has not much developed.

Intermittent Reconnection Downflow Enhancements In A Simulated Flux Rope Eruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kliem, Bernhard; Linton, M. G.

2009-05-01

Supra-arcade downflows in X-ray and EUV flare emissions and post-eruption inflows in coronagraph data have been interpreted to be signatures of the downward reconnection outflow from a vertical (flare) current sheet. These downflows show an intermittent occurrence pattern, indicating that the reconnection is bursty in time or patchy in space, or both. We present MHD simulations of such reconnection in the realistic configuration of a vertical current sheet formed beneath and driven by an erupting flux rope. The reconnection is found to develop bursty outflows, both upward and downward, with the upward outflows generally showing the stronger variablity. While the reconnection starts early in the rise of the flux rope and its peak upward outflow velocity is closely correlated with the rope's rise velocity, the burstiness develops in a clear fashion only as the rope's height has increased from the initial position by about an order of magnitude, so that the current sheet has reached a sufficient vertical extent. The reconnection downflow shows a series of enhancements, each of them starting at a successively greater height from a newly developed magnetic X line. The plasma temporarily accelerated downward in such an enhancement soon turns into a gradual deceleration and then eventually comes to rest on top of previously accelerated plasma. These findings are consistent with the observations of intermittent downflows.

Electron and ion distribution functions in magnetopause reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Effect of a Guide Field on Local Energy Conversion During Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection: Particle-in-Cell Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassak, P. A.; Genestreti, K. J.; Burch, J. L.; Phan, T.-D.; Shay, M. A.; Swisdak, M.; Drake, J. F.; Price, L.; Eriksson, S.; Ergun, R. E.; Anderson, B. J.; Merkin, V. G.; Komar, C. M.

2017-11-01

We use theory and simulations to study how the out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field strength modifies the location where the energy conversion rate between the electric field and the plasma is appreciable during asymmetric magnetic reconnection, motivated by observations (Genestreti et al., 2017). For weak guide fields, energy conversion is maximum on the magnetospheric side of the X line, midway between the X line and electron stagnation point. As the guide field increases, the electron stagnation point gets closer to the X line, and energy conversion occurs closer to the electron stagnation point. We motivate one possible nonrigorous approach to extend the theory of the stagnation point location to include a guide field. The predictions are compared to two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with vastly different guide fields. The simulations have upstream parameters corresponding to three events observed with Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). The predictions agree reasonably well with the simulation results, capturing trends with the guide field. The theory correctly predicts that the X line and stagnation points approach each other as the guide field increases. The results are compared to MMS observations, Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) observations of each event, and a global resistive-magnetohydrodynamics simulation of the 16 October 2015 event. The PIC simulation results agree well with the global observations and simulation but differ in the strong electric fields and energy conversion rates found in MMS observations. The observational, theoretical, and numerical results suggest that the strong electric fields observed by MMS do not represent a steady global reconnection rate.

Internal and External Reconnection Series Homologous Solar Flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

Tail reconnection in the global magnetospheric context: Vlasiator first results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Direct evidence for kinetic effects associated with solar wind reconnection

PubMed Central

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

2015-01-01

Kinetic effects resulting from the two-fluid physics play a crucial role in the fast collisionless reconnection, which is a process to explosively release massive energy stored in magnetic fields in space and astrophysical plasmas. In-situ observations in the Earth's magnetosphere provide solid consistence with theoretical models on the point that kinetic effects are required in the collisionless reconnection. However, all the observations associated with solar wind reconnection have been analyzed in the context of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) although a lot of solar wind reconnection exhausts have been reported. Because of the absence of kinetic effects and substantial heating, whether the reconnections are still ongoing when they are detected in the solar wind remains unknown. Here, by dual-spacecraft observations, we report a solar wind reconnection with clear Hall magnetic fields. Its corresponding Alfvenic electron outflow jet, derived from the decouple between ions and electrons, is identified, showing direct evidence for kinetic effects that dominate the collisionless reconnection. The turbulence associated with the exhaust is a kind of background solar wind turbulence, implying that the reconnection generated turbulence has not much developed. PMID:25628139

MMS observations of large guide field symmetric reconnection between colliding reconnection jets at the center of a magnetic flux rope at the magnetopause

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Øieroset, 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.; Oka, M.; Torbert, R. B.; Burch, J. L.; Wang, S.; Chen, L. J.; Swisdak, M.; Pollock, C.; Dorelli, J. C.; Fuselier, S. A.; Lavraud, B.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Saito, Y.; Avanov, L. A.; Paterson, W.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Malakit, K.

2016-06-01

We report evidence for reconnection between colliding reconnection jets in a compressed current sheet at the center of a magnetic flux rope at Earth's magnetopause. The reconnection involved nearly symmetric inflow boundary conditions with a strong guide field of two. The thin (2.5 ion-skin depth (di) width) current sheet (at ~12 di downstream of the X line) was well resolved by MMS, which revealed large asymmetries in plasma and field structures in the exhaust. Ion perpendicular heating, electron parallel heating, and density compression occurred on one side of the exhaust, while ion parallel heating and density depression were shifted to the other side. The normal electric field and double out-of-plane (bifurcated) currents spanned almost the entire exhaust. These observations are in good agreement with a kinetic simulation for similar boundary conditions, demonstrating in new detail that the structure of large guide field symmetric reconnection is distinctly different from antiparallel reconnection.

MMS observations of large guide field symmetric reconnection between colliding reconnection jets at the center of a magnetic flux rope at the magnetopause

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oieroset, M.; Phan, T.; Haggerty, C. C.; Shay, M. A.; 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.; Dorelli, J.; Fuselier, S. A.; Lavraud, B.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Saito, Y.; Avanov, L. A.; Paterson, W. R.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Malakit, K.

2016-12-01

We report evidence for reconnection between colliding reconnection jets in a compressed current sheet at the center of a magnetic flux rope at Earth's magnetopause. The reconnection involved nearly symmetric inflow boundary conditions with a strong guide field of two. The thin (2.5 ion-skin depth (di) width) current sheet (at 12 di downstream of the X line) was well resolved by Magnetospheric Multiscale, which revealed large asymmetries in plasma and field structures in the exhaust. Ion perpendicular heating, electron parallel heating, and density compression occurred on one side of the exhaust, while ion parallel heating and density depression were shifted to the other side. The normal electric field and double out-of-plane (bifurcated) currents spanned almost the entire exhaust. These observations are in good agreement with a kinetic simulation for similar boundary conditions, demonstrating in new detail that the structure of large guide field symmetric reconnection is distinctly different from antiparallel reconnection.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.;

Excito-oscillatory dynamics as a mechanism of ventricular fibrillation.

PubMed

Gray, Richard A; Huelsing, Delilah J

2008-04-01

The instabilities associated with reentrant spiral waves are of paramount importance to the initiation and maintenance of tachyarrhythmias, especially ventricular fibrillation (VF). In addition to tissue heterogeneities, there are only a few basic purported mechanisms of spiral wave breakup, most notably restitution. We test the hypothesis that oscillatory membrane properties act to destabilize spiral waves. We recorded transmembrane potential (V(m)) from isolated rabbit myocytes using a constant current stimulation protocol. We developed a mathematical model that included both the stable excitable equilibrium point at resting V(m) (-80 mV) and the unstable oscillatory equilibrium point at elevated V(m) (-10 mV). Spiral wave dynamics were studied in 2-dimensional grids using variants of the model. All models showed restitution and reproduced the experimental values of transmembrane resistance at rest and during the action potential plateau. Stable spiral waves were observed when the model showed only 1 equilibrium point. However, spatio-temporal complexity was observed if the model showed both excitable and oscillatory equilibrium points (i.e., excito-oscillatory models). The initial wave breaks resulted from oscillatory waves expanding in all directions; after a few beats, the patterns were characterized by a combination of unstable spiral waves and target patterns consistent with the patterns observed on the heart surface during VF. In our model, this VF-like activity only occurred when the single cell period of V(m) oscillations was within a specific range. The VF-like patterns observed in our excito-oscillatory models could not be explained by the existing proposed instability mechanisms. Our results introduce the important suggestion that membrane dynamics responsible for V(m) oscillations at elevated V(m) levels can destabilize spiral waves and thus may be a novel therapeutic target for preventing VF.

Magnetotail Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrukovich, A.; Artemyev, A.; Nakamura, R.

Reconnection is the key process responsible for the magnetotail dynamics. Driven reconnection in the distant tail is not sufficient to support global magnetospheric convection and the near Earth neutral line spontaneously forms to restore the balance. Mechanisms of initiation of such near-Earth magnetotail reconnection still represent one of major unresolved issues in space physics. We review the progress in this topic during the last decade. Recent theoretical advances suggest several variants of overcoming the famous tearing stability problem. Multipoint spacecraft observations reveal detailed structure of pre-onset current sheet of and reconnection zone down to ion larmor scale, supporting the importance of unstable state development through internal magnetotail reconfiguration.

Numerical Study of the Cascading Energy Conversion of the Reconnecting Current Sheet in Solar Eruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, J.; Lin, J.; Raymond, J. C.; Shen, C.

2017-12-01

In this paper, we present a resistive magnetohydrodynamical study (2D) of the CME eruption based on the Lin & Forbes model (2000) regarding the cascading reconnection by a high-order Godunov scheme code, to better understand the physical mechanisms responsible for the internal structure of the current sheet (CS) and the high reconnection rate. The main improvements of this work include: 1) large enough spatial scale consistent with the stereo LASCO data that yields an observable current sheet 2) A realistic plasma environment (S&G, 1999) adopted rather than an isothermal atmosphere and higher resolution inside CS 3) The upper boundary condition set to be open. The simulation shows a typical acceleration below 2 R⊙, then its speed slightly fluctuated, and the flux rope velocity is estimated to be 100 km/s-250 km/s for a slow CME. The reconnection rates are around 0.02 estimated from inflow and outflow velocities. The dynamic features show a great consistence with the LASCO observations. Looking into the fine structure of CS, magnetic reconnection initializes with a Sweet-Parker stage, and undergoes the time-dependent Petschek/fractural patterns. While the CME continues climbing up, the outflow region becomes turbulent which enhances the reconnection rates furthermore. The local reconnection rates present a simple linear dependence with the length-width ratio of multiple small-scale CSs. The principal X-point is close to the Sun's surface during the entire eruption, causing the energy partition to be unequal. Energy conversion in the vicinity of the principal X-point has also been addressed by simply employing energy equations. And we demonstrate that the dominant energy transfer consists of a conversion of the incoming Poynting flux to enthalpy flux in the sunward direction and bulk kinetic energy in the CME direction. The spectrum of magnetic energy doesn't follow a simple power law after secondary islands appear, and the spectrum index varies from 1.5 to 2

Spontaneous magnetic reconnection. Collisionless reconnection and its potential astrophysical relevance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treumann, R. A.; Baumjohann, W.

2015-10-01

The present review concerns the relevance of collisionless reconnection in the astrophysical context. Emphasis is put on recent developments in theory obtained from collisionless numerical simulations in two and three dimensions. It is stressed that magnetic reconnection is a universal process of particular importance under collisionless conditions, when both collisional and anomalous dissipation are irrelevant. While collisional (resistive) reconnection is a slow, diffusive process, collisionless reconnection is spontaneous. On any astrophysical time scale, it is explosive. It sets on when electric current widths become comparable to the leptonic inertial length in the so-called lepton (electron/positron) "diffusion region", where leptons de-magnetise. Here, the magnetic field contacts its oppositely directed partner and annihilates. Spontaneous reconnection breaks the original magnetic symmetry, violently releases the stored free energy of the electric current, and causes plasma heating and particle acceleration. Ultimately, the released energy is provided by mechanical motion of either the two colliding magnetised plasmas that generate the current sheet or the internal turbulence cascading down to lepton-scale current filaments. Spontaneous reconnection in such extended current sheets that separate two colliding plasmas results in the generation of many reconnection sites (tearing modes) distributed over the current surface, each consisting of lepton exhausts and jets which are separated by plasmoids. Volume-filling factors of reconnection sites are estimated to be as large as {<}10^{-5} per current sheet. Lepton currents inside exhausts may be strong enough to excite Buneman and, for large thermal pressure anisotropy, also Weibel instabilities. They bifurcate and break off into many small-scale current filaments and magnetic flux ropes exhibiting turbulent magnetic power spectra of very flat power-law shape W_b∝ k^{-α } in wavenumber k with power becoming as

Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, N. A.; Miralles, M. P.; Ranquist, D. A.; Pope, C. L.; Raymond, J. C.; Lukin, V. S.; McKillop, S.; Shen, C.; Winter, H. D.; Reeves, K. K.; Lin, J.

2013-12-01

Models of solar flares and coronal mass ejections typically predict the development of an elongated current sheet in the wake behind the rising flux rope. In reality, reconnection in these current sheets will be asymmetric along the inflow, outflow, and out-of-plane directions. We perform resistive MHD simulations to investigate the consequences of asymmetry during solar reconnection. We predict several observational signatures of asymmetric reconnection, including flare loops with a skewed candle flame shape, slow drifting of the current sheet into the strong field upstream region, asymmetric footpoint speeds and hard X-ray emission, and rolling motions within the erupting flux rope. There is net plasma flow across the magnetic field null along both the inflow and outflow directions. We compare simulations to SDO/AIA, Hinode/XRT, and STEREO observations of flare loop shapes, current sheet drifting, and rolling motions during prominence eruptions. Simulations of the plasmoid instability with different upstream magnetic fields show that the reconnection rate remains enhanced even during the asymmetric case. The islands preferentially grow into the weak field upstream region. The islands develop net vorticity because the outflow jets impact them obliquely rather than directly. Asymmetric reconnection in the chromosphere occurs when emerging flux interacts with pre-existing overlying flux. We present initial results on asymmetric reconnection in partially ionized chromospheric plasmas. Finally, we discuss how comparisons to observations are necessary to understand the role of three-dimensional effects.

Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, N. A.; Miralles, M. P.; Ranquist, D. A.; Pope, C. L.; Raymond, J. C.; Lukin, V. S.; McKillop, S. C.; Shen, C.; Winter, H. D.; Reeves, K. K.; Lin, J.

2013-12-01

Models of solar flares and coronal mass ejections typically predict the development of an elongated current sheet in the wake behind the rising flux rope. In reality, reconnection in these current sheets will be asymmetric along the inflow, outflow, and out-of-plane directions. We perform resistive MHD simulations to investigate the consequences of asymmetry during solar reconnection. We predict several observational signatures of asymmetric reconnection, including flare loops with a skewed candle flame shape, slow drifting of the current sheet into the strong field upstream region, asymmetric footpoint speeds and hard X-ray emission, and rolling motions within the erupting flux rope. There is net plasma flow across the magnetic field null along both the inflow and outflow directions. We compare simulations to SDO/AIA, Hinode/XRT, and STEREO observations of flare loop shapes, current sheet drifting, and rolling motions during prominence eruptions. Simulations of the plasm! oid instability with different upstream magnetic fields show that the reconnection rate remains enhanced even during the asymmetric case. The islands preferentially grow into the weak field upstream region. The islands develop net vorticity because the outflow jets impact them obliquely rather than directly. Asymmetric reconnection in the chromosphere occurs when emerging flux interacts with pre-existing overlying flux. We present initial results on asymmetric reconnection in partially ionized chromospheric plasmas. Finally, we discuss how comparisons to observations are necessary to understand the role of three-dimensional effects.

Fundamental limitation of a two-dimensional description of magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Initiation of Coronal Mass Ejections by Tether-Cutting Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Ronald L.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Falconer, David A.; Six, N. Frank (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

We present and interpret examples of the eruptive motion and flare brightening observed in the onset of magnetic explosions that produce coronal mass ejections. The observations are photospheric magnetograms and sequences of coronal and/or chromospheric images. In our examples, the explosion is apparently driven by the ejective eruption of a sigmoidal sheared-field flux rope from the core of an initially closed bipole. This eruption is initiated (triggered and unleashed) by reconnection located either (1) internally, low in the sheared core field, or (2) externally, at a magnetic null above the closed bipole. The internal reconnection is commonly called 'tether-cutting" reconnection, and the external reconnection is commonly called "break-out' reconnection. We point out that break-out reconnection amounts to external tether cutting. In one example, the eruptive motion of the sheared core field starts several minutes prior to any detectable brightening in the coronal images. We suggest that in this case the eruption is triggered by internal tether-cutting reconnection that at first is too slow and/or too localized to produce detectable heating in the coronal images. This work is supported by NASA's Office of Space Science through its Solar & Heliospheric Physics Supporting Research & Technology program and its Sun-Earth Connection Guest Investigator program.

Particle energization in magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, W.; Fox, W.; Bhattacharjee, A.

2014-10-01

Significant particle energization is inferred to occur in many astrophysical environments and magnetic reconnection has been proposed to be the driver in many cases. Recent observation of magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density (HED) plasmas on the Vulcan, Omega and Shenguang laser facilities has opened up a new regime of reconnection study of great interest to laboratory and plasma astrophysics. In these experiments, plasma bubbles, excited by laser shots on solid targets and carrying magnetic fields, expand into one another, squeezing the opposite magnetic fields together to drive reconnection. 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have been performed to study the particle energization in such experiments. Two energization mechanisms have been identified. The first is a Fermi acceleration process between the expanding plasma bubbles, wherein the electromagnetic fields of the expanding plasma bounce particles, acting as moving walls. Particles can gain significant energy through multiple bounces between the bubbles. The second mechanism is a subsequent direct acceleration by electric field at the reconnection X-line when the bubbles collide into each other and drive reconnection.

Reconnection in the Post-impulsive Phase of Solar Flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forbes, Terry G.; Seaton, Daniel B.; Reeves, Katharine K.

2018-05-01

Using a recently developed analytical procedure, we determine the rate of magnetic reconnection in the “standard” model of eruptive solar flares. During the late phase, the neutral line is located near the lower tip of the reconnection current sheet, and the upper region of the current sheet is bifurcated into a pair of Petschek-type shocks. Despite the presence of these shocks, the reconnection rate remains slow if the resistivity is uniform and the flow is laminar. Fast reconnection is achieved only if there is some additional mechanism that can shorten the length of the diffusion region at the neutral line. Observations of plasma flows by the X-ray telescope on Hinode imply that the diffusion region is, in fact, quite short. Two possible mechanisms for reducing the length of the diffusion region are localized resistivity and MHD turbulence.

Simulations of Flare Reconnection in Breakout Coronal Mass Ejections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeVore, C. Richard; Karpen, J. T.; Antiochos, S. K.

2009-05-01

We report 3D MHD simulations of the flare reconnection in the corona below breakout coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The initial setup is a single bipolar active region imbedded in the global-scale background dipolar field of the Sun, forming a quadrupolar magnetic configuration with a coronal null point. Rotational motions applied to the active-region polarities at the base of the atmosphere introduce shear across the polarity inversion line (PIL). Eventually, the magnetic stress and energy reach the critical threshold for runaway breakout reconnection, at which point the sheared core field erupts outward at high speed. The vertical current sheet formed by the stretching of the departing sheared field suffers reconnection that reforms the initial low-lying arcade across the PIL, i.e., creates the flare loops. Our simulation model, the Adaptively Refined MHD Solver, exploits local grid refinement to resolve the detailed structure and evolution of the highly dynamic current sheet. We are analyzing the numerical experiments to identify and interpret observable signatures of the flare reconnection associated with CMEs, e.g., the flare loops and ribbons, coronal jets and shock waves, and possible origins of solar energetic particles. This research was supported by NASA and ONR.

Suppression of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection in Asymmetric Current Sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yi-Hsin; Hesse, Michael

2016-01-01

Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the suppression of asymmetric reconnection in the limit where the diamagnetic drift speed >> Alfven speed and the magnetic shear angle is moderate. We demonstrate that the slippage between electrons and the magnetic flux mitigates the suppression and can even result in fast reconnection that lacks one of the outflow jets. Through comparing a case where the diamagnetic drift is supported by the temperature gradient with a companion case that has a density gradient instead, we identify a robust suppression mechanism. The drift of the x-line is slowed down locally by the asymmetric nature of the x-line, and then the x-line is run over and swallowed by the faster-moving following flux.

Electron Heating and Acceleration in a Reconnecting Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pucci, F.; Servidio, S.; Sorriso-Valvo, L.; Olshevsky, V.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Malara, F.; Goldman, M. V.; Newman, D. L.; Lapenta, G.

2017-05-01

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.

Properties of turbulence in the reconnection exhaust: numerical simulations compared with observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pucci, Francesco; Servidio, Sergio; Sorriso-Valvo, Luca; Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Matthaeus, William; Malara, Francesco; Goldman, Martin; Newman, David; Lapenta, Giovanni

2017-04-01

The properties of the turbulence which 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 observations of reconnection event 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 the dissipation mechanisms in the turbulent outflows similar to the one 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.

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

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pucci, F.; Olshevsky, V.; Lapenta, G.

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 inmore » the magnetotail, and that the properties of turbulence vary as a function of the distance from the reconnecting X-line.« less

Thick Escaping Magnetospheric Ion Layer in Magnetopause Reconnection with MMS Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

EVIDENCE OF MAGNETIC FIELD SWITCH-OFF IN COLLISIONLESS MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Innocenti, M. E.; Lapenta, G.; Goldman, M.

2015-09-10

The long-term evolution of large domain particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection is investigated following observations that show two possible outcomes for collisionless reconnection: toward a Petschek-like configuration or toward multiple X points. In the present simulation, a mixed scenario develops. At earlier time, plasmoids are emitted, disrupting the formation of Petschek-like structures. Later, an almost stationary monster plasmoid forms, preventing the emission of other plasmoids. A situation reminiscent of Petschek’s switch-off then ensues. Switch-off is obtained through a slow shock/rotational discontinuity compound structure. Two external slow shocks (SS) located at the separatrices reduce the in-plane tangential component of themore » magnetic field, but not to zero. Two transitions reminiscent of rotational discontinuities (RD) in the internal part of the exhaust then perform the final switch-off. Both the SS and the RD are characterized through analysis of their Rankine–Hugoniot jump conditions. A moderate guide field is used to suppress the development of the firehose instability in the exhaust.« less

3D LDV Measurements in Oscillatory Boundary Layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mier, J. M.; Garcia, M. H.

2012-12-01

The oscillatory boundary layer represents a particular case of unsteady wall-bounded flows in which fluid particles follow a periodic sinusoidal motion. Unlike steady boundary layer flows, the oscillatory flow regime and bed roughness character change in time along the period for every cycle, a characteristic that introduces a high degree of complexity in the analysis of these flows. Governing equations can be derived from the general Navier-Stokes equations for the motion of fluids, from which the exact solution for the laminar oscillatory boundary layer is obtained (also known as the 2nd Stokes problem). No exact solution exists for the turbulent case, thus, understanding of the main flow characteristics comes from experimental work. Several researchers have reported experimental work in oscillatory boundary layers since the 1960's; however, larger scale facilities and the development of newer measurement techniques with improved temporal and spatial resolution in recent years provides a unique opportunity to achieve a better understanding about this type of flows. Several experiments were performed in the Large Oscillatory Water and Sediment Tunnel (LOWST) facility at the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, for a range of Reynolds wave numbers between 6x10^4 < Rew < 6x10^6 over a flat and smooth bottom. A 3D Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) system was used to measure instantaneous flow velocities with a temporal resolution up to ~ 1,000 Hz. It was mounted on a 3-axis traverse with a spatial resolution of 0.01 mm in all three directions. The closest point to the bottom was measured at z = 0.2 mm (z+ ≈ 4), which allowed to capture boundary layer features with great detail. In order to achieve true 3D measurements, 2 probes were used on a perpendicular configuration, such that u and w components were measured from a probe on the side of the flume and v component was measured from a probe pointing down through and access window on top of the flume. The top probe

Reconnection on the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-05-01

, erupting from the solar surface.Snapshots from the SDO side view (left and center) and STEREO overhead view (right). The three rows show the time evolution of the double-loop structure after the initial flare. In the STEREO view, you can see the central footpoints of the loops slip to the left. [Gou et al. 2016]In the SDO observations presented by Chen and collaborators, the pre-flare/CME structures look remarkably like the structures predicted in the breakout model. Sequential heating of loops can be seen as the breakout reconnection starts, followed by anenormous flare and CME as the lower loops erupt outward.Study 2: Slipping ReconnectionA team of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China, led by Tingyu Gou and Rui Liu, have presented the first stereoscopic observation of slipping reconnection in the Sun, made by the two-spacecraft Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO).In slipping reconnection, magnetic field lines continuously exchange connectivities with their neighbors, causing them to slip through plasma. Observations by STEREO of a flaring double-loop system revealed that the central footpoints the endpoints where the loops are anchored to the solar surface slipped sideways after a flare.The authors model of the double-loop structure at two different times, during which the central footpoint slips from point C to D. Projections onto the XY and YZ planes show STEREOs and SDOs views, respectively. [Gou et al. 2016]The authors reconstructed a 3D model of the loop system using the overhead observations from STEREO and a simultaneous side view from SDO. They speculate that the slipping reconnection was likely triggered by the initial solar flare.Double BonusCheck out the videos belowto watch these processes happen!This first video is from Chen et al. 2016, and shows the SDO view of coronal loops in three wavelengths. If you watch carefully, you can see the sequential brightening of loops signs of the breakout reconnection before the

Power-Law Statistics of Driven Reconnection in the Magnetically Closed Corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimchuk, J. A.; DeVore, C. R.; Knizhnik, K. J.; Uritskiy, V. M.

2018-01-01

Numerous observations have revealed that power-law distributions are ubiquitous in energetic solar processes. Hard X-rays, soft X-rays, extreme ultraviolet radiation, and radio waves all display power-law frequency distributions. Since magnetic reconnection is the driving mechanism for many energetic solar phenomena, it is likely that reconnection events themselves display such power-law distributions. In this work, we perform numerical simulations of the solar corona driven by simple convective motions at the photospheric level. Using temperature changes, current distributions, and Poynting fluxes as proxies for heating, we demonstrate that energetic events occurring in our simulation display power-law frequency distributions, with slopes in good agreement with observations. We suggest that the braiding-associated reconnection in the corona can be understood in terms of a self-organized criticality model driven by convective rotational motions similar to those observed at the photosphere.

Finite Gyroradius Effects in the Electron Outflow of Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norgren, C.; Graham, D. B.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Andre, M.; Vaivads, A.; Chen, Li-Jen; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Marklund, G. T.; Ergun, R. E.; Magnes, W.;

Magnetic reconnection in Saturn's magnetotail: A comprehensive magnetic field survey.

PubMed

Smith, A W; Jackman, C M; Thomsen, M F

2016-04-01

Reconnection within planetary magnetotails is responsible for locally energizing particles and changing the magnetic topology. Its role in terms of global magnetospheric dynamics can involve changing the mass and flux content of the magnetosphere. We have identified reconnection related events in spacecraft magnetometer data recorded during Cassini's exploration of Saturn's magnetotail. The events are identified from deflections in the north-south component of the magnetic field, significant above a background level. Data were selected to provide full tail coverage, encompassing the dawn and dusk flanks as well as the deepest midnight orbits. Overall 2094 reconnection related events were identified, with an average rate of 5.0 events per day. The majority of events occur in clusters (within 3 h of other events). We examine changes in this rate in terms of local time and latitude coverage, taking seasonal effects into account. The observed reconnection rate peaks postmidnight with more infrequent but steady loss seen on the dusk flank. We estimate the mass loss from the event catalog and find it to be insufficient to balance the input from the moon Enceladus. Several reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. The reconnection X line location appears to be highly variable, though a statistical separation between events tailward and planetward of the X line is observed at a radial distance of between 20 and 30 R S downtail. The small sample size at dawn prevents comprehensive statistical comparison with the dusk flank observations in terms of flux closure.

The firehose instability during multiple reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexandrova, Alexandra; Divin, Andrey; Retino, Alessandro; Deca, Jan; Catapano, Filomena; Cozzani, Giulia

2017-04-01

We found unique events in the Cluster spacecraft observations of the Earth's magnetotail which correspond to the case of multiple reconnection sites. The ion temperature anisotropy of more energized ions in the direction parallel to the magnetic field, rather than in the perpendicular direction, is observed in the region of dynamical interaction between two active X-lines. The magnetic field and plasma parameters associated with the anisotropy correspond to the firehose instability conditions. We discuss possible scenarios of development of the firehose instability in multiple reconnection by comparing the observations with numerical simulations. Conventional Particle-in-Cell simulations of 2D magnetic reconnection starting from Harris equilibria are performed using implicit PIC code iPIC3D [Markidis, 2010]. At earlier stages the evolution creates fronts which push the weakly magnetized current sheet plasma away from the X-line. Fronts accelerate and reflect particles, producing parallel ion beams and increasing parallel ion temperature ahead of the front. If multiple X-lines are present, then the counterstreaming ion beams appear inside the original current sheet between colliding reconnection jet fronts. For large enough parallel ion pressure anisotropy, the firehose-like mode is excited inside the original current sheet with a flapping-like appearance along the X GSM direction but not Y GSM (current) direction. One should note that our simulations do not include the Bz magnetic field component (normal to the current sheet), hence ion beams cannot escape into the lobes and the whole region between two colliding fronts is unstable to firehose-like instability. In the Earth's magnetotail such configuration likely occurs when two active X-lines are close enough to each other, similar to a few cases we found in the Cluster observations.

Mapping Ion and Electron Remagnetization Distance in the Reconnection Outflow Exhaust Region with MMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sturner, A. P.; Eriksson, S.; Gershman, D. J.; Plaschke, F.; Burch, J.

2017-12-01

Magnetopause current sheets have been fertile ground for understanding kinetic-scale physics of magnetic reconnection, but can also be used to study more macroscopic scale phenomena statistically. Post-reconnection, magnetic flux and plasma are accelerated away from the x-line into exhaust regions. As the exhausting plasma exits the electron diffusion region, electrons become remagnetized and are accelerated by the magnetic field into an E x B jet while the ions remain unmagnetized. Further along the exhaust, at the edge of the ion diffusion region, the ions become frozen into the magnetic field, and are accelerated to join the electrons in the exhaust jet. By assuming a constant reconnection rate of 0.1, we can infer the distance to the x-line from the normal width of the exhaust. We present a statistical study using the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) to map out the electron and ion remagnetization distances that define the edge of the electron and ion diffusion regions for magnetopause reconnection, and explore the effects of a guide magnetic field.

Super-Alfvénic Propagation and Damping of Reconnection Onset Signatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Reconnection in Planetary Magnetospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, C. T.

2000-01-01

Current sheets in planetary magnetospheres that lie between regions of "oppositely-directed" magnetic field are either magnetopause-like, separating plasmas with different properties, or tail-like, separating plasmas of rather similar properties. The magnetopause current sheets generally have a nearly limitless supply of magnetized plasma that can reconnect, possibly setting up steady-state reconnection. In contrast, the plasma on either side of a tail current sheet is stratified so that, as reconnection occurs, the plasma properties, in particular the Alfven velocity, change. If the density drops and the magnetic field increases markedly perpendicular to the sheet, explosive reconnection can occur. Even though steady state reconnection can take place at magnetopause current sheets, the process often appears to be periodic as if a certain low average rate was demanded by the conditions but only a rapid rate was available. Reconnection of sheared fields has been postulated to create magnetic ropes in the solar corona, at the Earth's magnetopause, and in the magnetotail. However, this is not the only way to produce magnetic ropes as the Venus ionosphere shows. The geometry of the reconnecting regions and the plasma conditions both can affect the rate of reconnection. Sorting out the various controlling factors can be assisted through the examination of reconnection in planetary settings. In particular we observe similar small-scale tearing in the magnetopause current layers of the Earth, Saturn. Uranus and Neptune and the magnetodisk current sheet at Jupiter. These sites may be seeds for rapid reconnection if the reconnection site reaches a high Alfven velocity region. In the Jupiter magnetosphere this appears to be achieved with resultant substorm activity. Similar seeds may be present in the Earth's magnetotail with the first one to reach explosive growth dominating the dynamics of the tail.

Studies of oscillatory combustion and fuel vaporization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borman, G. L.; Myers, P. S.; Uyehara, O. A.

1972-01-01

Research projects involving oscillatory combustion and fuel vaporization are reported. Comparisons of experimental and theoretical droplet vaporization histories under ambient conditions such that the droplet may approach its thermodynamic critical point are presented. Experimental data on instantaneous heat transfer from a gas to a solid surface under conditions of oscillatory pressure with comparisons to an unsteady one-dimensional model are analyzed. Droplet size and velocity distribution in a spray as obtained by use of a double flash fluorescent method were investigated.

Wave Phenomena and Beam-Plasma Interactions at the Magnetopause Reconnection Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burch, J. L.; Webster, J. M.; Genestreti, K. J.; Torbert, R. B.; Giles, B. L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Dorelli, J. C.; Rager, A. C.; Phan, T. D.; Allen, R. C.; Chen, L.-J.; Wang, S.; Le Contel, O.; Russell, C. T.; Strangeway, R. J.; Ergun, R. E.; Jaynes, A. N.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Graham, D. B.; Wilder, F. D.; Hwang, K.-J.; Goldstein, J.

2018-02-01

This paper reports on Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of whistler mode chorus and higher-frequency electrostatic waves near and within a reconnection diffusion region on 23 November 2016. The diffusion region is bounded by crescent-shaped electron distributions and associated dissipation just upstream of the X-line and by magnetic field-aligned currents and electric fields leading to dissipation near the electron stagnation point. Measurements were made southward of the X-line as determined by southward directed ion and electron jets. We show that electrostatic wave generation is due to magnetosheath electron beams formed by the electron jets as they interact with a cold background plasma and more energetic population of magnetospheric electrons. On the magnetosphere side of the X-line the electron beams are accompanied by a strong perpendicular electron temperature anisotropy, which is shown to be the source of an observed rising-tone whistler mode chorus event. We show that the apex of the chorus event and the onset of electrostatic waves coincide with the opening of magnetic field lines at the electron stagnation point.

On the properties and limitations of magnetic reconnection in Hall MHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chacon, L.; Simakov, A. N.; Zocco, A.

2008-12-01

electron MHD," Proc. of the Joint Varenna-Lausanne International Workshop on the Theory of Fusion Plasmas, Varenna, Italy, Aug. 25-29 (2008)). The model gives predictions for the dissipation region aspect ratio and the reconnection rate Ez in terms of dissipation and inertial parameters, and has been found to be in excellent agreement with non-linear simulations. It confirms a number of long-standing empirical results, and resolves several controversies. In particular, we find that both open X-point and elongated dissipation regions are possible, and that Ez depends strongly on di and on the length of the current sheet. Moreover, when applied to electron-positron plasmas, the model demonstrates that fast dispersive waves are not instrumental for fast reconnection (L. Chacón, A. N. Simakov, V. Lukin, and A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett., 101, 025003, 2008). and that small-scale dissipation holds the key for the understanding of this phenomenon. The latter is a striking prediction, with important implications for the understanding of highly dynamic reconnection processes.

Comparison of MMS data and virtual simulation data relative to secondary reconnection within a flux rope in the magnetopause

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapenta, Giovanni; Oieroset, Marit; Phan, Tai; Eastwood, Jonathan; Goldman, Martin; Newman, David L.; Russel, Christopher; Strangeway, Robert; Paterson, William; Giles, Barbara; Lavraud, Benoit; Khotyaintsev, Yuri; Ergun, Robert; Torbert, Roy; Burch, James

2017-04-01

Recently Øieroset et al. [2016] reported evidence for reconnection between colliding reconnection jets in a compressed current sheet at the center of a magnetic flux rope at Earth's magnetopause. Here, we set up a simulation with parameters similar to those observed: in particular we used the same guide field ratio to the in plane field. The initial state is a Harris sheet with mass ratio 256 and temperature ratio 10. The domain is 3D with box size 20x15x10 di. Reconnection is initiated at the two edges of the box by seeding an initial localized x-line. Reconnection starts at the two x-lines by design due to the strong perturbation. The subsequent evolution shows reconnection taking root in the initially seeded x-lines. Later an instability develops within the flux rope, likely similar to those reported in Lapenta et al. [2015], and secondary reconnection starts in a ring near the center of the flux rope. The analogy with the kink mode of laboratory and solar wind flux ropes[Lapenta et al., 2006] is striking and future work will be needed to investigate if the instability satisfies the Kruskal-Shafranov limit [Shafranov, 1957, Kruskal and Tuck, 1958]. At late times, the primary reconnection site becomes inactive and the secondary reconnection site becomes dominant. In this later stage, agyrotropy and J · E' are stronger in the center. But more strikingly, the ions are outflowing predominantly away from the secondary reconnection site in the central region of the flux rope and the ring near the center where reconnection signatures (agyrotropy and J · E') are strongest. The electron pressure presents several intense loci, identifying where strong electron energization by secondary reconnection takes place. The results of the simulation are studied producing synthetic virtual satellite diagnostics obtained from the simulation results but with a format similar to in situ spacecraft observations. With these data formats the results can be more readily be compared

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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).

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

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Xiaojun; Ma, Yonghui; Wong, Hon-Cheng

2015-08-10

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 asmore » 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.« less

Observational Test of the Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection Rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Turbulence in Three-Dimensional Simulations of Magnetopause Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, L.; Swisdak, M.; Drake, J. F.; Burch, J. L.; Cassak, P. A.; Ergun, R. E.

2017-11-01

We present detailed analysis of the turbulence observed in three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause. The parameters are representative of an electron diffusion region encounter of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. The turbulence is found to develop around both the magnetic X line and separatrices, is electromagnetic in nature, is characterized by a wave vector k given by kρe˜(meTe/miTi)0.25 with ρe 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 simulations controls the scale lengths of the density profile and current layers in asymmetric reconnection, driving them closer to √{ρeρi} than the ρe or de scalings seen in 2-D reconnection simulations, and produces significant anomalous resistivity and viscosity in the electron diffusion region.

Development of Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection in a Magnetic Island

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Can; Lu, Quanming; Wang, Rongsheng

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.

Unraveling the Nature of Steady Magnetopause Reconnection Versus Flux Transfer Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The physical foundation of the reconnection electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

The effect of a guide field on the structures of magnetic islands formed during multiple X line reconnections: Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Can; Lu, Quanming; Lu, San; Wang, Peiran; Wang, Shui

2014-02-01

A magnetic island plays an important role in magnetic reconnection. In this paper, using a series of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the magnetic structures of a magnetic island formed during multiple X line magnetic reconnections, considering the effects of the guide field in symmetric and asymmetric current sheets. In a symmetric current sheet, the current in the x direction forms a tripolar structure inside a magnetic island during antiparallel 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 a 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 enhances 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 flow 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.

Switch-off slow shock/rotational discontinuity structures in collisionless magnetic reconnection: What to look for in satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Innocenti, M. E.; Cazzola, E.; Mistry, R.; Eastwood, J. P.; Goldman, M. V.; Newman, D. L.; Markidis, S.; Lapenta, G.

2017-04-01

In Innocenti et al. (2015) we have observed and characterized for the first time Petschek-like switch-off slow shock/rotational discontinuity (SO-SS/RD) compound structures in a 2-D fully kinetic simulation of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Observing these structures in the solar wind or in the magnetotail would corroborate the possibility that Petschek exhausts develop in collisionless media as a result of single X point collisionless reconnection. Here we highlight their signatures in simulations with the aim of easing their identification in observations. The most notable signatures include a four-peaked ion current profile in the out-of-plane direction, associated ion distribution functions, increased electron and ion anisotropy downstream the SS, and increased electron agyrotropy downstream the RDs.

Particle acceleration with anomalous pitch angle scattering in 2D magnetohydrodynamic reconnection simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borissov, A.; Kontar, E. P.; Threlfall, J.; Neukirch, T.

2017-09-01

The conversion of magnetic energy into other forms (such as plasma heating, bulk plasma flows, and non-thermal particles) during solar flares is one of the outstanding open problems in solar physics. It is generally accepted that magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in these conversion processes. In order to achieve the rapid energy release required in solar flares, an anomalous resistivity, which is orders of magnitude higher than the Spitzer resistivity, is often used in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of reconnection in the corona. The origin of Spitzer resistivity is based on Coulomb scattering, which becomes negligible at the high energies achieved by accelerated particles. As a result, simulations of particle acceleration in reconnection events are often performed in the absence of any interaction between accelerated particles and any background plasma. This need not be the case for scattering associated with anomalous resistivity caused by turbulence within solar flares, as the higher resistivity implies an elevated scattering rate. We present results of test particle calculations, with and without pitch angle scattering, subject to fields derived from MHD simulations of two-dimensional (2D) X-point reconnection. Scattering rates proportional to the ratio of the anomalous resistivity to the local Spitzer resistivity, as well as at fixed values, are considered. Pitch angle scattering, which is independent of the anomalous resistivity, causes higher maximum energies in comparison to those obtained without scattering. Scattering rates which are dependent on the local anomalous resistivity tend to produce fewer highly energised particles due to weaker scattering in the separatrices, even though scattering in the current sheet may be stronger when compared to resistivity-independent scattering. Strong scattering also causes an increase in the number of particles exiting the computational box in the reconnection outflow region, as opposed to along the

Diffusive Shock Acceleration and Reconnection Acceleration Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zank, G. P.; Hunana, P.; Mostafavi, P.; Le Roux, J. A.; Li, Gang; Webb, G. M.; Khabarova, O.; Cummings, A.; Stone, E.; Decker, R.

2015-12-01

Shock waves, as shown by simulations and observations, can generate high levels of downstream vortical turbulence, including magnetic islands. We consider a combination of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) and downstream magnetic-island-reconnection-related processes as an energization mechanism for charged particles. Observations of electron and ion distributions downstream of interplanetary shocks and the heliospheric termination shock (HTS) are frequently inconsistent with the predictions of classical DSA. We utilize a recently developed transport theory for charged particles propagating diffusively in a turbulent region filled with contracting and reconnecting plasmoids and small-scale current sheets. Particle energization associated with the anti-reconnection electric field, a consequence of magnetic island merging, and magnetic island contraction, are considered. For the former only, we find that (i) the spectrum is a hard power law in particle speed, and (ii) the downstream solution is constant. For downstream plasmoid contraction only, (i) the accelerated spectrum is a hard power law in particle speed; (ii) the particle intensity for a given energy peaks downstream of the shock, and the distance to the peak location increases with increasing particle energy, and (iii) the particle intensity amplification for a particular particle energy, f(x,c/{c}0)/f(0,c/{c}0), is not 1, as predicted by DSA, but increases with increasing particle energy. The general solution combines both the reconnection-induced electric field and plasmoid contraction. The observed energetic particle intensity profile observed by Voyager 2 downstream of the HTS appears to support a particle acceleration mechanism that combines both DSA and magnetic-island-reconnection-related processes.

Evaluation of null-point detection methods on simulation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Fu, Huishan; Vaivads, Andris; Khotyaintsev, Yuri; Lapenta, Giovanni; Markidis, Stefano

2014-05-01

We model the measurements of artificial spacecraft that resemble the configuration of CLUSTER propagating in the particle-in-cell simulation of turbulent magnetic reconnection. The simulation domain contains multiple isolated X-type null-points, but the majority are O-type null-points. Simulations show that current pinches surrounded by twisted fields, analogous to laboratory pinches, are formed along the sequences of O-type nulls. In the simulation, the magnetic reconnection is mainly driven by the kinking of the pinches, at spatial scales of several ion inertial lentghs. We compute the locations of magnetic null-points and detect their type. When the satellites are separated by the fractions of ion inertial length, as it is for CLUSTER, they are able to locate both the isolated null-points, and the pinches. We apply the method to the real CLUSTER data and speculate how common are pinches in the magnetosphere, and whether they play a dominant role in the dissipation of magnetic energy.

Comparison of test particle acceleration in torsional spine and fan reconnection regimes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hosseinpour, M., E-mail: hosseinpour@tabrizu.ac.ir; Mehdizade, M.; Mohammadi, M. A.

2014-10-15

Magnetic reconnection is a common phenomenon taking place in astrophysical and space plasmas, especially in solar flares which are rich sources of highly energetic particles. Torsional spine and fan reconnections are important mechanisms proposed for steady-state three-dimensional null-point reconnection. By using the magnetic and electric fields for these regimes, we numerically investigate the features of test particle acceleration in both regimes with input parameters for the solar corona. By comparison, torsional spine reconnection is found to be more efficient than torsional fan reconnection in an acceleration of a proton to a high kinetic energy. A proton can gain as highmore » as 100 MeV of relativistic kinetic energy within only a few milliseconds. Moreover, in torsional spine reconnection, an accelerated particle can escape either along the spine axis or on the fan plane depending on its injection position. However, in torsional fan reconnection, the particle is only allowed to accelerate along the spine axis. In addition, in both regimes, the particle's trajectory and final kinetic energy depend on the injection position but adopting either spatially uniform or non-uniform localized plasma resistivity does not much influence the features of trajectory.« less

3-D VPIC simulation of an vortex-induced reconnection event observed by MMS

DOE Data Explorer

Nakamura, Takuma; Daughton, William

2016-01-01

The data set consists of a 3-D fully kinetic (VPIC) simulation of an in-situ observation event at the Earth's magnetopause by the NASA MMS spacecraft on September 8, 2015. The results show a turbulent development of magnetic reconnection induced by the Kelvin-Helmohltz vortex, and resulting significantly efficient plasma mixing across the magnetopause. The vortex-induced reconnection signatures are well consistent with the MMS observations. These results are published in some scientific journals such as Nature Communications. Fortran unformatted files with 1024x1536x512 cells, which have been compressed from original ones with 2048x3072x1024 cells, are archived for selected time slices of field and moment data shown in these papers.

X-ray bright points and He I lambda 10830 dark points

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, L.; Harvey, K. L.; Herant, M.; Webb, D. F.

1989-01-01

Using near-simultaneous full disk Solar X-ray images and He I 10830 lambda, spectroheliograms from three recent rocket flights, dark points identified on the He I maps were compared with X-ray bright points identified on the X-ray images. It was found that for the largest and most obvious features there is a strong correlation: most He I dark points correspond to X-ray bright points. However, about 2/3 of the X-ray bright points were not identified on the basis of the helium data alone. Once an X-ray feature is identified it is almost always possible to find an underlying dark patch of enhanced He I absorption which, however, would not a priori have been selected as a dark point. Therefore, the He I dark points, using current selection criteria, cannot be used as a one-to-one proxy for the X-ray data. He I dark points do, however, identify the locations of the stronger X-ray bright points.

X-ray bright points and He I lambda 10830 dark points

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, L.; Harvey, K. L.; Herant, M.; Webb, D. F.

1989-01-01

Using near-simultaneous full disk Solar X-ray images and He I 10830 lambda, spectroheliograms from three recent rocket flights, dark points identified on the He I maps were compared with x-ray bright points identified on the X-ray images. It was found that for the largest and most obvious features there is a strong correlation: most He I dark points correspond to X-ray bright points. However, about 2/3 of the X-ray bright points were not identified on the basis of the helium data alone. Once an X-ray feature is identified it is almost always possible to find an underlying dark patch of enhanced He I absorption which, however, would not a priori have been selected as a dark point. Therefore, the He I dark points, using current selection criteria, cannot be used as a one-to-one proxy for the X-ray data. He I dark points do, however, identify the locations of the stronger X-ray bright points.

Electron Distribution Functions in the Diffusion Region of Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bessho, N.; Chen, L.-J.; Hesse, M.

2016-01-01

We study electron distribution functions in a diffusion region of antiparallel asymmetric reconnection by means of particle-in-cell simulations and analytical theory. At the electron stagnation point, the electron distribution comprises a crescent-shaped population and a core component. The crescent-shaped distribution is due to electrons coming from the magnetosheath toward the stagnation point and accelerated mainly by electric field normal to the current sheet. Only a part of magnetosheath electrons can reach the stagnation point and form the crescent-shaped distribution that has a boundary of a parabolic curve. The penetration length of magnetosheath electrons into the magnetosphere is derived. We expect that satellite observations can detect crescent-shaped electron distributions during magnetopause reconnection.

High-frequency Plasma Waves Associated with Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Wind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.

2015-12-01

Activities of high-frequency plasma waves associated with magnetic reconnection in the solar wind observed by Time Domain Sampler (TDS) experiments on STEREO/WAVES are preliminarily analyzed. The TDS instrument can provide burst mode electric fields data with as long as 16384 sample points at 250 kHz sampling rate. In all 1120 suspected reconnection events, it is found that the most commonly occurred waves are neither ion acoustic waves, electrostatic solitary waves, nor Langmuir/upper hybrid waves, but Bernstein-like waves with harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency. In addition, to each type of waves, Langmuir/upper hybrid waves reveal the largest occurrence rate in the reconnection region than in the ambient solar wind. These results indicate that Bernstein-like waves and Langmuir/upper hybrid waves might play important roles in the reconnection associated particle heating processes and they might also influence the dissipation of magnetic reconnection.

Understanding the dynamics and energetics of magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma: Review of recent progress on selected fronts

DOE PAGES

Yamada, Masaaki; Yoo, Jongsoo; Myers, Clayton E.

2016-05-11

Here, magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process at work in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas, in which magnetic field lines change their topology and convert magnetic energy to plasma particles by acceleration and heating. One of the most important problems in reconnection research has been to understand why reconnection occurs so much faster than predicted by magnetohydrodynamics theory. Following the recent pedagogical review of this subject [Yamada et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 603 (2010)], this paper presents a review of more recent discoveries and findings in the research of fast magnetic reconnection in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas. Inmore » spite of the huge difference in physical scales, we find remarkable commonality between the characteristics of the magnetic reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas. In this paper, we will focus especially on the energy flow, a key feature of the reconnection process. In particular, the experimental results on the energy conversion and partitioning in a laboratory reconnection layer [Yamada et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 4474 (2014)] are discussed and compared with quantitative estimates based on two-fluid analysis. In the Magnetic ReconnectionExperiment, we find that energy deposition to electrons is localized near the X-point and is mostly from the electric field component perpendicular to the magnetic field. The mechanisms of ion acceleration and heating are also identified, and a systematic and quantitative study on the inventory of converted energy within a reconnection layer with a well-defined but variable boundary. The measured energy partition in a reconnection region of similar effective size (L ≈ 3 ion skin depths) of the Earth's magneto-tail [Eastwood et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 225001 (2013)] is notably consistent with our laboratory results. Finally, to study the global aspects of magnetic reconnection, we have carried out a laboratory experiment on the stability criteria for

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Internal and External reconnection in a Series of Homologous Solar Flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Status and Plans for the FLARE (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W.; Bale, S.; Carter, T.; Crocker, N.; Drake, J.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Wallace, J.; Chen, Y.; Cutler, R.; Fox, W.; Heitzenroeder, P.; Kalish, M.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C.; Ren, Y.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.

2015-11-01

The FLARE device (flare.pppl.gov) is a new intermediate-scale plasma experiment under construction at Princeton to study magnetic reconnection in regimes directly relevant to space, solar, astrophysical, and fusion plasmas. The existing small-scale experiments have been focusing on the single X-line reconnection process either with small effective sizes or at low Lundquist numbers, but both of which are typically very large in natural and fusion plasmas. The design of the FLARE device is motivated to provide experimental access to the new regimes involving multiple X-lines, as guided by a reconnection ``phase diagram'' [Ji & Daughton, PoP (2011)]. Most of major components of the FLARE device have been designed and are under construction. The device will be assembled and installed in 2016, followed by commissioning and operation in 2017. The planned research on FLARE as a user facility will be discussed. Supported by NSF.

Inferring oscillatory modulation in neural spike trains

PubMed Central

Arai, Kensuke; Kass, Robert E.

2017-01-01

Oscillations are observed at various frequency bands in continuous-valued neural recordings like the electroencephalogram (EEG) and local field potential (LFP) in bulk brain matter, and analysis of spike-field coherence reveals that spiking of single neurons often occurs at certain phases of the global oscillation. Oscillatory modulation has been examined in relation to continuous-valued oscillatory signals, and independently from the spike train alone, but behavior or stimulus triggered firing-rate modulation, spiking sparseness, presence of slow modulation not locked to stimuli and irregular oscillations with large variability in oscillatory periods, present challenges to searching for temporal structures present in the spike train. In order to study oscillatory modulation in real data collected under a variety of experimental conditions, we describe a flexible point-process framework we call the Latent Oscillatory Spike Train (LOST) model to decompose the instantaneous firing rate in biologically and behaviorally relevant factors: spiking refractoriness, event-locked firing rate non-stationarity, and trial-to-trial variability accounted for by baseline offset and a stochastic oscillatory modulation. We also extend the LOST model to accommodate changes in the modulatory structure over the duration of the experiment, and thereby discover trial-to-trial variability in the spike-field coherence of a rat primary motor cortical neuron to the LFP theta rhythm. Because LOST incorporates a latent stochastic auto-regressive term, LOST is able to detect oscillations when the firing rate is low, the modulation is weak, and when the modulating oscillation has a broad spectral peak. PMID:28985231

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Super-Alfvenic Propagation and Damping of Reconnection Onset Signatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2016-12-01

The onset of magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail has far reaching consequences for the dynamics of the magnetosphere. However, our understanding of the dynamics of onset as well as when and where it occurs in the magnetosphere is incomplete. One of the fastest propagating signatures of reconnection onset is the quadrupolar Hall magnetic field that has been shown to be a Kinetic Alfven Wave (KAW) . These KAW propagate extremely fast away from the reconnection site, carry substantial amounts of energy in the form of Poynting flux and electron flows, and may be responsible for electron acceleration and the generation of aurora[1]. However, to date there has not been a study of how reconnection generated KAWs will damp and disperse as they propagate. Using large scale kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of reconnection we investigate the damping of the KAWs as they propagate away from the x-line. We show that the hall quadrupolar structure dissipates according to linear Landau damping determined from a numerical solution of the linear Vlasov equation. Extending results to magnetotail parameters, we find that only the part of the wave with k c/wpi 1 will damp weakly enough to propagate from the mid-tail to the inner magnetosphere. [1] M. A. Shay et al., PRL, 107, 065001, 2011, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.065001

Analysis of Wind Tunnel Oscillatory Data of the X-31A Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Mark S.

1999-01-01

Wind tunnel oscillatory tests in pitch, roll, and yaw were performed on a 19%-scale model of the X-31A aircraft. These tests were used to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the X-31A in response to harmonic oscillations at six frequencies. In-phase and out-of-phase components of the aerodynamic coefficients were obtained over a range of angles of attack from 0 to 90 deg. To account for the effect of frequency on the data, mathematical models with unsteady terms were formulated by use of two different indicial functions. Data from a reduced set of frequencies were used to estimate model parameters, including steady-state static and dynamic stability derivatives. Both models showed good prediction capability and the ability to accurately fit the measured data. Estimated static stability derivatives compared well with those obtained from static wind tunnel tests. The roll and yaw rate derivative estimates were compared with rotary-balanced wind tunnel data and theoretical predictions. The estimates and theoretical predictions were in agreement at small angles of attack. The rotary-balance data showed, in general, acceptable agreement with the steady-state derivative estimates.

Turbulence in Three Dimensional Simulations of Magnetopause Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Statistical Behavior of Quasi-Steady Balanced Reconnection in Earth's Magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kissinger, Jennifer Eileen

Magnetic reconnection between Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind results in several modes of response, including the impulsive substorm and the quasi-steady mode known as steady magnetospheric convection (SMC). SMC events are theorized to result from balancing the dayside and nightside reconnection rates. The reasons the magnetosphere responds with different modes are not fully known. This dissertation comprises statistical data analysis of the SMC mode to investigate the solar wind conditions and magnetospheric properties during these events. A comprehensive list of SMC events is selected from 1997-2011. In the first of three studies, an association between SMCs and solar wind stream interfaces (SI) is identified in the declining phase of Solar Cycle 23. SMC occurrence peaks 12-24 hours after an SI if the solar wind is geoeffective. The subset of SI-associated SMCs occurs during fast solar wind velocity, in contrast to previous results, but the driving electric field imposed on the magnetosphere (Ey) is the same for SI-associated and unassociated SMC events. Therefore the magnitude and steadiness of E y is the most important solar wind parameter for an SMC to occur. The second study shows that magnetotail convection is significantly different for SMC events, compared to quiet intervals and isolated substorms. Fast flows transporting enhanced magnetic flux are deflected toward the dawn and dusk flanks during SMC. Flow diversion is due to a broad high pressure region in the inner magnetosphere. The interval preceding SMC events is found to set up the magnetotail conditions that assist balanced reconnection. In particular inner magnetosphere pressure before SMCs is enhanced from substorm levels but not as high as SMC levels. The final study shows that nearly all SMCs are preceded by a substorm expansion. In rare cases when an SMC occurs without a preceding substorm, we hypothesize that the distant x-line is able to balance a weak solar wind driver. These

Shocks and currents in stratified atmospheres with a magnetic null point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarr, Lucas A.; Linton, Mark

2017-08-01

We use the resistive MHD code LARE (Arber et al 2001) to inject a compressive MHD wavepacket into a stratified atmosphere that has a single magnetic null point, as recently described in Tarr et al 2017. The 2.5D simulation represents a slice through a small ephemeral region or area of plage. The strong gradients in field strength and connectivity related to the presence of the null produce substantially different dynamics compared to the more slowly varying fields typically used in simple sunspot models. The wave-null interaction produces a fast mode shock that collapses the null into a current sheet and generates a set of outward propagating (from the null) slow mode shocks confined to field lines near each separatrix. A combination of oscillatory reconnection and shock dissipation ultimately raise the plasma's internal energy at the null and along each separatrix by 25-50% above the background. The resulting pressure gradients must be balanced by Lorentz forces, so that the final state has contact discontinuities along each separatrix and a persistent current at the null. The simulation demonstrates that fast and slow mode waves localize currents to the topologically important locations of the field, just as their Alfvenic counterparts do, and also illustrates the necessity of treating waves and reconnection as coupled phenomena.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Near-Earth Reconnection Ejecta at Lunar Distances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 < R < 25RE, just earthward of the probable reconnection region location. Assuming plasma sheet pressure 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.

Disruption of sheet-like structures in Alfvénic turbulence by magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallet, A.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Chandran, B. D. G.

2017-07-01

We propose a mechanism whereby the intense, sheet-like structures naturally formed by dynamically aligning Alfvénic turbulence are destroyed by magnetic reconnection at a scale \\hat{λ }_D, larger than the dissipation scale predicted by models of intermittent, dynamically aligning turbulence. The reconnection process proceeds in several stages: first, a linear tearing mode with N magnetic islands grows and saturates, and then the X-points between these islands collapse into secondary current sheets, which then reconnect until the original structure is destroyed. This effectively imposes an upper limit on the anisotropy of the structures within the perpendicular plane, which means that at scale \\hat{λ }_D the turbulent dynamics change: at scales larger than \\hat{λ }_D, the turbulence exhibits scale-dependent dynamic alignment and a spectral index approximately equal to -3/2, while at scales smaller than \\hat{λ }_D, the turbulent structures undergo a succession of disruptions due to reconnection, limiting dynamic alignment, steepening the effective spectral index and changing the final dissipation scale. The scaling of \\hat{λ }_D with the Lundquist (magnetic Reynolds) number S_{L_\\perp } depends on the order of the statistics being considered, and on the specific model of intermittency; the transition between the two regimes in the energy spectrum is predicted at approximately \\hat{λ }_D˜ S_{L_\\perp }^{-0.6}. The spectral index below \\hat{λ }_D is bounded between -5/3 and -2.3. The final dissipation scale is at \\hat{λ }_{η ,∞}˜ S_{L_\\perp }^{-3/4}, the same as the Kolmogorov scale arising in theories of turbulence that do not involve scale-dependent dynamic alignment.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic Cavity Solar Eruptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions. one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 A Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). both of which are on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. (SOHO). For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT). hard X-ray telescope (HXT). and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite. and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions. and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases. the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approx. 10 km/s prior to eruption and then accelerate to approx. 100 km/s during the eruption. although the slow-rise movement for the higher altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate that both filaments and both cavities contain masses of approx. 10(exp14) - 1 0(exp 15) and approx. l0(exp 15) - l0(exp 16) g. respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic reconnection-based models for eruption onset. the "tether cutting" and the "breakout" models. are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event, soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins. which is consistent with tether- cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-ray. however. do not occur until after fast eruption is underway. and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption. and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions. the state of the overlying loops at the time of onset of the fast

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic-Cavity Solar Eruptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions, one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 A Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), both of which are on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT), hard X-ray telescope (HXT), and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite, and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ra.v Observatory (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions, and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases, the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approx.10 km/s prior to eruption and then accelerate to approx.100 km/s during the eruption, although the slow-rise movement for the higher altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate that both filaments and both cavities contain masses of approx.10(exp 14)-10(exp 15) and approx.10(exp 15)-10(exp 16) g, respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic reconnection-based models for eruption onset, the "tether cutting" and the "breakout" models, are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event, soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, which is consistent with tether- cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-rays, however, do not occur until after fast eruption is underway, and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption, and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions, the state of the overlying loops at the time of onset of the fast-rise phase of

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic-Cavity Solar Eruptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions, one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 Angstroms, Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), both of which are on the Solar arid Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT), hard X-ray telescope (HXT), and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite, and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observation, (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions, and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases, the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approximately 10 kilometers per second prior to eruption and then accelerate to approximately 100 kilometers per second during the eruption, although the slow-rise movement for the higher altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate that both filaments and both cavities contain masses of approximately 10(exp 14)-10(exp 15) and approximately 10(exp 15)-10(exp 16)g, respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic reconnection-based models for eruption onset, the tether cutting and the breakout models, are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event, soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, which is consistent with tether-cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-rays, however, do not occur until after fast eruption is underway, and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption, and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions, the state of

SLIPPING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION OF FLUX-ROPE STRUCTURES AS A PRECURSOR TO AN ERUPTIVE X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Ting; Hou, Yijun; Zhang, Jun

We present the quasi-periodic slipping motion of flux-rope structures prior to the onset of an eruptive X-class flare on 2015 March 11, obtained by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the Solar Dynamics Observatory . The slipping motion occurred at the north part of the flux rope and seemed to successively peel off the flux rope. The speed of the slippage was 30−40 km s{sup −1}, with an average period of 130 ± 30 s. The Si iv λ 1402.77 line showed a redshift of 10−30 km s{sup −1} and a line width of 50−120 km s{sup −1} at themore » west legs of slipping structures, indicative of reconnection downflow. The slipping motion lasted about 40 minutes, and the flux rope started to rise up slowly at the late stage of the slippage. Then an X2.1 flare was initiated, and the flux rope was impulsively accelerated. One of the flare ribbons swept across a negative-polarity sunspot, and the penumbral segments of the sunspot decayed rapidly after the flare. We studied the magnetic topology at the flaring region, and the results showed the existence of a twisted flux rope, together with quasi-separatrix layer (QSL) structures binding the flux rope. Our observations imply that quasi-periodic slipping magnetic reconnection occurs along the flux-rope-related QSLs in the preflare stage, which drives the later eruption of the flux rope and the associated flare.« less

Nonlinear waves and instabilities leading to secondary reconnection in reconnection outflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapenta, Giovanni; Pucci, Francesco; Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Servidio, Sergio; Sorriso-Valvo, Luca; Newman, David L.; Goldman, Martin V.

2018-02-01

Reconnection outflows have been under intense recent scrutiny, from in situ observations and from simulations. These regions are host to a variety of instabilities and intense energy exchanges, often even superior to the main reconnection site. We report here a number of results drawn from an investigation of simulations. First, the outflows are observed to become unstable to drift instabilities. Second, these instabilities lead to the formation of secondary reconnection sites. Third, the secondary processes are responsible for large energy exchanges and particle energization. Finally, the particle distribution function are modified to become non-Maxwellian and include multiple interpenetrating populations.

Drift waves, intense parallel electric fields, and turbulence associated with asymmetric magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ergun, R. E.; Chen, L.-J.; Wilder, F. D.; Ahmadi, N.; Eriksson, S.; Usanova, M. E.; Goodrich, K. A.; Holmes, J. C.; Sturner, A. P.; Malaspina, D. M.; Newman, D. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Argall, M. R.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Burch, J. L.; Webster, J. M.; Drake, J. F.; Price, L.; Cassak, P. A.; Swisdak, M.; Shay, M. A.; Graham, D. B.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Giles, B. L.; Dorelli, J. C.; Gershman, D.; Avanov, L.; Hesse, M.; Lavraud, B.; Le Contel, O.; Retino, A.; Phan, T. D.; Goldman, M. V.; Stawarz, J. E.; Schwartz, S. J.; Eastwood, J. P.; Hwang, K.-J.; Nakamura, R.; Wang, S.

2017-04-01

Observations of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause often display asymmetric structures that are accompanied by strong magnetic field (B) fluctuations and large-amplitude parallel electric fields (E||). The B turbulence is most intense at frequencies above the ion cyclotron frequency and below the lower hybrid frequency. The B fluctuations are consistent with a thin, oscillating current sheet that is corrugated along the electron flow direction (along the X line), which is a type of electromagnetic drift wave. Near the X line, electron flow is primarily due to a Hall electric field, which diverts ion flow in asymmetric reconnection and accompanies the instability. Importantly, the drift waves appear to drive strong parallel currents which, in turn, generate large-amplitude ( 100 mV/m) E|| in the form of nonlinear waves and structures. These observations suggest that turbulence may be common in asymmetric reconnection, penetrate into the electron diffusion region, and possibly influence the magnetic reconnection process.

Magnetic reconnection and Blandford-Znajek process around rotating black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Chandra B.; Garofalo, David; de Gouveia Dal Pino, Elisabete M.

2018-05-01

We provide a semi-analytic comparison between the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) and the magnetic reconnection power for accreting black holes in the curved spacetime of a rotating black hole. Our main result is that for a realistic range of astrophysical parameters, the reconnection power may compete with the BZ power. The field lines anchored close to or on the black hole usually evolve to open field lines in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. The BZ power is dependent on the black hole spin while magnetic reconnection power is independent of it for the near force-free magnetic configuration with open field lines adopted in our theoretical study. This has obvious consequences for the time evolution of such systems particularly in the context of black hole X-ray binary state transitions. Our results provide analytical justification of the results obtained in GRMHD simulations.

Three-Dimensional Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parnell, C. E.; Haynes, A. L.

The importance of magnetic reconnection as an energy release mechanism in many solar, stellar, magnetospheric and astrophysical phenomena has long been recognised. Reconnection is the only mechanism by which magnetic fields can globally restructure, enabling them to access a lower energy state. Over the past decade, there have been some major advances in our understanding of three-dimensional reconnection. In particular, the key characteristics of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) reconnection have been determined. For instance, 3D reconnection (1) occurs with or without nulls, (2) occurs continuously and continually throughout a diffusion region and (3) is driven by counter rotating flows. Furthermore, analysis of resistive 3D MHD magnetic experiments have revealed some intriguing effects relating to where and how reconnection occurs. To illustrate these new features, a series of constant-resistivity experiments, involving the interaction of two opposite-polarity magnetic sources in an overlying field, are considered. Such a simple interaction represents a typical building block of the Sun's magnetic atmosphere. By following the evolution of the magnetic topology, we are able to explain where, how and at what rate the reconnection occurs. Remarkably, there can be up to five energy release sites at any one time (compared to one in the potential case) and the duration of the interaction increases (more than doubles) as the resistivity decreases (by a factor of 16). The decreased resistivity also leads to a higher peak ohmic dissipation and more energy being released in total, as a result of a greater injection of Poynting flux.

Magnetic Dissipation in Asymmetric Strong Guide 3D Simulations: Examples of Magnetic Diffusion and Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scudder, J. D.; Karimabadi, H.; Daughton, W. S.

2013-12-01

Interpretations of 2D simulations of magnetic reconnection are greatly simplified by using the flux function, usually the out of plane component of the vector potential. This theoretical device is no longer available when simulations are analyzed in 3-D. We illustrate the results of determining the locale rates of flux slippage in simulations by a technique based on Maxwell's equations. The technique recovers the usual results obtained for the flux function in 2D simulations, but remains viable in 3D simulations where there is no flux function. The method has also been successfully tested for full PIC simulations where reconnection is geometrically forbiddden. While such layers possess measurable flux slippages (diffusion) their level is not as strong as recorded in known 2D PIC reconnection sites using the same methodology. This approach will be used to explore the spatial incidence and strength of flux slippages across a 3D, asymmetric, strong guide field run discussed previously in the literature. Regions of diffusive behavior are illustrated where LHDI has been previously identified out on the separatrices, while much stronger flux slippages, typical of the X-regions of 2D simulations, are shown to occur elsewhere throughout the simulation. These results suggest that reconnection requires sufficiently vigorous flux slippage to be self sustaining, while non-zero flux slippage can and does occur without being at the reconnection site. A cross check of this approach is provided by the mixing ratio of tagged simulation particles of known spatial origin discussed by Daughton et al., 2013 (this meeting); they provide an integral measure of flux slippage up to the present point in the simulation. We will discuss the correlations between our Maxwell based flux slippage rates and the inferred rates of change of this mixing ratio (as recorded in the local fluid frame).

Relationship Between Acoustic Voice Onset and Offset and Selected Instances of Oscillatory Onset and Offset in Young Healthy Men and Women.

PubMed

Patel, Rita R; Forrest, Karen; Hedges, Drew

2017-05-01

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between (1) onset of the acoustic signal (X 1 a ) and prephonatory phases associated with oscillatory onset and (2) offset of the acoustic signal (X 2 a ) with the postphonatory events associated with oscillatory offset across vocally healthy adults. High-speed videoendoscopy was captured simultaneously with the acoustic signal during repeated production of /hi.hi.hi/ at typical pitch and loudness from 56 vocally healthy adults (aged 20-42 years; 21 men, 35 women). The relationships between the acoustic sound pressure signal and oscillatory onset and offset events from the glottal area waveforms (GAWs) were statistically investigated using a multivariate linear regression analysis. The X 1 a is a significant predictor of the onset of first oscillatory motion (X 1 g ) and onset of sustained oscillations (X 2 g ). X 1 a as well as gender are significant predictors of the first medial contact of the vocal folds (X 1.5 g ). The X 2 a is a significant predictor of the first instance of oscillatory offset (X 3 g ), first instance of incomplete glottal closure (X 3.5 g ), and complete cessation of (vocal fold) oscillatory motion (X 4 g ). The acoustic signal onset is closely related to the X 1.5 g , but the latency between these events is longer for women compared to men. The X 2 a occurs immediately after incomplete glottal adduction. The emerging normative group latencies between the onset and offset of the acoustic and the GAW from this study appear promising for future investigations. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Variables that influence energy partition in asymmetric reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2017-12-01

The energy conversion in the diffusion region during asymmetric reconnection is studied using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The simulation analysis shows that the energy partition is highly region-dependent and varies with the guide field strength. Without a guide field, within the central electron diffusion region, the input magnetic energy is mostly converted to the electron thermal energies; half of the magnetic energy input to the region extending from the X-line to a few ion inertial lengths downstream where the ion outflow peaks is converted to the plasma energy gain, with approximately equal partition between ions and electrons, similar to the laboratory results from the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX); over the entire ion diffusion region, about half of the energy goes to ions, and 20% goes to electrons. Electrons obtain energies mainly from the reconnection electric field (Er). For the ion total energy gain in the diffusion region, about 2/3 comes from the in-plane electrostatic field Ein and 1/3 comes from Er. Adding a guide field tends to reduce the plasma energy gain through reducing the contribution from Ein, even though the reconnection rates are similar. The energy partition in the diffusion region observed by MMS is estimated and compared with the results from PIC simulations and MRX experiments.

Spacecraft Observations and Analytic Theory of Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Egedal, J.; Le, A.; Daughton, W.

Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive in this paper an exclusion energy parametermore » $${\\mathcal{E}}_{X}$$ providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell demon, only high-energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low-density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. Finally, the analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low-density separatrix.« less

Spacecraft Observations and Analytic Theory of Crescent-Shaped Electron Distributions in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection

DOE PAGES

Egedal, J.; Le, A.; Daughton, W.; ...

2016-10-24

Supported by a kinetic simulation, we derive in this paper an exclusion energy parametermore » $${\\mathcal{E}}_{X}$$ providing a lower kinetic energy bound for an electron to cross from one inflow region to the other during magnetic reconnection. As by a Maxwell demon, only high-energy electrons are permitted to cross the inner reconnection region, setting the electron distribution function observed along the low-density side separatrix during asymmetric reconnection. Finally, the analytic model accounts for the two distinct flavors of crescent-shaped electron distributions observed by spacecraft in a thin boundary layer along the low-density separatrix.« less

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Effects of Auroral Potential Drops on Field-Aligned Currents and Nightside Reconnection Dynamos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lotko, W.; Xi, S.; Zhang, B.; Wiltberger, M. J.; Lyon, J.

2016-12-01

The reaction of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to dynamic auroral potential drops is investigated using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global model and, for the first time in a global simulation, including the dissipative load of field-aligned potential drops in the low-altitude boundary condition. This extra load reduces the demand for field-aligned current (j||) from nightside reconnection dynamos. The system adapts by forcing the nightside x-line closer to Earth to reduce current lensing (j||/B = constant) at the ionosphere, with the plasma sheet undergoing additional contraction during substorm recovery and steady magnetospheric convection. For steady and moderate solar wind driving and with constant ionospheric conductance, the cross-polar cap potential and hemispheric field-aligned current are lower by approximately the ratio of the peak field-aligned potential drop to the cross polar cap potential (10-15%) when potential drops are included. Hemispheric ionospheric Joule dissipation is less by 8%, while the area-integrated, average work done on the fluid by the reconnecting magnetotail field increases by 50% within |y| < 8 RE. Effects on the nightside plasma sheet include: (1) an average x-line 4 RE closer to Earth; (2) a 12% higher mean reconnection rate; and (3) dawn-dusk asymmetry in reconnection with a 17% higher rate in the premidnight sector.

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

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Werner, Gregory R.; Uzdensky, Dmitri A., E-mail: Greg.Werner@colorado.edu

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,more » 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.« less

On the Electrons Dynamics during Rapid Island Coalescence in Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection: Case With and With No Guide Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cazzola, E.; Innocenti, M. E.; Markidis, S.; Goldman, M. V.; Newman, D. L.; Lapenta, G.

2015-12-01

We present a set of fully kinetic 2.5D simulations of electron dynamics during rapid magnetic islands coalescence in asymmetric conditions. Simulations are performed using the massively parallel fully kinetic implicit moment method code iPIC3D (Markidis et al. 2010). The domain is a double periodic box with two current sheets initially representing two different reconnection conditions with the same asymmetric ratio. In the upper sheet the conventional hyperbolic continuous functions for magnetic field and density are initialised across the layer (e.g. Pritchett 2008). In the lower layer the same asymmetric conditions are used the presence of an extremely steep gradient describing a pure tangential discontinuity.Cases with and without guide field are compared. While the upper layer shows the typical reconnection evolution of an asymmetric configuration, the lower layer very soon develops not-uniformly distributed multiple reconnection points which rapidly evolve in a series of magnetic islands. Quick islands coalescence follows. Even though the electrons dynamics during island merging has been studied in both symmetric and asymmetric conditions (e.g. Pritchett 2007, 2008b, Drake et al. 2006, Oka et al. 2010, Huang et al. 2014), these simulations show new interesting features such as the presence of three distinct regions, here named X, M and D, with very different properties. Regions X and M manifest typical signatures of ongoing reconnection, distinguishable thanks to the direct comparison with the outcomes of the upper layer. In particular, M-type regions are different because reconnection occurs between two merging islands in a vertical fashion with respect to the direction of the current sheets initially set. In contrast, regions D present a quite diverse features, not showing the typical signatures of a occurring reconnection. The present work is supported by the NASA MMS Grant NNX08AO84G. Additional support for the KULeuven team is provided by the European

Laboratory reconnection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grulke, Olaf

Laboratory experiments dedicated for the study of magnetic reconnection have been contributed considerably to a more detailed understanding of the involved processes. Their strength is to disentangle parameter dependencies, to diagnose in detail the plasma and field response, and to form an excellent testbed for the validation of numerical simulations. In the present paper recent results obtained from the new cylindrical reconnection experiment VINETA II are presented. The experimental setup allows to independently vary plasma parameters, reconnection drive strength/timescale, and current sheet amplitude. Current research objectives focus on two major scientific issues: Guide field effects on magnetic reconnection and the evolution of electromagnetic fluctuations. The superimposed homogeneous magnetic guide field has a strong influence on the spatiotemporal evolution of the current sheet, predominantly due to magnetic pitch angle effects, which leads to a strong elongation of the sheet along the separatrices and results in axial gradients of the reconnection rates. Within the current sheet, incoherent electromagnetic fluctuations are observed. Their magnetic signature is characterized by a broad spectrum somewhat centered around the lower-hybrid frequency and extremely short spatial correlation lengths being typically smaller than the local ion sound radius. The fluctuation amplitude correlates with the local current density and, thus, for low guide fields, displays also axial gradients. Despite the quantitatively different parameter regime and geometry the basic fluctuation properties are in good agreement with studies conducted at the MRX experiment (PPPL).

Two-stage Electron Acceleration by 3D Collisionless Guide-field Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buechner, J.; Munoz, P.

2017-12-01

We discuss a two-stage process of electron acceleration near X-lines of 3D collisionless guide-field magnetic reconnection. Non-relativistic electrons are first pre-accelerated by magnetic-field-aligned (parallel) electric fields. At the nonlinear stage of 3D guide-field magnetic reconnection electric and magnetic fields become filamentary structured due to streaming instabilities. This causes an additional curvature-driven electron acceleration in the guide-field direction. The resulting spectrum of the accelerated electrons follows a power law.

Magnetic Reconnection and Associated Transient Phenomena Within the Magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Louarn, Philippe; Andre, Nicolas; Jackman, Caitriona M.; Kasahara, Satoshi; Kronberg, Elena A.; Vogt, Marissa F.

2015-04-01

We review in situ observations made in Jupiter and Saturn's magnetosphere that illustrate the possible roles of magnetic reconnection in rapidly-rotating magnetospheres. In the Earth's solar wind-driven magnetosphere, the magnetospheric convection is classically described as a cycle of dayside opening and tail closing reconnection (the Dungey cycle). For the rapidly-rotating Jovian and Kronian magnetospheres, heavily populated by internal plasma sources, the classical concept (the Vasyliunas cycle) is that the magnetic reconnection plays a key role in the final stage of the radial plasma transport across the disk. By cutting and closing flux tubes that have been elongated by the rotational stress, the reconnection process would lead to the formation of plasmoids that propagate down the tail, contributing to the final evacuation of the internally produced plasma and allowing the return of the magnetic flux toward the planet. This process has been studied by inspecting possible `local' signatures of the reconnection, as magnetic field reversals, plasma flow anisotropies, energetic particle bursts, and more global consequences on the magnetospheric activity. The investigations made at Jupiter support the concept of an `average' X-line, extended in the dawn/dusk direction and located at 90-120 Jovian radius (RJ) on the night side. The existence of a similar average X-line has not yet been established at Saturn, perhaps by lack of statistics. Both at Jupiter and Saturn, the reconfiguration signatures are consistent with magnetospheric dipolarizations and formation of plasmoids and flux ropes. In several cases, the reconfigurations also appear to be closely associated with large scale activations of the magnetosphere, seen from the radio and auroral emissions. Nevertheless, the statistical study also suggests that the reconnection events and the associated plasmoids are not frequent enough to explain a plasma evacuation that matches the mass input rate from the

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic-Cavity Solar Eruptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions, one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 Angstroms Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet (EUV) Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), both on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT), hard X-ray telescope (HXT), and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite, and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions, and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic-cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approximately 10 kilometers per second prior to eruption, and then accelerate to approximately 100 kilometers per second during the eruption, although the slow-rise movement for the higher-altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate both filaments and both cavities to contain masses of approximately 10(exp 14-15) g and approximately 10(exp 15-16) g respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic-reconnection-based models for eruption onset, the tether cutting and the breakout models, are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12-minute interval over whch fast eruption begins, which is consistent with tether-cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-rays, however, do not occur until after fast eruption is underway, and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12-minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption, and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions, however, the onset of the

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Spine-fan reconnection. The influence of temporal and spatial variation in the driver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2012-09-01

Context. From observations, the atmosphere of the Sun has been shown to be highly dynamic with perturbations of the magnetic field often lacking temporal or spatial symmetry. Despite this, studies of the spine-fan reconnection mode at 3D nulls have so far focused on the very idealised case with symmetric driving of a fixed spatial extent. Aims: We investigate the spine-fan reconnection process for less idealised cases, focusing on asymmetric driving and drivers with different length scales. We look at the initial current sheet formation and whether the scalings developed in the idealised models are robust in more realistic situations. Methods: The investigation was carried out by numerically solving the resistive compressible 3D magnetohydrodynamic equations in a Cartesian box containing a linear null point. The spine-fan collapse was driven at the null through tangential boundary driving of the spine foot points. Results: We find significant differences in the initial current sheet formation with asymmetric driving. Notable is the displacement of the null point position as a function of driving velocity and resistivity (η). However, the scaling relations developed in the idealised case are found to be robust (albeit at reduced amplitudes) despite this extra complexity. Lastly, the spatial variation is also shown to play an important role in the initial current sheet formation through controlling the displacement of the spine foot points. Conclusions: We conclude that during the early stages of spine-fan reconnection both the temporal and spatial nature of the driving play important roles, with the idealised symmetrically driven case giving a "best case" for the rate of current development and connectivity change. As the most interesting eruptive events occur in relatively short time frames this work clearly shows the need for high temporal and spatial knowledge of the flows for accurate interpretation of the reconnection scenario. Lastly, since the scalings

Evidence for Gradual External Reconnection Before Explosive Eruption of a Solar Filament

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2004-01-01

We observe a slowly evolving quiet-region solar eruption of 1999 April 18, using extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images from the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and soft X-ray images from the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh. Using difference images, in which an early image is subtracted from later images, we examine dimmings and brightenings in the region for evidence of the eruption mechanism. A filament rose slowly at about 1 km/s for 6 hours before being rapidly ejected at about 16 km/s leaving flare brightenings and postflare loops in its wake. Magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on SOHO show that the eruption occurred in a large quadrupolar magnetic region with the filament located on the neutral line of the quadrupole s central inner lobe between the inner two of the four polarity domains. In step with the slow rise, subtle EIT dimmings commence and gradually increase over the two polarity domains on one side of the filament, i.e., in some of the loops of one of the two sidelobes of the quadrupole. Concurrently, soft X-ray brightenings gradually increase in both sidelobes. Both of these effects suggest heating in the sidelobe magnetic arcades. which gradually increase over several hours before the fast eruption. Also, during the slow pre- eruption phase, SXT dimmings gradually increase in the feet and legs of the central lobe, indicating expansion of the central-lobe magnetic arcade enveloping the filament. During the rapid ejection. these dimmings rapidly grow in darkness and in area, especially in the ends of the sigmoid field that erupts with the filament. and flare brightenings begin underneath the fast-moving but still low-altitude filament. We consider two models for explaining the eruption: "breakout. which says that reconnection occurs high above the filament prior to eruption, and tether cutting, which says that the eruption is unleashed by reconnection beneath the filament. The pre

Evidence for Gradual External Reconnection Before Explosive Eruption of a Solar Filament

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sterling, Alphonse C.; Moore, Ronald L.

2003-01-01

We observe a slowly-evolving quiet region solar eruption of 1999 April 18, using EUV images from the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and soft X-ray images from the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh. Using difference images, where an early image is subtracted from later images, we examine dimmings and brightenings in the region for evidence of the eruption mechanism. A filament rose slowly at about 1 kilometer per second for six hours before being rapidly ejected at about 16 kilometers per second, leaving flare brightenings and post-flare loops in its wake. Magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on SOHO show that the eruption occurred in a large quadrupo1ar magnetic region, with the filament located on the neutral line of the quadrupole's central inner lobe, between the inner two of the four polarity domains. In step with the slow rise, subtle EIT dimmings commence and gradually increase over the two polarity domains on one side of the filament, i.e. in some of the loops of one of the two side lobes of the quadrupole. Concurrently, soft X-ray brightenings gradually increase in both side lobes. Both of these effects suggest heating in the side-lobe magnetic arcades, which gradually increase over several hours before the fast eruption. Also during the slow pre-eruption phase, SXT dimmings gradually increase in the feet and legs of the central lobe, indicating expansion of the central-lobe magnetic arcade enveloping the filament. During the rapid ejection, these dimmings rapidly grow in darkness and in area, especially in the ends of the sigmoid field that erupts with the filament, and flare brightenings begin underneath the fast-moving but still low-altitude filament. We consider two models for explaining the eruption: "breakout," which says that reconnection occurs high above the filament prior to eruption, and tether cutting, which says that the eruption is unleashed by reconnection beneath the filament

Reconnecting to the biosphere.

PubMed

Folke, Carl; Jansson, Asa; Rockström, Johan; Olsson, Per; Carpenter, Stephen R; Chapin, F Stuart; Crépin, Anne-Sophie; Daily, Gretchen; Danell, Kjell; Ebbesson, Jonas; Elmqvist, Thomas; Galaz, Victor; Moberg, Fredrik; Nilsson, Måns; Osterblom, Henrik; Ostrom, Elinor; Persson, Asa; Peterson, Garry; Polasky, Stephen; Steffen, Will; Walker, Brian; Westley, Frances

2011-11-01

Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social-ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social-ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social-ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere--a global sustainability agenda for humanity.

Do changes in coronal emission structure imply magnetic reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nolte, J. T.; Gerassimenko, M.; Krieger, A. S.; Petrasso, R. D.; Svestka, Z.; Wentzel, D. G.

1977-01-01

Several physical processes that can affect the emission from structures in the corona are investigated on the basis of images of coronal X-ray and XUV emission structures. Changes in emission accompanied by little or no change in large-scale magnetic structure are examined, and three theoretically distinct processes by which magnetic structure can change are discussed: reconfiguration of potential (current-free) fields, reconfiguration of frozen-in fields, and reconfiguration by magnetic-field-line reconnection. The possibility is considered of determining by observation whether a change in emission results from a magnetic change and, if so, what kind of magnetic change has occurred. It is concluded that changes in coronal emission structure do not necessarily imply magnetic reconnection.

Multiple-Scale Physics During Magnetic Reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jara-Almonte, Jonathan

Magnetic reconnection is a key fundamental process in magnetized plasmas wherein the global magnetic topology is modified and stored energy is transferred from fields to particles. Reconnection is an inherently local process, and mechanisms to couple global-scale dynamics are not well understood. This dissertation explores two different mechanisms for cross-scale coupling during magnetic reconnection. As one example, we theoretically examine reconnection in a collisionless plasma using particle-in-cell simulations and demonstrate that large scale reconnection physics can couple to and drive microscopic instabilities, even in two-dimensional systems if significant scale separation exists between the Debye length and the electron skin depth.more » The physics underlying these instabilities is explained using simple theoretical models, and their potential connection to existing discrepancies between laboratory experiments and numerical simulations is explored. In three-dimensional systems, these instabilities are shown to generate anomalous resistivity that balances a substantial fraction of the electric field. In contrast, we also use experiments to investigate cross-scale couplings during reconnection in a collisional plasma. A leading candidate for coupling global and local scales is the hierarchical breakdown of elongated, reconnecting current sheets into numerous smaller current sheets -– the plasmoid instability. In the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX), recent hardware improvements have extended the accessible parameter space allowing for the study of long-lived, elongated current sheets. Moreover, by using Argon, reproducible and collisional plasmas are produced, which allow for a detailed statistical study of collisional reconnection. As a result, we have conclusively measured the onset of sub-ion-scale plasmoids during resistive, anti-parallel reconnection for the first time. The current sheet thickness is intermediate between ion and electron

The First ALMA Observation of a Solar Plasmoid Ejection from an X-Ray Bright Point

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shimojo, Masumi; Hudson, Hugh S.; White, Stephen M.

2017-05-20

Eruptive phenomena such as plasmoid ejections or jets are important features of solar activity and have the potential to improve our understanding of the dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Such ejections are often thought to be signatures of the outflows expected in regions of fast magnetic reconnection. The 304 Å EUV line of helium, formed at around 10{sup 5} K, is found to be a reliable tracer of such phenomena, but the determination of physical parameters from such observations is not straightforward. We have observed a plasmoid ejection from an X-ray bright point simultaneously at millimeter wavelengths with ALMA, atmore » EUV wavelengths with SDO /AIA, and in soft X-rays with Hinode /XRT. This paper reports the physical parameters of the plasmoid obtained by combining the radio, EUV, and X-ray data. As a result, we conclude that the plasmoid can consist either of (approximately) isothermal ∼10{sup 5} K plasma that is optically thin at 100 GHz, or a ∼10{sup 4} K core with a hot envelope. The analysis demonstrates the value of the additional temperature and density constraints that ALMA provides, and future science observations with ALMA will be able to match the spatial resolution of space-borne and other high-resolution telescopes.« less

Why fast magnetic reconnection is so prevalent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Interplay between electric fields generated by reconnection and by secondary processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Plasmaspheric Plume and Magnetopause Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walsh, B. M.; Phan, T. D.; Sibeck, D. G.; Souza, V. M.

2014-01-01

We present near-simultaneous measurements from two THEMIS spacecraft at the dayside magnetopause with a 1.5 h separation in local time. One spacecraft observes a high-density plasmaspheric plume while the other does not. Both spacecraft observe signatures of magnetic reconnection, providing a test for the changes to reconnection in local time along the magnetopause as well as the impact of high densities on the reconnection process. When the plume is present and the magnetospheric density exceeds that in the magnetosheath, the reconnection jet velocity decreases, the density within the jet increases, and the location of the faster jet is primarily on field lines with magnetosheath orientation. Slower jet velocities indicate that reconnection is occurring less efficiently. In the localized region where the plume contacts the magnetopause, the high-density plume may impede the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling by mass loading the reconnection site.

Measurement of the magnetotail reconnection rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanchard, G. T.; Lyons, L. R.; de la Beaujardière, O.; Doe, R. A.; Mendillo, M.

1996-07-01

A technique to measure the magnetotail reconnection rate from the ground is described and applied to 71 hours of measurements from 20 nights. The reconnection rate is obtained from the ionospheric flow across the polar cap boundary in the frame of reference of the boundary, measured by the Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar. For our measurements, the polar cap boundary is located using 6300 Å auroral emissions and E region electron density. The average experimental uncertainty of the reconnection rate measurement is 11.6 mVm-1 in the ionospheric electric field. By using a large data set, we obtain the dependence of the reconnection rate on magnetic local time, the interplanetary magnetic field, and substorm activity, with much higher accuracy. We find that two thirds of the average polar cap potential drop occurs over the 4-hour segment of the separatrix centered on 2330 MLT, that the linear correlation between the reconnection electric field and the half-wave rectified dawn-dusk solar wind electric field VBs peaks between 1.0 and 1.5 hours, with a maximum linear correlation coefficient of 0.46 at 70 min; and that following substorm expansion phase onset, the reconnection electric field becomes larger than the experimental uncertainty, with an average delay of 23 min. The 70-min delay of the reconnection rate with respect to VBs is a typical convection time for a flux tube across the polar cap. This result indicates that reconnection in the magnetotail is influenced by the solar wind electric field VBs on the field line being reconnected.

Electron acceleration in a secondary magnetic island formed during magnetic reconnection with a guide field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Huanyu; Lu, Quanming; Huang, Can; Wang, Shui

2017-05-01

Secondary magnetic islands may be generated in the vicinity of an X line during magnetic reconnection. In this paper, by performing two-dimensional (2-D) particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the role of a secondary magnetic island in electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection with a guide field. The electron motions are found to be adiabatic, and we analyze the contributions of the parallel electric field and Fermi and betatron mechanisms to electron acceleration in the secondary island during the evolution of magnetic reconnection. When the secondary island is formed, electrons are accelerated by the parallel electric field due to the existence of the reconnection electric field in the electron current sheet. Electrons can be accelerated by both the parallel electric field and Fermi mechanism when the secondary island begins to merge with the primary magnetic island, which is formed simultaneously with the appearance of X lines. With the increase in the guide field, the contributions of the Fermi mechanism to electron acceleration become less and less important. When the guide field is sufficiently large, the contribution of the Fermi mechanism is almost negligible.

The effect of a guide field on local energy conversion during asymmetric magnetic reconnection: Particle-in-cell simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassak, P.; Genestreti, K.; Burch, J. L.; Shay, M.; Swisdak, M.; Drake, J. F.; Price, L.; Eriksson, S.; Anderson, B. J.; Merkin, V. G.; Komar, C. M.; Phan, T.; Ergun, R.

2017-12-01

We use theoretical and computational techniques to study how the out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field strength modifies the location where the energy conversion rate between the electric field and the plasma is appreciable during asymmetric magnetic reconnection, motivated by observations by Genestreti et al. (J. Geophys. Res, submitted). For weak guide fields, the energy conversion rate is maximum midway between the X-line and electron stagnation point. As the guide field increases, it moves towards the electron stagnation point. We motivate how to extend the theory of the location of the stagnation points to include the effect of a guide field. The predictions are compared to two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with vastly different guide fields. The simulations have upstream parameters corresponding to three reconnection events observed with MMS. The predictions agree reasonably well with the simulation results, having captured trends with the guide field. The theory correctly predicts that the energy conversion is closer to the X-line in the absolute sense as the guide field increases. The results are then compared to MMS observations, Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) observations of each event, and global resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the 2015 Oct 16 event. The PIC simulation results agree well with the global observations and simulations, but differ in the strong electric fields and energy conversion rates found in the MMS observations. The results suggest that the strong electric fields observed by MMS do not represent a steady global rate.

Reconnection Diffusion in Turbulent Fluids and Its Implications for Star Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarian, A.

2014-05-01

Astrophysical fluids are turbulent a fact which changes the dynamics of many key processes, including magnetic reconnection. Fast reconnection of magnetic field in turbulent fluids allows the field to change its topology and connections. As a result, the traditional concept of magnetic fields being frozen into the plasma is no longer applicable. Plasma associated with a given magnetic field line at one instant is distributed along a different set of magnetic field lines at the next instant. This diffusion of plasmas and magnetic field is enabled by reconnection and therefore is termed "reconnection diffusion". The astrophysical implications of this concept include heat transfer in plasmas, advection of heavy elements in interstellar medium, magnetic field generation etc. However, the most dramatic implications of the concept are related to the star formation process. The reason is that magnetic fields are dynamically important for most of the stages of star formation. The existing theory of star formation has been developed ignoring the possibility of reconnection diffusion. Instead, it appeals to the decoupling of mass and magnetic field arising from neutrals drifting in respect to ions entrained on magnetic field lines, i.e. through the process that is termed "ambipolar diffusion". The predictions of ambipolar diffusion and reconnection diffusion are very different. For instance, if the ionization of media is high, ambipolar diffusion predicts that the coupling of mass and magnetic field is nearly perfect. At the same time, reconnection diffusion is independent of the ionization but depends on the scale of the turbulent eddies and on the turbulent velocities. In the paper we explain the physics of reconnection diffusion both from macroscopic and microscopic points of view, i.e. appealing to the reconnection of flux tubes and to the diffusion of magnetic field lines. We make use of the Lazarian and Vishniac (Astrophys. J. 517:700, 1999) theory of magnetic

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Spatial characteristics of magnetotail reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genestreti, Kevin J.

We examine the properties of magnetic reconnection as it occurs in the Earth's magnetosphere, first focusing on the spatial characteristics of the near-Earth magnetotail reconnection site, then analyzing the properties of cold plasma that may affect reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. Two models are developed that empirically map the position and occurrence rate of the nightside ion diffusion region, which are based upon Geotail data (first model) and a combination of Geotail and Cluster data (second model). We use these empirical models to estimate that NASA's MMS mission will encounter the ion-scale reconnection site 11+/-4 times during its upcoming magnetotail survey phase. We also find that the occurrence of magnetotail reconnection is localized and asymmetric, with reconnection occurring most frequently at the duskside magnetotail neutral sheet near YGSM* = 5 RE. To determine the physics that governs this asymmetry and localization, we analyze the time history of the solar wind, the instantaneous properties of the magnetotail lobes and current sheet, as well as the geomagnetic activity levels, all for a larger set of Geotail and Cluster reconnection site observations. We find evidence in our own results and in the preexisting literature that localized (small DeltaY) reconnection sites initially form near YGSM* = 5 RE due to an asymmetry in the current sheet thickness. If the solar wind driving remains strong, then localized reconnection sites may expand in the +/-Y direction. The DeltaY extent of the reconnection site ap- pears to be positively correlated with the geomagnetic activity level, which is to be expected for a simplified "energy in equals energy out"-type picture of 3D reconnection. We develop two new methods for determining the temperatures of plasmas that are largely below the energy detection range of electrostatic analyzer instruments. The first method involves the direct application of a theoretical fit to the visible, high-energy portion

Formation of electron energy spectra during magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Kai; Lu, Quanming; Huang, Can; Dong, Quanli; Wang, Huanyu; Fan, Feibin; Sheng, Zhengming; Wang, Shui; Zhang, Jie

2017-10-01

Energetic electron spectra formed during magnetic reconnection between two laser-produced plasma bubbles are investigated by the use of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the evolution of such an interaction between the two plasma bubbles can be separated into two distinct stages: squeezing and reconnection stages. In the squeezing stage, when the two plasma bubbles expand quickly and collide with each other, the magnetic field in the inflow region is greatly enhanced. In the second stage, a thin current sheet is formed between the two plasma bubbles, and then, magnetic reconnection occurs therein. During the squeezing stage, electrons are heated in the perpendicular direction by betatron acceleration due to the enhancement of the magnetic field around the plasma bubbles. Meanwhile, non-thermal electrons are generated by the Fermi mechanism when these electrons bounce between the two plasma bubbles approaching quickly and get accelerated mainly by the convective electric field associated with the plasma bubbles. During the reconnection stage, electrons get further accelerated mainly by the reconnection electric field in the vicinity of the X line. When the expanding speed of the plasma bubbles is sufficiently large, the formed electron energy spectra have a kappa distribution, where the lower energy part satisfies a Maxwellian function and the higher energy part is a power-law distribution. Moreover, the increase in the expanding speed will result in the hardening of formed power-law spectra in both the squeezing and reconnection stages.

Trefoil knot timescales for reconnection and helicity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerr, Robert M.

2018-02-01

Three-dimensional images of evolving numerical trefoil vortex knots are used to study the growth and decay of the enstrophy and helicity. Negative helicity density (h< 0) plays several roles. First, during anti-parallel reconnection, sheets of oppositely signed helicity dissipation of equal magnitude on either side of the maximum of the enstrophy dissipation allow the global helicity { H } to be preserved through the first reconnection, as suggested theoretically (Laing et al 2015 Sci. Rep. 5 9224) and observed experimentally (Scheeler et al 2014a Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 111 15350-5). Next, to maintain the growth of the enstrophy and positive helicity within the trefoil while { H } is preserved, h< 0 forms in the outer parts of the trefoil so long as the periodic boundaries do not interfere. To prevent that, the domain size {\\ell } is increased as the viscosity ν \\to 0. Combined, this allows two sets of trefoils to form a new scaling regime with linearly decreasing {(\\sqrt{ν }Z(t))}-1/2 up to common ν-independent times t x that the graphics show is when the first reconnection ends. During this phase there is good correspondence between the evolution of the simulated vortices and the reconnecting experimental trefoil of Kleckner and Irvine (2017 Nat. Phys. 9 253-8) when time is scaled by their respective nonlinear timescales t f . The timescales t f are based upon by the radii r f of the trefoils and their circulations Γ, so long as the strong camber of the experimental hydrofoil models is used to correct the published experimental circulations Γ that use only the flat-plate approximation.

Application of Stereo Vision to the Reconnection Scaling Experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klarenbeek, Johnny; Sears, Jason A.; Gao, Kevin W.

The measurement and simulation of the three-dimensional structure of magnetic reconnection in astrophysical and lab plasmas is a challenging problem. At Los Alamos National Laboratory we use the Reconnection Scaling Experiment (RSX) to model 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) relaxation of plasma filled tubes. These magnetic flux tubes are called flux ropes. In RSX, the 3D structure of the flux ropes is explored with insertable probes. Stereo triangulation can be used to compute the 3D position of a probe from point correspondences in images from two calibrated cameras. While common applications of stereo triangulation include 3D scene reconstruction and robotics navigation, wemore » will investigate the novel application of stereo triangulation in plasma physics to aid reconstruction of 3D data for RSX plasmas. Several challenges will be explored and addressed, such as minimizing 3D reconstruction errors in stereo camera systems and dealing with point correspondence problems.« less

Impact of Magnetic Draping, Convection, and Field Line Tying on Magnetopause Reconnection Under Northward IMF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wendel, Deirdre E.; Reiff, Patricia H.; Goldstein, Melvyn L.

2010-01-01

We simulate a northward IMF cusp reconnection event at the magnetopause using the OpenGGCM resistive MHD code. The ACE input data, solar wind parameters, and dipole tilt belong to a 2002 reconnection event observed by IMAGE and Cluster. Based on a fully three-dimensional skeleton separators, nulls, and parallel electric fields, we show magnetic draping, convection, ionospheric field line tying play a role in producing a series of locally reconnecting nulls with flux ropes. The flux ropes in the cusp along the global separator line of symmetry. In 2D projection, the flux ropes the appearance of a tearing mode with a series of 'x's' and 'o's' but bearing a kind of 'guide field' that exists only within the magnetopause. The reconnecting field lines in the string of ropes involve IMF and both open and closed Earth magnetic field lines. The observed magnetic geometry reproduces the findings of a superposed epoch impact parameter study derived from the Cluster magnetometer data for the same event. The observed geometry has repercussions for spacecraft observations of cusp reconnection and for the imposed boundary conditions reconnection simulations.

Patchy reconnection in the solar corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guidoni, Silvina Esther

2011-05-01

Magnetic reconnection in plasmas, a process characterized by a change in connectivity of field lines that are broken and connected to other ones with different topology, owes its usefulness to its ability to unify a wide range of phenomena within a single universal principle. There are newly observed phenomena in the solar corona that cannot be reconciled with two-dimensional or steady-state standard models of magnetic reconnection. Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) and supra-arcade downflowing loops (SADLs) descending from reconnection regions toward solar post-flare arcades seem to be two different observational signatures of retracting, isolated reconnected flux tubes with irreducible three-dimensional geometries. This dissertation describes work in refining and improving a novel model of patchy reconnection, where only a small bundle of field lines is reconnected across a current sheet (magnetic discontinuity) and forms a reconnected thin flux tube. Traditional models have not been able to explain why some of the observed SADs appear to be hot and relatively devoid of plasma. The present work shows that plasma depletion naturally occurs in flux tubes that are reconnected across nonuniform current sheets and slide trough regions of decreasing magnetic field magnitude. Moreover, through a detailed theoretical analysis of generalized thin flux tube equations, we show that the addition to the model of pressure-driven parallel dynamics, as well as temperature-dependent, anisotropic viscosity and thermal conductivity is essential for self-consistently producing gas-dynamic shocks inside reconnected tubes that heat and compress plasma to observed temperatures and densities. The shock thickness can be as long as the entire tube and heat can be conducted along tube's legs, possibly driving chromospheric evaporation. We developed a computer program that solves numerically the thin flux tube equations that govern the retraction of reconnected tubes. Simulations carried out

Magnetic Reconnection in Different Environments: Similarities and Differences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Rotationally driven magnetic reconnection in Saturn's dayside

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, R. L.; Yao, Z. H.; Wei, Y.; Ray, L. C.; Rae, I. J.; Arridge, C. S.; Coates, A. J.; Delamere, P. A.; Sergis, N.; Kollmann, P.; Grodent, D.; Dunn, W. R.; Waite, J. H.; Burch, J. L.; Pu, Z. Y.; Palmaerts, B.; Dougherty, M. K.

2018-06-01

Magnetic reconnection is a key process that explosively accelerates charged particles, generating phenomena such as nebular flares1, solar flares2 and stunning aurorae3. In planetary magnetospheres, magnetic reconnection has often been identified on the dayside magnetopause and in the nightside magnetodisc, where thin-current-sheet conditions are conducive to reconnection4. The dayside magnetodisc is usually considered thicker than the nightside due to the compression of solar wind, and is therefore not an ideal environment for reconnection. In contrast, a recent statistical study of magnetic flux circulation strongly suggests that magnetic reconnection must occur throughout Saturn's dayside magnetosphere5. Additionally, the source of energetic plasma can be present in the noon sector of giant planetary magnetospheres6. However, so far, dayside magnetic reconnection has only been identified at the magnetopause. Here, we report direct evidence of near-noon reconnection within Saturn's magnetodisc using measurements from the Cassini spacecraft. The measured energetic electrons and ions (ranging from tens to hundreds of keV) and the estimated energy flux of 2.6 mW m-2 within the reconnection region are sufficient to power aurorae. We suggest that dayside magnetodisc reconnection can explain bursty phenomena in the dayside magnetospheres of giant planets, which can potentially advance our understanding of quasi-periodic injections of relativistic electrons6 and auroral pulsations7.

Elliptic Curve Integral Points on y2 = x3 + 3x ‑ 14

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Jianhong

2018-03-01

The positive integer points and integral points of elliptic curves are very important in the theory of number and arithmetic algebra, it has a wide range of applications in cryptography and other fields. There are some results of positive integer points of elliptic curve y 2 = x 3 + ax + b, a, b ∈ Z In 1987, D. Zagier submit the question of the integer points on y 2 = x 3 ‑ 27x + 62, it count a great deal to the study of the arithmetic properties of elliptic curves. In 2009, Zhu H L and Chen J H solved the problem of the integer points on y 2 = x 3 ‑ 27x + 62 by using algebraic number theory and P-adic analysis method. In 2010, By using the elementary method, Wu H M obtain all the integral points of elliptic curves y 2 = x 3 ‑ 27x ‑ 62. In 2015, Li Y Z and Cui B J solved the problem of the integer points on y 2 = x 3 ‑ 21x ‑ 90 By using the elementary method. In 2016, Guo J solved the problem of the integer points on y 2 = x 3 + 27x + 62 by using the elementary method. In 2017, Guo J proved that y 2 = x 3 ‑ 21x + 90 has no integer points by using the elementary method. Up to now, there is no relevant conclusions on the integral points of elliptic curves y 2 = x 3 + 3x ‑ 14, which is the subject of this paper. By using congruence and Legendre Symbol, it can be proved that elliptic curve y 2 = x 3 + 3x ‑ 14 has only one integer point: (x, y) = (2, 0).

Origin of resistivity in reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treumann, Rudolf A.

2001-06-01

Resistivity is believed to play an important role in reconnection leading to the distinction between resistive and collisionless reconnection. The former is treated in the Sweet-Parker model of long current sheets, and the Petschek model of a small resistive region. Both models in spite of their different dynamics attribute to the violation of the frozen-in condition in their diffusion regions due to the action of resistivity. In collisionless reconnection there is little consensus about the processes breaking the frozen-in condition. The question is whether anomalous processes generate sufficient resistivity or whether other processes free the particles from slavery by the magnetic field. In the present paper we review processes that may cause anomalous resistivity in collisionless current sheets. Our general conclusion is that in space plasma boundaries accessible to in situ spacecraft, wave levels have always been found to be high enough to explain the existence of large enough local diffusivity for igniting local reconnection. However, other processes might take place as well. Non-resistive reconnection can be caused by inertia or diamagnetism.

The Onset of Magnetic Reconnection in Tail-Like Equilibria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Theory and Simulation of Reconnection. In memoriam Harry Petschek

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Büchner, J.

2006-06-01

Reconnection is a major commonality of solar and magnetospheric physics. It was conjectured by Giovanelli in 1946 to explain particle acceleration in solar flares near magnetic neutral points. Since than it has been broadly applied in space physics including magnetospheric physics. In a special way this is due to Harry Petschek, who in 1994 published his ground breaking solution for a 2D magnetized plasma flow in regions containing singularities of vanishing magnetic field. Petschek’s reconnection theory was questioned in endless disputes and arguments, but his work stimulated the further investigation of this phenomenon like no other. However, there are questions left open. We consider two of them “anomalous” resistivity in collisionless space plasma and the nature of reconnection in three dimensions. The CLUSTER and SOHO missions address these two aspects of reconnection in a complementary way -- the resistivity problem in situ in the magnetosphere and the 3D aspect by remote sensing of the Sun. We demonstrate that the search for answers to both questions leads beyond the applicability of analytical theories and that appropriate numerical approaches are necessary to investigate the essentially nonlinear and nonlocal processes involved. Necessary are both micro-physical, kinetic Vlasov-equation based methods of investigation as well as large scale (MHD) simulations to obtain the geometry and topology of the acting fields and flows.

PLASMOID EJECTIONS AND LOOP CONTRACTIONS IN AN ERUPTIVE M7.7 SOLAR FLARE: EVIDENCE OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND HEATING IN MAGNETIC RECONNECTION OUTFLOWS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu Wei; Chen Qingrong; Petrosian, Vahe

2013-04-20

Where particle acceleration and plasma heating take place in relation to magnetic reconnection is a fundamental question for solar flares. We report analysis of an M7.7 flare on 2012 July 19 observed by SDO/AIA and RHESSI. Bi-directional outflows in forms of plasmoid ejections and contracting cusp-shaped loops originate between an erupting flux rope and underlying flare loops at speeds of typically 200-300 km s{sup -1} up to 1050 km s{sup -1}. These outflows are associated with spatially separated double coronal X-ray sources with centroid separation decreasing with energy. The highest temperature is located near the nonthermal X-ray loop-top source wellmore » below the original heights of contracting cusps near the inferred reconnection site. These observations suggest that the primary loci of particle acceleration and plasma heating are in the reconnection outflow regions, rather than the reconnection site itself. In addition, there is an initial ascent of the X-ray and EUV loop-top source prior to its recently recognized descent, which we ascribe to the interplay among multiple processes including the upward development of reconnection and the downward contractions of reconnected loops. The impulsive phase onset is delayed by 10 minutes from the start of the descent, but coincides with the rapid speed increases of the upward plasmoids, the individual loop shrinkages, and the overall loop-top descent, suggestive of an intimate relation of the energy release rate and reconnection outflow speed.« less

Electron heating and acceleration during magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlin, Joel

2017-10-01

Magnetic reconnection is thought to be an important driver of energetic particles in a variety of astrophysical phenomena such as solar flares and magnetospheric storms. However, the observed fraction of energy imparted to a nonthermal component can vary widely in different regimes. We use kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to demonstrate the important role of the non-reversing (guide) field in controlling the efficiency of electron acceleration in collisionless reconnection. In reconnection where the guide field is smaller than the reconnecting component, the dominant electron accelerator is a Fermi-type mechanism that preferentially energizes the most energetic particles. In strong guide field reconnection, the field-line contraction that drives the Fermi mechanism becomes weak. Instead, parallel electric fields are primarily responsible for driving electron heating but are ineffective in driving the energetic component of the spectrum. Three-dimensional simulations reveal that the stochastic magnetic field that develops during 3D guide field reconnection plays a vital role in particle acceleration and transport. The reconnection outflows that drive Fermi acceleration also expel accelerating particles from energization regions. In 2D reconnection, electrons are trapped in island cores and acceleration ceases, whereas in 3D the stochastic magnetic field enables energetic electrons to leak out of islands and freely sample regions of energy release. A finite guide field is required to break initial 2D symmetry and facilitate escape from island structures. We show that reconnection with a guide field comparable to the reconnecting field generates the greatest number of energetic electrons, a regime where both (a) the Fermi mechanism is an efficient driver and (b) energetic electrons may freely access acceleration sites. These results have important implications for electron acceleration in solar flares and reconnection-driven dissipation in turbulence.

Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Chromosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Ion and electron dynamics generating the Hall current in the exhaust far downstream of the reconnection x-line

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fujimoto, Keizo, E-mail: keizo.fujimoto@nao.ac.jp; Takamoto, Makoto

2016-01-15

We have investigated the ion and electron dynamics generating the Hall current in the reconnection exhaust far downstream of the x-line where the exhaust width is much larger than the ion gyro-radius. A large-scale particle-in-cell simulation shows that most ions are accelerated through the Speiser-type motion in the current sheet formed at the center of the exhaust. The transition layers formed at the exhaust boundary are not identified as slow mode shocks. (The layers satisfy mostly the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for a slow mode shock, but the energy conversion hardly occurs there.) We find that the ion drift velocity is modifiedmore » around the layer due to a finite Larmor radius effect. As a result, the ions are accumulated in the downstream side of the layer, so that collimated ion jets are generated. The electrons experience two steps of acceleration in the exhaust. The first is a parallel acceleration due to the out-of-plane electric field E{sub y} which has a parallel component in most area of the exhaust. The second is a perpendicular acceleration due to E{sub y} at the center of the current sheet and the motion is converted to the parallel direction. Because of the second acceleration, the electron outflow velocity becomes almost uniform over the exhaust. The difference in the outflow profile between the ions and electrons results in the Hall current in large area of the exhaust. The present study demonstrates the importance of the kinetic treatments for collisionless magnetic reconnection even far downstream from the x-line.« less

Spacecraft Observations of Oblique Electron Beams Breaking the Frozen-In Law During Asymmetric Reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Egedal, J.; Le, Ari; Daughton, William

Fully kinetic simulations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection reveal the presence of magnetic-field-aligned beams of electrons flowing toward the topological magnetic x line. Within the ~ 6d e electron-diffusion region, the beams become oblique to the local magnetic field, providing a unique signature of the electron-diffusion region where the electron frozen-in law is broken. These numerical predictions are confirmed by in situ Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft observations during asymmetric reconnection at Earth’s dayside magnetopause.

Spacecraft Observations of Oblique Electron Beams Breaking the Frozen-In Law During Asymmetric Reconnection

DOE PAGES

Egedal, J.; Le, Ari; Daughton, William; ...

2018-01-29

Fully kinetic simulations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection reveal the presence of magnetic-field-aligned beams of electrons flowing toward the topological magnetic x line. Within the ~ 6d e electron-diffusion region, the beams become oblique to the local magnetic field, providing a unique signature of the electron-diffusion region where the electron frozen-in law is broken. These numerical predictions are confirmed by in situ Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft observations during asymmetric reconnection at Earth’s dayside magnetopause.

Intermittent Flare Energy Release: A Signature of Contracting Magnetic Islands from Reconnection?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guidoni, S. E.; Karpen, J. T.; DeVore, C.

2013-12-01

Many flares show short-lived enhancements of emission that protrude above their smooth underlying emission. These spikes have been observed over a vast energy spectrum, from radio to hard x-rays. In hard X-rays, for example, their duration ranges from 0.2 to 2 s, with the majority occurring during the flare impulsive phase (Cheng 2012). In most cases, this intermittent energy release is situated at the footpoints of flare arcades where ionized particles, previously accelerated to high energies at coronal heights, are decelerated by the dense solar surface. It is not yet understood what mechanisms accelerate ionized particles to the energies required to produce the observed emission spikes. Drake et al. (2006) proposed a kinetic mechanism for accelerating electrons from contracting magnetic islands that form as reconnection proceeds, analogous to the energy gain of a ball bouncing between converging walls. They estimated that multi-island regions of macroscopic dimensions might account for the required acceleration rates in flares, but at this time it is impractical to simulate large-scale systems in kinetic models. On the other hand, our recent high-resolution MHD simulations of a breakout eruptive flare (Karpen et al. 2012) allow us to resolve in detail the generation and evolution of macroscopic magnetic islands in a flare current sheet. Incorporating a rigorous kinetic model into our global simulations is not feasible at present. However, we intend to breach the gap between kinetic and fluid models by characterizing the contractions of islands as they move away from the main reconnection site, to determine their plausibility as candidates for the observed bursts of radiation. With our null-tracking capabilities, we follow the creation and evolution of the X- and O-type (island) nulls that result from spatially and temporally localized reconnection. Different regimes of current-sheet reconnection (slow/fast), island sizes, rates of island coalescence, and rates

Collisionless reconnection in a quasi-neutral sheet near marginal stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchett, P. L.; Coroniti, F. V.; Pellat, R.; Karimabadi, H.

1989-01-01

Particle simulations are used to investigate the process of collisionless reconnection in a magnetotail configuration which includes a pressure gradient along the tail axis and tail flaring. In the absence of electron stabilization effects, the tearing mode is stabilized when the ion gyrofrequency in the normal field exceeds the growth rate in the corresponding one-dimensional current sheet. The presence of a low-frequency electromagnetic perturbation in the lobes can serve to destabilize a marginally stable current sheet by producing an extended neutral-sheet region which can then undergo reconnection. These results help to explain how X-type neutral lines, such as those associated with the onset of magnetospheric substorms, can be formed in the near-earth plasma sheet.

Stochastic Reconnection for Large Magnetic Prandtl Numbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafari, Amir; Vishniac, Ethan T.; Kowal, Grzegorz; Lazarian, Alex

2018-06-01

We consider stochastic magnetic reconnection in high-β plasmas with large magnetic Prandtl numbers, Pr m > 1. For large Pr m , field line stochasticity is suppressed at very small scales, impeding diffusion. In addition, viscosity suppresses very small-scale differential motions and therefore also the local reconnection. Here we consider the effect of high magnetic Prandtl numbers on the global reconnection rate in a turbulent medium and provide a diffusion equation for the magnetic field lines considering both resistive and viscous dissipation. We find that the width of the outflow region is unaffected unless Pr m is exponentially larger than the Reynolds number Re. The ejection velocity of matter from the reconnection region is also unaffected by viscosity unless Re ∼ 1. By these criteria the reconnection rate in typical astrophysical systems is almost independent of viscosity. This remains true for reconnection in quiet environments where current sheet instabilities drive reconnection. However, if Pr m > 1, viscosity can suppress small-scale reconnection events near and below the Kolmogorov or viscous damping scale. This will produce a threshold for the suppression of large-scale reconnection by viscosity when {\\Pr }m> \\sqrt{Re}}. In any case, for Pr m > 1 this leads to a flattening of the magnetic fluctuation power spectrum, so that its spectral index is ∼‑4/3 for length scales between the viscous dissipation scale and eddies larger by roughly {{\\Pr }}m3/2. Current numerical simulations are insensitive to this effect. We suggest that the dependence of reconnection on viscosity in these simulations may be due to insufficient resolution for the turbulent inertial range rather than a guide to the large Re limit.

Turbulent magnetic fluctuations in laboratory reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Von Stechow, Adrian; Grulke, Olaf; Klinger, Thomas

2016-07-01

The role of fluctuations and turbulence is an important question in astrophysics. While direct observations in space are rare and difficult dedicated laboratory experiments provide a versatile environment for the investigation of magnetic reconnection due to their good diagnostic access and wide range of accessible plasma parameters. As such, they also provide an ideal chance for the validation of space plasma reconnection theories and numerical simulation results. In particular, we studied magnetic fluctuations within reconnecting current sheets for various reconnection parameters such as the reconnection rate, guide field, as well as plasma density and temperature. These fluctuations have been previously interpreted as signatures of current sheet plasma instabilities in space and laboratory systems. Especially in low collisionality plasmas these may provide a source of anomalous resistivity and thereby contribute a significant fraction of the reconnection rate. We present fluctuation measurements from two complementary reconnection experiments and compare them to numerical simulation results. VINETA.II (Greifswald, Germany) is a cylindrical, high guide field reconnection experiment with an open field line geometry. The reconnecting current sheet has a three-dimensional structure that is predominantly set by the magnetic pitch angle which results from the superposition of the guide field and the in-plane reconnecting field. Within this current sheet, high frequency magnetic fluctuations are observed that correlate well with the local current density and show a power law spectrum with a spectral break at the lower hybrid frequency. Their correlation lengths are found to be extremely short, but propagation is nonetheless observed with high phase velocities that match the Whistler dispersion. To date, the experiment has been run with an external driving field at frequencies higher than the ion cyclotron frequency f_{ci}, which implies that the EMHD framework applies

Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection and the magnetic topology of coronal mass ejection events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gosling, J. T.; Birn, J.; Hesse, M.

1995-01-01

Measurements of superthermal electron fluxes in the solar wind indicate that field lines within coronal mass ejections, CMEs, near and beyond 1 AU are normally connected to the Sun at both ends. However, on occasion some field lines embedded deep within CMEs appear to be connected to the Sun at only one end. Here we propose an explanation for how such field lines arise in terms of 3-dimensional reconnection close to the Sun. Such reconnection also provides a natural explanation for the flux rope topology characteristic of many CMEs as well as the coronal loops formed during long-duration, solar X-ray events. Our consideration of the field topologies resulting from 3-dimensional reconnection indicates that field lines within and near CMEs may on occasion be connected to the outer heliosphere at both ends.

Reconnection Mediated by Magnetic Fractures and the Solar Flare

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Full particle-in-cell simulations of kinetic equilibria and the role of the initial current sheet on steady asymmetric magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dargent, J.; Aunai, N.; Belmont, G.; Dorville, N.; Lavraud, B.; Hesse, M.

2016-06-01

> Tangential current sheets are ubiquitous in space plasmas and yet hard to describe with a kinetic equilibrium. In this paper, we use a semi-analytical model, the BAS model, which provides a steady ion distribution function for a tangential asymmetric current sheet and we prove that an ion kinetic equilibrium produced by this model remains steady in a fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation even if the electron distribution function does not satisfy the time independent Vlasov equation. We then apply this equilibrium to look at the dependence of magnetic reconnection simulations on their initial conditions. We show that, as the current sheet evolves from a symmetric to an asymmetric upstream plasma, the reconnection rate is impacted and the X line and the electron flow stagnation point separate from one another and start to drift. For the simulated systems, we investigate the overall evolution of the reconnection process via the classical signatures discussed in the literature and searched in the Magnetospheric MultiScale data. We show that they seem robust and do not depend on the specific details of the internal structure of the initial current sheet.

A review of astrophysical reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzdensky, Dmitri

Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process involving rapid rearrangement of magnetic field topology. It often leads to violent release of magnetic energy and its conversion to the plasma thermal and kinetic energy as well as nonthermal particle acceleration. It is thus believed to power numerous types of explosive phenomena both inside and outside the Solar system, including various kinds of high-energy flares. In this talk I will first give an overview of astrophysical systems where reconnection is believed to play an important role. Examples include pulsed high-energy emission in pulsar magnetospheres; gamma-ray flares in pulsar wind nebulae and AGN/blazar jets; Gamma-Ray Bursts; and giant flares in magnetar systems. I will also analyze the physical conditions of the plasma in some of these astrophysical systems and will discuss the fundamental physical differences between various astrophysical instances of magnetic reconnection and the more familiar solar and space examples of reconnection. In particular, I will demonstrate the importance of including radiative effects in order to understand astrophysical magnetic reconnection and in order to connect our theoretical models with the observed radiation signatures.

CCMC Modeling of Magnetic Reconnection in Electron Diffusion Region Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, A.; Reiff, P. H.; Daou, A.; Webster, J.; Sazykin, S. Y.; Kuznetsova, M.; Grocer, A.; Rastaetter, L.; Welling, D. T.; DeZeeuw, D.; Russell, C. T.

2017-12-01

We use the unprecedented spatial and temporal cadence of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission to study four electron diffusion events, and infer important physical properties of their respective magnetic reconnection processes. We couple these observations with numerical simulations using tools such as SWMF with RCM, and RECON-X, from the Coordinated Community Modeling Center, to provide, for a first time, a coherent temporal description of the magnetic reconnection process through tracing the coupling of IMF and closed Earth magnetic field lines, leading to the corresponding polar cap open field lines. We note that the reconnection geometry is far from slab-like: the IMF field lines drape over the magnetopause, lending to a stretching of the field lines. The stretched field lines become parallel to, and merge with the dayside separator. Surprisingly, the inner closed field lines also distort to become parallel to the separator. This parallel geometry allows a very sharp boundary between open and closed field lines. In three of the events, the MMS location was near the predicted separator location; in the fourth it was near the outflow region.

A generalized two-fluid picture of non-driven collisionless reconnection and its relation to whistler waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Young Dae

2017-10-01

A generalized, intuitive two-fluid picture of 2D non-driven collisionless magnetic reconnection is described using results from a full-3D numerical simulation. The relevant two-fluid equations simplify to the condition that the flux associated with canonical circulation Q =me ∇ ×ue +qe B is perfectly frozen into the electron fluid. Q is the curl of P =meue +qe A , which is the electron canonical momenrum. Since ∇ . Q = 0 , the Q flux tubes are incompressible and so have a fixed volume. Because they are perfectly frozen into the electron fluid, the Q flux tubes cannot reconnect. Following the behavior of these Q flux tubes provides an intuitive insight into 2D collisionless reconnection of B . In the reconnection geometry, a small perturbation to the central electron current sheet effectively brings a localized segment of a Q flux tube towards the X-point. This flux tube segment is convected downwards with the central electron current, effectively stretching the flux tube, decreasing its cross-section to maintain a fixed volume and so increasing the magnitude of Q . Also, because Q is the sum of the electron vorticity and the magnetic field, the two terms may change in such a way that one term becomes smaller while the other becomes larger while preserving constant Q flux. This allows magnetic reconnection, which is a conversion of magnetic field into particle velocity, to occur without any dissipation mechanism. The entire process has positive feedback with no restoring mechanism and therefore is an instability. The Q motion provides an interpretation for other phenomena as well, such as spiked central electron current filaments. The simulated reconnection rate was found to agree with a previous analytical calculation having the same geometry. Energy analysis shows that the magnetic energy is converted and propagated mainly in the form of the Poynting flux, while helicity analysis shows that the canonical helicity ∫ P . QdV as a whole must be considered when

Colour Reconnection in WW Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Hondt, J.

2003-07-01

Preliminary results are presented for a measurement of the κ parameter used in the JETSET SK-I model of Colour Reconnection in {W}+{W}^- -> qbar {q}'bar {q}q^' events at LEP2. An update on the investigation of Colour Reconnection effects in hadronic decays of W pairs, using the particle flow in DELPHI is presented. A second method is based on the observation that two different mW estimators have different sensitivity to the parametrised Colour Reconnection effect. Hence the difference between them is an observable with information content about κ.

Electric field with bipolar structure during magnetic reconnection without a guide field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jun

2014-05-01

We present a study on the polarized electric field during the collisionless magnetic reconnection of antiparallel fields using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The simulations demonstrate clearly that electron holes and electric field with bipolar structure are produced during magnetic reconnection without a guide field. The electric field with bipolar structure can be found near the X-line and on the separatrix and the plasma sheet boundary layer, which is consistent with the observations. These structures will elongate electron's time staying in the diffusion region. In addition, the electric fields with tripolar structures are also found in our simulation.

Simulation of the 3-D Evolution of Electron Scale Magnetic Reconnection - Motivated by Laboratory Experiments Predictions for MMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buechner, J.; Jain, N.; Sharma, A.

2013-12-01

The four s/c of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, to be launched in 2014, will use the Earth's magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes. One of them is magnetic reconnection, an essentially multi-scale process. While laboratory experiments and past theoretical investigations have shown that important processes necessary to understand magnetic reconnection take place at electron scales the MMS mission for the first time will be able to resolve these scales by in space observations. For the measurement strategy of MMS it is important to make specific predictions of the behavior of current sheets with a thickness of the order of the electron skin depth which play an important role in the evolution of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Since these processes are highly nonlinear and non-local numerical simulation is needed to specify the current sheet evolution. Here we present new results about the nonlinear evolution of electron-scale current sheets starting from the linear stage and using 3-D electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) simulations. The growth rates of the simulated instabilities compared well with the growth rates obtained from linear theory. Mechanisms and conditions of the formation of flux ropes and of current filamentation will be discussed in comparison with the results of fully kinetic simulations. In 3D the X- and O-point configurations of the magnetic field formed in reconnection planes alternate along the out-of-reconnection-plane direction with the wavelength of the unstable mode. In the presence of multiple reconnection sites, the out-of-plane magnetic field can develop nested structure of quadrupoles in reconnection planes, similar to the 2-D case, but now with variations in the out-of-plane direction. The structures of the electron flow and magnetic field in 3-D simulations will be compared with those in 2-D simulations to discriminate the essentially 3D features. We also discuss

Hyper-resistive forced magnetic reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vekstein, G., E-mail: g.vekstein@manchester.ac.uk

We study Taylor's model of forced magnetic reconnection mediated by plasma hyper-resistivity. This includes both linear and nonlinear regimes of the process. It is shown how the onset of plasmoid instability occurs in the strongly nonlinear regime of forced reconnection.

SAR Observation and Numerical Simulation of Internal Solitary Wave Refraction and Reconnection Behind the Dongsha Atoll

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, T.; Liang, J. J.; Li, X.-M.; Sha, J.

2018-01-01

The refraction and reconnection of internal solitary waves (ISWs) around the Dongsha Atoll (DSA) in the northern South China Sea (SCS) are investigated based on spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations and numerical simulations. In general, a long ISW front propagating from the deep basin of the northern SCS splits into northern and southern branches when it passes the DSA. In this study, the statistics of Envisat Advanced SAR (ASAR) images show that the northern and southern wave branches can reconnect behind the DSA, but the reconnection location varies. A previously developed nonlinear refraction model is set up to simulate the refraction and reconnection of the ISWs behind the DSA, and the model is used to evaluate the effects of ocean stratification, background currents, and incoming ISW characteristics at the DSA on the variation in reconnection locations. The results of the first realistic simulation agree with consecutive TerraSAR-X (TSX) images captured within 12 h of each other. Further sensitivity simulations show that ocean stratification, background currents, and initial wave amplitudes all affect the phase speeds of wave branches and therefore shift their reconnection locations while shapes and locations of incoming wave branches upstream of the DSA profoundly influence the subsequent propagation paths. This study clarifies the variation in reconnection locations of ISWs downstream of the DSA and reveals the important mechanisms governing the reconnection process, which can improve our understanding of the propagation of ISWs near the DSA.

A Magnetic Reconnection Event in the Solar Atmosphere Driven by Relaxation of a Twisted Arch Filament System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Zhenghua; Mou, Chaozhou; Fu, Hui; Deng, Linhua; Li, Bo; Xia, Lidong

2018-02-01

We present high-resolution observations of a magnetic reconnection event in the solar atmosphere taken with the New Vacuum Solar Telescope, Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). The reconnection event occurred between the threads of a twisted arch filament system (AFS) and coronal loops. Our observations reveal that the relaxation of the twisted AFS drives some of its threads to encounter the coronal loops, providing inflows of the reconnection. The reconnection is evidenced by flared X-shape features in the AIA images, a current-sheet-like feature apparently connecting post-reconnection loops in the Hα + 1 Å images, small-scale magnetic cancelation in the HMI magnetograms and flows with speeds of 40–80 km s‑1 along the coronal loops. The post-reconnection coronal loops seen in the AIA 94 Å passband appear to remain bright for a relatively long time, suggesting that they have been heated and/or filled up by dense plasmas previously stored in the AFS threads. Our observations suggest that the twisted magnetic system could release its free magnetic energy into the upper solar atmosphere through reconnection processes. While the plasma pressure in the reconnecting flux tubes are significantly different, the reconfiguration of field lines could result in transferring of mass among them and induce heating therein.

Diagnosis of Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

On the Collisionless Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection Rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Aspects of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection in Asymmetric Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Zenitani, 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 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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Corotating Magnetic Reconnection Site in Saturn’s Magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Z. H.; Coates, A. J.; Ray, L. C.; Rae, I. J.; Grodent, D.; Jones, G. H.; Dougherty, M. K.; Owen, C. J.; Guo, R. L.; Dunn, W. R.; Radioti, A.; Pu, Z. Y.; Lewis, G. R.; Waite, J. H.; Gérard, J.-C.

2017-09-01

Using measurements from the Cassini spacecraft in Saturn’s magnetosphere, we propose a 3D physical picture of a corotating reconnection site, which can only be driven by an internally generated source. Our results demonstrate that the corotating magnetic reconnection can drive an expansion of the current sheet in Saturn’s magnetosphere and, consequently, can produce Fermi acceleration of electrons. This reconnection site lasted for longer than one of Saturn’s rotation period. The long-lasting and corotating natures of the magnetic reconnection site at Saturn suggest fundamentally different roles of magnetic reconnection in driving magnetospheric dynamics (e.g., the auroral precipitation) from the Earth. Our corotating reconnection picture could also potentially shed light on the fast rotating magnetized plasma environments in the solar system and beyond.

Aspects of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hesse, Michael; Aunai, Nicolas; Kuznetsova, Masha

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 formore » particles in the reconnection region, which the weaker magnetic field in one of the inflow directions cannot necessarily provide.« less

Reconnection-Driven Coronal-Hole Jets with Gravity and Solar Wind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karpen, J. T.; Devore, C. R.; Antiochos, S. K.; Pariat, E.

2017-01-01

Coronal-hole jets occur ubiquitously in the Sun's coronal holes, at EUV and X-ray bright points associated with intrusions of minority magnetic polarity. The embedded-bipole model for these jets posits that they are driven by explosive, fast reconnection between the stressed closed field of the embedded bipole and the open field of the surrounding coronal hole. Previous numerical studies in Cartesian geometry, assuming uniform ambient magnetic field and plasma while neglecting gravity and solar wind, demonstrated that the model is robust and can produce jet-like events in simple configurations. We have extended these investigations by including spherical geometry,gravity, and solar wind in a nonuniform, coronal hole-like ambient atmosphere. Our simulations confirm that the jet is initiated by the onset of a kink-like instability of the internal closed field, which induces a burst of reconnection between the closed and external open field, launching a helical jet. Our new results demonstrate that the jet propagation is sustained through the outer corona, in the form of a traveling nonlinear Alfven wave front trailed by slower-moving plasma density enhancements that are compressed and accelerated by the wave. This finding agrees well with observations of white-light coronal-hole jets, and can explain microstreams and torsional Alfven waves detected in situ in the solar wind. We also use our numerical results to deduce scaling relationships between properties of the coronal source region and the characteristics of the resulting jet, which can be tested against observations.

Magneto-thermal reconnection processes, related mode momentum and formation of high energy particle populations

DOE PAGES

Coppi, B.; Basu, B.; Fletcher, A.

2017-05-31

In the context of a two-fluid theory of magnetic reconnection, when the longitudinal electron thermal conductivity is relatively large, the perturbed electron temperature tends to become singular in the presence of a reconnected field component and an electron temperature gradient. A finite transverse thermal diffusivity removes this singularity while a finite ‘inductivity’ can remove the singularity of the relevant plasma displacement. Then (i) a new ‘magneto-thermal’ reconnection producing mode, is found with characteristic widths of the reconnection layer remaining significant even when the macroscopic distances involved are very large; (ii) the mode phase velocities can be both in the directionmore » of the electron diamagnetic velocity as well in the opposite (ion) direction. A numerical solution of the complete set of equations has been carried out with a simplified analytical reformulation of the problem. A sequence of processes is analyzed to point out that high-energy particle populations can be produced as a result of reconnection events. These processes involve mode-particle resonances transferring energy of the reconnecting mode to a superthermal ion population and the excitation of lower hybrid waves that can lead to a significant superthermal electron population. The same modes excited in axisymmetric (e.g. toroidal) confinement configurations can extract angular momentum from the main body of the plasma column and thereby sustain a local ‘spontaneous rotation’ of it.« less

``Illuminating'' electron diffusion regions of collisionless magnetic reconnection using electron agyrotropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scudder, Jack; Daughton, William

2008-06-01

Agyrotropy is a scalar measure of the departure of the pressure tensor from cylindrical symmetry about the local magnetic field direction. Ordinarily electrons are well modeled as gyrotropic with very small agyrotropy. Intensified layers of electron agyrotropy are demonstrated to highlight the thin electron gyroradius scale boundary regions adjoining separatrices, X and O lines of full particle simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection. Examples are presented to show these effects in antiparallel and guide field geometries, pair plasmas, and simulations at a variety of mass ratios, including a hydrogen plasma. Agyrotropy has been determined from the PIC pressure tensor using a new, fast algorithm developed to correct discreteness contributions to the apparent agyrotropy. As a local scalar diagnostic, agyrotropy is shown to be potentially useful with single spacecraft data to identify the crossing or proximity of electron scale current layers, thus providing a kinetic level diagnosis of a given layer's ability to be a possible site of the collisionless reconnection process. Such kinetic tools are certainly complimentary to the other macroscopic signatures of reconnection. Because of the extreme circumstances required for electron agyrotropy, detection of these signatures with framing macroscopic signatures might prove useful for the discovery of new reconnection sites in nature and 3-D codes of collisionless reconnection. The agyrotropy in the 2-D PIC codes reflect long-lived bulges on the distribution function that appear to be organized by the direction and size of slowly evolving perpendicular electric fields in these layers and are not consistent with gyrophase bunching.

CHAIN RECONNECTIONS OBSERVED IN SYMPATHETIC ERUPTIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Joshi, Navin Chandra; Magara, Tetsuya; Schmieder, Brigitte

2016-04-01

The nature of various plausible causal links between sympathetic events is still a controversial issue. In this work, we present multiwavelength observations of sympathetic eruptions, associated flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occurring on 2013 November 17 in two close active regions. Two filaments, i.e., F1 and F2, are observed in between the active regions. Successive magnetic reconnections, caused for different reasons (flux cancellation, shear, and expansion) have been identified during the whole event. The first reconnection occurred during the first eruption via flux cancellation between the sheared arcades overlying filament F2, creating a flux rope and leading to themore » first double-ribbon solar flare. During this phase, we observed the eruption of overlying arcades and coronal loops, which leads to the first CME. The second reconnection is believed to occur between the expanding flux rope of F2 and the overlying arcades of filament F1. We suggest that this reconnection destabilized the equilibrium of filament F1, which further facilitated its eruption. The third stage of reconnection occurred in the wake of the erupting filament F1 between the legs of the overlying arcades. This may create a flux rope and the second double-ribbon flare and a second CME. The fourth reconnection was between the expanding arcades of the erupting filament F1 and the nearby ambient field, which produced the bi-directional plasma flows both upward and downward. Observations and a nonlinear force-free field extrapolation confirm the possibility of reconnection and the causal link between the magnetic systems.« less

Scaling of Electron Heating During Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohia, O.; Le, A.; Daughton, W. S.; Egedal, J.

2016-12-01

While magnetic reconnection plays a major role in accelerating and heating magnetospheric plasma, it remains poorly understood how the level of particle energization depends on the plasma conditions. Meanwhile, a recent survey of THEMIS magnetopause reconnection observations [Phan et al. GRL 2013] and a numerical study [Shay et al. PoP 2014] found empirically that the electron heating scales with the square of the upstream Alfven speed. Equivalently for weak guide fields, the fractional electron temperature increase is inversely proportional to the upstream electron beta (ratio of electron to magnetic pressure). We present models for symmetric reconnection with moderate [Ohia et al., GRL 2015] or zero guide field that predict the electron bulk heating. In the models, adiabatically trapped electrons gain energy from parallel electric fields in the inflowing region. For purely anti-parallel reconnection, meandering electrons receive additional energy from the reconnection electric field. The predicted scalings are in quantitative agreement with fluid and kinetic simulations, as well as spacecraft observations. Using kinetic simulations, we extend this work to explore how the layer dynamics and electron bulk heating vary as functions of the magnetic shear and plasma and magnetic pressure asymmetry across the reconnection layer. These results are pertinent to recent Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission measurements of electron dynamics during dayside magnetopause reconnection.

Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Small-scale filament eruptions as the driver of X-ray jets in solar coronal holes.

PubMed

Sterling, Alphonse C; Moore, Ronald L; Falconer, David A; Adams, Mitzi

2015-07-23

Solar X-ray jets are thought to be made by a burst of reconnection of closed magnetic field at the base of a jet with ambient open field. In the accepted version of the 'emerging-flux' model, such a reconnection occurs at a plasma current sheet between the open field and the emerging closed field, and also forms a localized X-ray brightening that is usually observed at the edge of the jet's base. Here we report high-resolution X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet observations of 20 randomly selected X-ray jets that form in coronal holes at the Sun's poles. In each jet, contrary to the emerging-flux model, a miniature version of the filament eruptions that initiate coronal mass ejections drives the jet-producing reconnection. The X-ray bright point occurs by reconnection of the 'legs' of the minifilament-carrying erupting closed field, analogous to the formation of solar flares in larger-scale eruptions. Previous observations have found that some jets are driven by base-field eruptions, but only one such study, of only one jet, provisionally questioned the emerging-flux model. Our observations support the view that solar filament eruptions are formed by a fundamental explosive magnetic process that occurs on a vast range of scales, from the biggest mass ejections and flare eruptions down to X-ray jets, and perhaps even down to smaller jets that may power coronal heating. A similar scenario has previously been suggested, but was inferred from different observations and based on a different origin of the erupting minifilament.

Acceleration of cosmic rays by turbulence during reconnection events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drake, Jim

2007-05-01

A Fermi-like model for energetic electron production during magnetic reconnection is described that converts a substantial fraction of released magnetic energy into energetic electrons [1]. Magnetic reconnection with a guide field leads to the growth and dynamics of multiple magnetic islands rather than a single large x-line. Electrons trapped within islands gain energy as they reflect from ends of contracting magnetic islands. The resulting rate of energy gain dominates that from parallel electric fields. The pressure from energetic electrons rises rapidly until the rate of electron energy gain balances the rate of magnetic energy release, establishing for the first time a link between the energy gain of electrons and the released magnetic energy. The energetic particle pressure therefore throttles the rate of reconnection. A transport equation for the distribution of energetic particles, including their feedback on island contraction, is obtained by averaging over the particle interaction with many islands. The steady state solutions in reconnection geometry result from convective losses balancing the Fermi drive. At high energy distribution functions take the form of a powerlaw whose spectral index depends only on the initial electron β, lower (higher) β producing harder (softer) spectra. The spectral index matches that seen in recent Wind spacecraft observations in the Earth's magnetotail. Harder spectra are predicted for the low β conditions of the solar corona or other astrophysical systems. Ions can be similarly accelerated if they are above an energy threshold. 1. J. F. Drake, M. Swisdak, H. Che and M. Shay, Nature 443, 553, 2006.

Reconnections of Wave Vortex Lines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, M. V.; Dennis, M. R.

2012-01-01

When wave vortices, that is nodal lines of a complex scalar wavefunction in space, approach transversely, their typical crossing and reconnection is a two-stage process incorporating two well-understood elementary events in which locally coplanar hyperbolas switch branches. The explicit description of this reconnection is a pedagogically useful…

The formation flare loops by magnetic reconnection and chromospheric ablation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forbes, T. G.; Malherbe, J. M.; Priest, E. R.

1989-01-01

Noncoplanar compressible reconnection theory is combined here with simple scaling arguments for ablation and radiative cooling to predict average properties of hot and cool flare loops as a function of the coronal vector magnetic field. For a coronal field strength of 100 G, the temperature of the hot flare loops decreases from 1.2 x 10 to the 7th K to 4.0 x 10 to the 6th K as the component of the coronal magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the loops increases from 0 percent to 86 percent of the total field. When the perpendicular component exceeds 86 percent of the total field or when the altitude of the reconnection site exceeds 10 to the 6th km, flare loops no longer occur. Shock-enhanced radiative cooling triggers the formation of cool H-alpha flare loops with predicted densities of roughly 10 to the 13th/cu cm, and a small gap of roughly 1000 km is predicted to exist between the footpoints of the cool flare loops and the inner edges of the flare ribbons.

FLARE: a New User Facility to Study Multiple-Scale Physics of Magnetic Reconnection Through in-situ Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W. S.; Chen, Y.; Cutler, R.; Fox, W.; Hoffmann, F.; Kalish, M.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C. E.; Ren, Y.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.; Bale, S. D.; Carter, T.; Dorfman, S. E.; Drake, J. F.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Wallace, J.

2016-12-01

The FLARE device (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments; http://flare.pppl.gov) is a new intermediate-scale plasma experiment under construction at Princeton for the studies of magnetic reconnection in the multiple X-line regimes directly relevant to space, solar, astrophysical, and fusion plasmas, as guided by a reconnection phase diagram [Ji & Daughton, Physics of Plasmas 18, 111207 (2011)]. Most of major components either have been already fabricated or are near their completion, including the two most crucial magnets called flux cores. The hardware assembly and installation begin in this summer, followed by commissioning in 2017. Initial comprehensive set of research diagnostics will be constructed and installed also in 2017. The main diagnostics is an extensive set of magnetic probe arrays, covering multiple scales from local electron scales ( ˜ 2 mm) , to intermediate ion scales ( ˜10 cm), and global MHD scales ( ˜ 1 m). The main advantage for the magnetospheric community to use this facility is the ability to simultaneously provide in-situ measurements over all of these relevant scales. By using these laboratory data, not only the detailed spatial profiles around each reconnecting X-line are available for direct comparisons with spacecraft data, but also the global conditions and consequences of magnetic reconnection, which are often difficult to quantify in space, can be controlled or studied systematically. The planned procedures and example topics as a user facility will be discussed in details.

Optimal Phase Oscillatory Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Follmann, Rosangela

2013-03-01

Important topics as preventive detection of epidemics, collective self-organization, information flow and systemic robustness in clusters are typical examples of processes that can be studied in the context of the theory of complex networks. It is an emerging theory in a field, which has recently attracted much interest, involving the synchronization of dynamical systems associated to nodes, or vertices, of the network. Studies have shown that synchronization in oscillatory networks depends not only on the individual dynamics of each element, but also on the combination of the topology of the connections as well as on the properties of the interactions of these elements. Moreover, the response of the network to small damages, caused at strategic points, can enhance the global performance of the whole network. In this presentation we explore an optimal phase oscillatory network altered by an additional term in the coupling function. The application to associative-memory network shows improvement on the correct information retrieval as well as increase of the storage capacity. The inclusion of some small deviations on the nodes, when solutions are attracted to a false state, results in additional enhancement of the performance of the associative-memory network. Supported by FAPESP - Sao Paulo Research Foundation, grant number 2012/12555-4

Fluctuation dynamics in reconnecting current sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Stechow, Adrian; Grulke, Olaf; Ji, Hantao; Yamada, Masaaki; Klinger, Thomas

2015-11-01

During magnetic reconnection, a highly localized current sheet forms at the boundary between opposed magnetic fields. Its steep perpendicular gradients and fast parallel drifts can give rise to a range of instabilities which can contribute to the overall reconnection dynamics. In two complementary laboratory reconnection experiments, MRX (PPPL, Princeton) and VINETA.II (IPP, Greifswald, Germany), magnetic fluctuations are observed within the current sheet. Despite the large differences in geometries (toroidal vs. linear), plasma parameters (high vs. low beta) and magnetic configuration (low vs. high magnetic guide field), similar broadband fluctuation characteristics are observed in both experiments. These are identified as Whistler-like fluctuations in the lower hybrid frequency range that propagate along the current sheet in the electron drift direction. They are intrinsic to the localized current sheet and largely independent of the slower reconnection dynamics. This contribution characterizes these magnetic fluctuations within the wide parameter range accessible by both experiments. Specifically, the fluctuation spectra and wave dispersion are characterized with respect to the magnetic topology and plasma parameters of the reconnecting current sheet.

Scaling of Magnetic Reconnection in Relativistic Collisionless Pair Plasmas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yi-Hsin; Guo, Fan; Daughton, William; Li, Hui; Hesse, Michael

2015-01-01

Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the scaling of the inflow speed of collisionless magnetic reconnection in electron-positron plasmas from the non-relativistic to ultra-relativistic limit. In the anti-parallel configuration, the inflow speed increases with the upstream magnetization parameter sigma and approaches the speed of light when sigma is greater than O(100), leading to an enhanced reconnection rate. In all regimes, the divergence of the pressure tensor is the dominant term responsible for breaking the frozen-in condition at the x-line. The observed scaling agrees well with a simple model that accounts for the Lorentz contraction of the plasma passing through the diffusion region. The results demonstrate that the aspect ratio of the diffusion region, modified by the compression factor of proper density, remains approximately 0.1 in both the non-relativistic and relativistic limits.

Distinguishing between pulsed and continuous reconnection at the dayside magnetopause.

PubMed

Trattner, K J; Onsager, T G; Petrinec, S M; Fuselier, S A

2015-03-01

Magnetic reconnection has been established as the dominant mechanism by which magnetic fields in different regions change topology to create open magnetic field lines that allow energy and momentum to flow into the magnetosphere. One of the persistent problems of magnetic reconnection is the question of whether the process is continuous or intermittent and what input condition(s) might favor one type of reconnection over the other. Observations from imagers that record FUV emissions caused by precipitating cusp ions demonstrate the global nature of magnetic reconnection. Those images show continuous ionospheric emissions even during changing interplanetary magnetic field conditions. On the other hand, in situ observations from polar-orbiting satellites show distinctive cusp structures in flux distributions of precipitating ions, which are interpreted as the telltale signature of intermittent reconnection. This study uses a modification of the low-velocity cutoff method, which was previously successfully used to determine the location of the reconnection site, to calculate for the cusp ion distributions the "time since reconnection occurred." The "time since reconnection" is used to determine the "reconnection time" for the cusp magnetic field lines where these distributions have been observed. The profile of the reconnection time, either continuous or stepped, is a direct measurement of the nature of magnetic reconnection at the reconnection site. This paper will discuss a continuous and pulsed reconnection event from the Polar spacecraft to illustrate the methodology.

FLARE: a New User Facility for Studies of Magnetic Reconnection Through Simultaneous, in-situ Measurements on MHD Scales, Ion Scales and Electron Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, H.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Goodman, A.; Prager, S.; Daughton, W. S.; Cutler, R.; Fox, W.; Hoffmann, F.; Kalish, M.; Kozub, T.; Jara-Almonte, J.; Myers, C. E.; Ren, Y.; Sloboda, P.; Yamada, M.; Yoo, J.; Bale, S. D.; Carter, T.; Dorfman, S. E.; Drake, J. F.; Egedal, J.; Sarff, J.; Wallace, J.

2017-12-01

The FLARE device (Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments; flare.pppl.gov) is a new laboratory experiment under construction at Princeton for the studies of magnetic reconnection in the multiple X-line regimes directly relevant to space, solar, astrophysical, and fusion plasmas, as guided by a reconnection phase diagram [Ji & Daughton, (2011)]. The whole device has been successfully assembled with rough leak check completed. The first plasmas are expected in the fall to winter. The main diagnostic is an extensive set of magnetic probe arrays to cover multiple scales from local electron scales ( ˜2 mm), to intermediate ion scales ( ˜10 cm), and global MHD scales ( ˜1 m), simultaneously providing in-situ measurements over all these relevant scales. By using these laboratory data, not only the detailed spatial profiles around each reconnecting X-line are available for direct comparisons with spacecraft data, but also the global conditions and consequences of magnetic reconnection, which are often difficult to quantify in space, can be controlled or studied systematically. The planned procedures and example topics as a user facility will be discussed in detail.

Turbulent Reconnection Rates from Cluster Observations in the Magnetosheath

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wendel, Deirdre

2011-01-01

The role of turbulence in producing fast reconnection rates is an important unresolved question. Scant in situ analyses exist. We apply multiple spacecraft techniques to a case of nonlinear turbulent reconnection in the magnetosheath to test various theoretical results for turbulent reconnection rates. To date, in situ estimates of the contribution of turbulence to reconnection rates have been calculated from an effective electric field derived through linear wave theory. However, estimates of reconnection rates based on fully nonlinear turbulence theories and simulations exist that are amenable to multiple spacecraft analyses. Here we present the linear and nonlinear theories and apply some of the nonlinear rates to Cluster observations of reconnecting, turbulent current sheets in the magnetosheath. We compare the results to the net reconnection rate found from the inflow speed. Ultimately, we intend to test and compare linear and nonlinear estimates of the turbulent contribution to reconnection rates and to measure the relative contributions of turbulence and the Hall effect.

Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, Sabrina

2014-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is often referred to as the primary source of energy release during solar flares. Directly observing reconnection occurring in the solar atmosphere, however, is not trivial considering that the scale size of the diffusion region is magnitudes smaller than the observational capabilities of current instrumentation, and coronal magnetic field measurements are not currently sufficient to capture the process. Therefore, predicting and studying observationally feasible signatures of the precursors and consequences of reconnection is necessary for guiding and verifying the simulations that dominate our understanding. I will present a set of such observations, particularly in connection with long-duration solar events, and compare them with recent simulations and theoretical predictions.

Accuracy of the weighted essentially non-oscillatory conservative finite difference schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Don, Wai-Sun; Borges, Rafael

2013-10-01

In the reconstruction step of (2r-1) order weighted essentially non-oscillatory conservative finite difference schemes (WENO) for solving hyperbolic conservation laws, nonlinear weights αk and ωk, such as the WENO-JS weights by Jiang et al. and the WENO-Z weights by Borges et al., are designed to recover the formal (2r-1) order (optimal order) of the upwinded central finite difference scheme when the solution is sufficiently smooth. The smoothness of the solution is determined by the lower order local smoothness indicators βk in each substencil. These nonlinear weight formulations share two important free parameters in common: the power p, which controls the amount of numerical dissipation, and the sensitivity ε, which is added to βk to avoid a division by zero in the denominator of αk. However, ε also plays a role affecting the order of accuracy of WENO schemes, especially in the presence of critical points. It was recently shown that, for any design order (2r-1), ε should be of Ω(Δx2) (Ω(Δxm) means that ε⩾CΔxm for some C independent of Δx, as Δx→0) for the WENO-JS scheme to achieve the optimal order, regardless of critical points. In this paper, we derive an alternative proof of the sufficient condition using special properties of βk. Moreover, it is unknown if the WENO-Z scheme should obey the same condition on ε. Here, using same special properties of βk, we prove that in fact the optimal order of the WENO-Z scheme can be guaranteed with a much weaker condition ε=Ω(Δxm), where m(r,p)⩾2 is the optimal sensitivity order, regardless of critical points. Both theoretical results are confirmed numerically on smooth functions with arbitrary order of critical points. This is a highly desirable feature, as illustrated with the Lax problem and the Mach 3 shock-density wave interaction of one dimensional Euler equations, for a smaller ε allows a better essentially non-oscillatory shock capturing as it does not over-dominate over the size of �

Fast Magnetotail Reconnection: Challenge to Global MHD Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuznetsova, M. M.; Hesse, M.; Rastaetter, L.; Toth, G.; de Zeeuw, D.; Gombosi, T.

2005-05-01

Representation of fast magnetotail reconnection rates during substorm onset is one of the major challenges to global MHD modeling. Our previous comparative study of collisionless magnetic reconnection in GEM Challenge geometry demonstrated that the reconnection rate is controlled by ion nongyrotropic behavior near the reconnection site and that it can be described in terms of nongyrotropic corrections to the magnetic induction equation. To further test the approach we performed MHD simulations with nongyrotropic corrections of forced reconnection for the Newton Challenge setup. As a next step we employ the global MHD code BATSRUS and test different methods to model fast magnetotail reconnection rates by introducing non-ideal corrections to the induction equation in terms of nongyrotropic corrections, spatially localized resistivity, or current dependent resistivity. The BATSRUS adaptive grid structure allows to perform global simulations with spatial resolution near the reconnection site comparable with spatial resolution of local MHD simulations for the Newton Challenge. We select solar wind conditions which drive the accumulation of magnetic field in the tail lobes and subsequent magnetic reconnection and energy release. Testing the ability of global MHD models to describe magnetotail evolution during substroms is one of the elements of science based validation efforts at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center.

How Does the Electron Dynamics Affect the Global Reconnection Rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael

2012-01-01

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.

Breaking The Ion Frozen-in Condition Via The Non-gyrotropic Pressure Effect In Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, L.; Wang, C.; Angelopoulos, V.; Glassmeier, K. H.

2016-12-01

For magnetic reconnection to proceed, the frozen-in condition for both ion fluid and electron fluid in a localized diffusion region must be violated. In the framework of fluid, the frozen-in can be broken by inertial effects, thermal pressure effects, or inter-species collisions. An essential question in reconnection physics is what effect breaks the ion/electron frozen-in in the diffusion region. We present clear in-situ evidence that the off-diagonal pressure tensor, which corresponds to a non-gyrotropic pressure effect, is mainly responsible for breaking the ion frozen-in condition in reconnection. The non-gyrotropic pressure tensor is a fluid manifestation of ion demagnetization in reconnection. As our experiences indicate, we feel the need to clarify several conceptual points regarding the approach to studying diffusion region. 1) Conceptually, the ion/electron momentum equations ("ion/electron Ohm's law"), rather than the generalized Ohm's law (Rossi and Olbert,1970, equation [12.25] ), are appropriate for investigating the fronzen-in or decoupling of individual fluid species. 2) The reconnection electric field is equally explainable in terms of ion momentum or electron momentum equation.

Binary Oscillatory Crossflow Electrophoresis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molloy, Richard F.; Gallagher, Christopher T.; Leighton, David T., Jr.

1996-01-01

We present preliminary results of our implementation of a novel electrophoresis separation technique: Binary Oscillatory Cross flow Electrophoresis (BOCE). The technique utilizes the interaction of two driving forces, an oscillatory electric field and an oscillatory shear flow, to create an active binary filter for the separation of charged species. Analytical and numerical studies have indicated that this technique is capable of separating proteins with electrophoretic mobilities differing by less than 10%. With an experimental device containing a separation chamber 20 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 1 mm thick, an order of magnitude increase in throughput over commercially available electrophoresis devices is theoretically possible.

Thin current sheets observation by MMS during a near-Earth's magnetotail reconnection event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, R.; Varsani, A.; Nakamura, T.; Genestreti, K.; Plaschke, F.; Baumjohann, W.; Nagai, T.; Burch, J.; Cohen, I. J.; Ergun, R.; Fuselier, S. A.; Giles, B. L.; Le Contel, O.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Magnes, W.; Schwartz, S. J.; Strangeway, R. J.; Torbert, R. B.

2017-12-01

During summer 2017, the four spacecraft of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission traversed the nightside magnetotail current sheet at an apogee of 25 RE. They detected a number of flow reversal events suggestive of the passage of the reconnection current sheet. Due to the mission's unprecedented high-time resolution and spatial separation well below the ion scales, structure of thin current sheets is well resolved both with plasma and field measurements. In this study we examine the detailed structure of thin current sheets during a flow reversal event from tailward flow to Earthward flow, when MMS crossed the center of the current sheet . We investigate the changes in the structure of the thin current sheet relative to the X-point based on multi-point analysis. We determine the motion and strength of the current sheet from curlometer calculations comparing these with currents obtained from the particle data. The observed structures of these current sheets are also compared with simulations.

Extended Magnetic Reconnection Across the Dayside Magnetopause

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunlop, M. W.; Zhang, Q.-H.; Bogdanova, Y. V.; Lockwood, M.; Pu, Z.; Hasegawa, H.; Wang, J.; Taylor, M. G. G. T.; Berchem, J.; Lavraund, B.;

Hall effect and fine structures in magnetic reconnection with high plasma {beta}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jin, S.P.; Yang, H.A.; Wang, X.G.

2005-04-15

Magnetic reconnection with various plasma {beta} (the ratio of plasma pressure to the magnetic pressure) is studied numerically using a 2.5 dimensional Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code developed from a multistep implicit scheme. The initial state of the Hall MHD simulation is an equilibrium Harris sheet with L{sub c}=0.5d{sub i} (where L{sub c} is the half-width of the equilibrium current layer and d{sub i} is the ion inertial length) and a zero guide field (i.e., B{sub y0}=0 at t=0). Driven by a constant boundary inflow a quasisteady fast reconnection occurs in the plasma with a low uniform resistivity. The out-of-plane magneticmore » field component B{sub y} is then spontaneously generated and its quadrupolar structure is shown around the X point. It is demonstrated by the comparing studies that the reconnection dynamics is controlled by the Hall effect and the effect of scalar electron pressure gradient is negligible in the generalized Ohm's law. It is also found that the openness of the magnetic separatrix angle and associated quadrupolar B{sub y} structure is enlarged as {beta} increases. When {beta}>2.0 fine structures of B{sub y} contours with reversed sign emerge. The numerical results indicate that the variations in electron velocity V{sub e} are greater than those in ion velocity V{sub i} and the decoupling of electron and ion occurs in larger scale lengths than d{sub i} as {beta} increases. Clearly, the reserve current, which is associated with the relative motion between electrons and ions, generates the fine structures of B{sub y} contours in the outflow region. Then the corresponding profile of B{sub y} component exhibits a static whistler wave signature. Enhanced wave activities observed during a Cluster crossing of the high-{beta} exterior cusp region [Y. Khotyaintsev, A. Vaivads, Y. Ogawa, B. Popielawska, M. Andre, S. Buchert, P. Decreau, B. Lavraud, and H. Reme, Ann. Geophys. 22, 2403 (2004)] might be related to the Hall effects of magnetic

Particle acceleration at a reconnecting magnetic separator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Cross-Scale Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, Sabrina; Malaspina, David

2014-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a significant mechanism for energy release across many astrophysical applications. In the solar atmosphere, reconnection is considered a primary contributor of flare evolution and coronal heating. Directly observing reconnection occurring in the solar atmosphere, however, is not trivial considering that the scale size of the diffusion region is magnitudes smaller than the observational capabilities of current instrumentation, and coronal magnetic field measurements are not currently sufficient to capture the process. Meanwhile, reconnection occurring in the Earth's magnetosphere transfers energy from the solar wind through a comparable process, although on vastly different scales. Magnetospheric measurements are made in situ rather than remotely; ergo, comparison of observations between the two regimes allows for potentially significant insight into reconnection as a stochastic and possibly turbulent process. We will present a set of observations from long-duration solar events and compare them to in situ measurements from the magnetosphere.

Cross-scale Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savage, S. L.; Malaspina, D.

2014-12-01

Magnetic reconnection is a significant mechanism for energy release across many astrophysical applications. In the solar atmosphere, reconnection is considered a primary contributor of flare evolution and coronal heating. Directly observing reconnection occurring in the solar atmosphere, however, is not trivial considering that the scale size of the diffusion region is magnitudes smaller than the observational capabilities of current instrumentation, and coronal magnetic field measurements are not currently sufficient to capture the process. Meanwhile, reconnection occurring in the Earth's magnetosphere transfers energy from the solar wind through a comparable process, although on vastly different scales. Magnetospheric measurements are made in situ rather than remotely; ergo, comparison of observations between the two regimes allows for potentially significant insight into reconnection as a stochastic and possibly turbulent process. We will present a set of observations from long-duration solar events and compare them to in situ measurements from the magnetosphere.

Magnetic Reconnection Results on the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Dynamic Instability Leading to Increased Interchange Reconnection Rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edmondson, J. K.; Antiochos, S. K.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2008-12-01

Interchange reconnection is widely believed to play an important role in coronal magnetic field dynamics. In this investigation we investigate the 3D dynamics of interchange reconnection by extending the concept of a magnetic null-point to a null-volume, the so-called "acute-cusp field" configuration. The acute-cusp field geometry is characterized by high-beta plasma confined with favorable curvature, surrounded by a low-beta environment. First, we construct an initial translationally-symmetric potential field configuration. This configuration contains the required topological characteristics of four separate flux systems in the perpendicular plane. We then drive the system by a slow, incompressible, uniform flow at the boundary. The resulting evolution is calculated by solving numerically the MHD equations in full 3D Cartesian coordinates using the Adaptively Refined MHD Solver developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Field shearing along the topological boundaries changes the shape of the acute-cusp field surface separating the high and low plasma beta regions. An extended, 2D current sheet is generated by the photospheric driving. We discuss the effect of 3D perturbations on the current sheet dynamics and on the rate of the resulting interchange reconnection. Finally, we discuss the implications of our simulations for coronal observations. This work has been supported, in part, by the NASA HTP and SR&T programs.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

High fidelity kinetic modeling of magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanier, A.; Daughton, W. S.

2017-12-01

Over the past decade, a great deal of progress has been made towards understanding the physics of magnetic reconnection in weakly collisional regimes of relevance to both fusion devices, and to space and astrophysical plasmas. However, there remain some outstanding unsolved problems in reconnection physics, such as the generation and influence of plasmoids (flux ropes) within reconnection layers, the development of magnetic turbulence, the role of current driven and streaming instabilities, and the influence of electron pressure anisotropy on the layer structure. Due to the importance of these questions, new laboratory reconnection experiments are being built to allow controlled and reproducible study of such questions with the simultaneous acquisition of high time resolution measurements at a large number of spatial points. These experiments include the FLARE facility at Princeton University and the T-REX experiment at the University of Wisconsin. To guide and interpret these new experiments, and to extrapolate the results to space applications, new investments in kinetic modeling tools are required. We have recently developed a cylindrical version of the VPIC Particle-In-Cell code with the capability to perform first-principles kinetic simulations that approach experimental device size with more realistic geometry and drive coils. This cylindrical version inherits much of the optimization work that has been done recently for the next generation many-cores architectures with wider vector registers, and achieves comparable conservation properties as the Cartesian code. Namely it features exact discrete charge conservation, and a so-called "energy-conserving" scheme where the energy is conserved in the limit of continuous time, i.e. without contribution from spatial discretization (Lewis, 1970). We will present initial results of modeling magnetic reconnection in the experiments mentioned above. Since the VPIC code is open source (https

Microphysics of Magnetic Reconnection: Experiments on RSX and Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Intrator, T. P.; Furno, I. G.; Hsu, S. C.; Lapenta, G.; Ricci, P.

2003-12-01

Using a unique LANL laboratory facility, the Reconnection Scaling Experiment (RSX), and a state-of-the-art LANL numerical code, CELESTE3D, we are beginning an experimental and numerical study of the microphysics of 2D and 3D "fast magnetic reconnection". RSX at Los Alamos National Laboratory is already operational and producing research plasmas. In RSX, the radial boundaries and thus the reconnection geometry are not constrained to two dimensions. It is capable of investigating 3D magnetic reconnection occurring in a free-boundary 3D linear geometry during the coalescence of two parallel current plasma channels, which are produced by using plasma gun technology. RSX can also scale the guide field (ion gyroradius) independently of other reconnection parameters. Frontier reconnection research invokes (1) `anomalous' microinstability-induced resistivity, which enhances dissipation rates inside the reconnection layer and (2) terms of the two-fluid generalized Ohm's law which introduce whistler and kinetic Alfvén wave dynamics. The two-fluid approach predicts (a) a two-spatial-scale spatial structure of the reconnection layer, with outer (inner) thickness equal to the ion (electron) skin depth and (b) Hall currents in the reconnection plane and out-of-plane magnetic field on the electron scale. We will show spatially resolved RSX experimental measurements of the dynamics of the reconnection layer, and take advantage of our scaling capabilities to address the applicability of the two-fluid approach.

Concerning the Motion and Orientation of Flux Transfer Events Produced by Component and Antiparallel Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sibeck, D. G.; Lin, R.-Q.

2011-01-01

We employ the Cooling et al. (2001) model to predict the location, orientation, motion, and signatures of flux transfer events (FTEs) generated at the solstices and equinoxes along extended subsolar component and high ]latitude antiparallel reconnection curves for typical solar wind plasma conditions and various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strengths and directions. In general, events generated by the two mechanisms maintain the strikingly different orientations they begin with as they move toward the terminator in opposite pairs of magnetopause quadrants. The curves along which events generated by component reconnection form bow toward the winter cusp. Events generated by antiparallel reconnection form on the equatorial magnetopause during intervals of strongly southward IMF orientation during the equinoxes, form in the winter hemisphere and only reach the dayside equatorial magnetopause during the solstices when the IMF strength is very large and the IMF points strongly southward, never reach the equatorial dayside magnetopause when the IMF has a substantial dawnward or duskward component, and never reach the equatorial flank magnetopause during intervals of northward and dawnward or duskward IMF orientation. Magnetosheath magnetic fields typically have strong components transverse to events generated by component reconnection but only weak components transverse to the axes of events generated by antiparallel reconnection. As a result, much stronger bipolar magnetic field signatures normal to the nominal magnetopause should accompany events generated by component reconnection. The results presented in this paper suggest that events generated by component reconnection predominate on the dayside equatorial and flank magnetopause for most solar wind conditions.

Distinguishing between pulsed and continuous reconnection at the dayside magnetopause

PubMed Central

Onsager, T. G.; Petrinec, S. M.; Fuselier, S. A.

2015-01-01

Abstract Magnetic reconnection has been established as the dominant mechanism by which magnetic fields in different regions change topology to create open magnetic field lines that allow energy and momentum to flow into the magnetosphere. One of the persistent problems of magnetic reconnection is the question of whether the process is continuous or intermittent and what input condition(s) might favor one type of reconnection over the other. Observations from imagers that record FUV emissions caused by precipitating cusp ions demonstrate the global nature of magnetic reconnection. Those images show continuous ionospheric emissions even during changing interplanetary magnetic field conditions. On the other hand, in situ observations from polar‐orbiting satellites show distinctive cusp structures in flux distributions of precipitating ions, which are interpreted as the telltale signature of intermittent reconnection. This study uses a modification of the low‐velocity cutoff method, which was previously successfully used to determine the location of the reconnection site, to calculate for the cusp ion distributions the “time since reconnection occurred.” The “time since reconnection” is used to determine the “reconnection time” for the cusp magnetic field lines where these distributions have been observed. The profile of the reconnection time, either continuous or stepped, is a direct measurement of the nature of magnetic reconnection at the reconnection site. This paper will discuss a continuous and pulsed reconnection event from the Polar spacecraft to illustrate the methodology. PMID:27656333

Application of PDSLin to the magnetic reconnection problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Xuefei; Li, Xiaoye S.; Yamazaki, Ichitaro; Jardin, Stephen C.; Koniges, Alice E.; Keyes, David E.

2013-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a magnetized plasma at both low and high magnetic Lundquist numbers (the ratio of the resistive diffusion time to the Alfvén wave transit time), which occurs in a wide variety of laboratory and space plasmas, e.g. magnetic fusion experiments, the solar corona and the Earth's magnetotail. An implicit time advance for the two-fluid magnetic reconnection problem is known to be difficult because of the large condition number of the associated matrix. This is especially troublesome when the collisionless ion skin depth is large so that the Whistler waves, which cause the fast reconnection, dominate the physics (Yuan et al 2012 J. Comput. Phys. 231 5822-53). For small system sizes, a direct solver such as SuperLU can be employed to obtain an accurate solution as long as the condition number is bounded by the reciprocal of the floating-point machine precision. However, SuperLU scales effectively only to hundreds of processors or less. For larger system sizes, it has been shown that physics-based (Chacón and Knoll 2003 J. Comput. Phys. 188 573-92) or other preconditioners can be applied to provide adequate solver performance. In recent years, we have been developing a new algebraic hybrid linear solver, PDSLin (Parallel Domain decomposition Schur complement-based Linear solver) (Yamazaki and Li 2010 Proc. VECPAR pp 421-34 and Yamazaki et al 2011 Technical Report). In this work, we compare numerical results from a direct solver and the proposed hybrid solver for the magnetic reconnection problem and demonstrate that the new hybrid solver is scalable to thousands of processors while maintaining the same robustness as a direct solver.

Gyrokinetic and kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of guide-field reconnection. I. Macroscopic effects of the electron flows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muñoz, P. A., E-mail: munozp@mps.mpg.de; Kilian, P.; Büchner, J.

In this work, we compare gyrokinetic (GK) with fully kinetic Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of magnetic reconnection in the limit of strong guide field. In particular, we analyze the limits of applicability of the GK plasma model compared to a fully kinetic description of force free current sheets for finite guide fields (b{sub g}). Here, we report the first part of an extended comparison, focusing on the macroscopic effects of the electron flows. For a low beta plasma (β{sub i} = 0.01), it is shown that both plasma models develop magnetic reconnection with similar features in the secondary magnetic islands if a sufficientlymore » high guide field (b{sub g} ≳ 30) is imposed in the kinetic PIC simulations. Outside of these regions, in the separatrices close to the X points, the convergence between both plasma descriptions is less restrictive (b{sub g} ≳ 5). Kinetic PIC simulations using guide fields b{sub g} ≲ 30 reveal secondary magnetic islands with a core magnetic field and less energetic flows inside of them in comparison to the GK or kinetic PIC runs with stronger guide fields. We find that these processes are mostly due to an initial shear flow absent in the GK initialization and negligible in the kinetic PIC high guide field regime, in addition to fast outflows on the order of the ion thermal speed that violate the GK ordering. Since secondary magnetic islands appear after the reconnection peak time, a kinetic PIC/GK comparison is more accurate in the linear phase of magnetic reconnection. For a high beta plasma (β{sub i} = 1.0) where reconnection rates and fluctuations levels are reduced, similar processes happen in the secondary magnetic islands in the fully kinetic description, but requiring much lower guide fields (b{sub g} ≲ 3)« less

Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzdensky, Dmitri A.

2011-10-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma physics process in which ideal-MHD's frozen-in constraints are broken and the magnetic field topology is dramatically re-arranged, which often leads to a violent release of the free magnetic energy. Most of the magnetic reconnection research done to date has been motivated by the applications to systems such as the solar corona, Earth's magnetosphere, and magnetic confinement devices for thermonuclear fusion. These environments have relatively low energy densities and the plasma is adequately described as a mixture of equal numbers of electrons and ions and where the dissipated magnetic energy always stays with the plasma. In contrast, in this paper I would like to introduce a different, new direction of research—reconnection in high energy density radiative plasmas, in which photons play as important a role as electrons and ions; in particular, in which radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant factors in the pressure and energy balance. This research is motivated in part by rapid theoretical and experimental advances in High Energy Density Physics, and in part by several important problems in modern high-energy astrophysics. I first discuss some astrophysical examples of high-energy-density reconnection and then identify the key physical processes that distinguish them from traditional reconnection. Among the most important of these processes are: special-relativistic effects; radiative effects (radiative cooling, radiation pressure, and radiative resistivity); and, at the most extreme end—QED effects, including pair creation. The most notable among the astrophysical applications are situations involving magnetar-strength fields (1014-1015 G, exceeding the quantum critical field B ∗≃4×1013 G). The most important examples are giant flares in soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and magnetic models of the central engines and relativistic jets of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). The magnetic energy density in

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Comparison between Magnetopause and Magnetotail Reconnection Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, R. J.; Lapenta, G.; Berchem, J.; El-Alaoui, M.

2017-12-01

For the past two years the Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission has returned detailed observations of reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause and now apogee has moved into the magnetotail to enable investigations of reconnection in the plasma sheet. We have been using a combination of global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation to model the physics of the reconnection process in both regions. In these calculations, we first use the MHD simulation to model the overall magnetospheric configuration and then carry out a large implicit PIC simulation by using the resulting MHD state to set the initial and boundary conditions. In this presentation, we review the similarities and differences found between the physical processes involved in reconnection occurring in the two different regions. For instance, similar crescent shaped distribution functions have been both observed and found in simulations of reconnection at the magnetopause and in the tail current sheet. Likewise, kinetic simulations have shown that the agyrotropy (non-gyrotropy) of the electron distribution function is the cleanest indicator of the location of the electron diffusion region (EDR) of both regions. There are also significant differences between the two regions. These are mostly related to the fact that separatrices are different because the plasma density is asymmetric across the dayside magnetopause and that smaller electric and guide fields are present in the night side. For instance, the jetting plasmas from reconnection in the tail form dipolarization fronts where energy exchange occurs while flux transfer events (flux ropes) form on the magnetopause and then move away from the reconnection site without forming dipolarization fronts. However, many uncertainties remain. For example, strong waves associated with the reconnection are found in the EDR at both places but it is not understood whether the kinetic mechanisms leading to the waves are the

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Reconnection and interchange instability in the near magnetotail

DOE PAGES

Birn, Joachim; Liu, Yi -Hsin; Daughton, William; ...

2015-07-16

This paper provides insights into the possible coupling between reconnection and interchange/ballooning in the magnetotail related to substorms and flow bursts. The results presented are largely based on recent simulations of magnetotail dynamics, exploring onset and progression of reconnection. 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with different tail deformation demonstrate a clear boundary between stable and unstable cases depending on the amount of deformation, explored up to the real proton/electron mass ratio. The evolution prior to onset, as well as the evolution of stable cases, are governed by the conservation of integral flux tube entropy S as imposed in ideal MHD, maintainingmore » a monotonic increase with distance downtail. This suggests that ballooning instability in the tail should not be expected prior to the onset of tearing and reconnection. 3-D MHD simulations confirm this conclusion, showing no indication of ballooning prior to reconnection, if the initial state is ballooning stable. The simulation also shows that, after imposing resistivity necessary to initiate reconnection, the reconnection rate and energy release initially remain slow. However, when S becomes reduced from plasmoid ejection and lobe reconnection, forming a negative slope in S as a function of distance from Earth, the reconnection rate and energy release increase drastically. The latter condition has been shown to be necessary for ballooning/interchange instability, and the cross-tail structures that develop subsequently in the MHD simulation are consistent with such modes. The simulations support a concept in which tail activity is initiated by tearing instability but significantly enhanced by the interaction with ballooning/interchange enabled by plasmoid loss and lobe reconnection.« less

RECONNECTION-DRIVEN CORONAL-HOLE JETS WITH GRAVITY AND SOLAR WIND

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karpen, J. T.; DeVore, C. R.; Antiochos, S. K.

Coronal-hole jets occur ubiquitously in the Sun's coronal holes, at EUV and X-ray bright points associated with intrusions of minority magnetic polarity. The embedded-bipole model for these jets posits that they are driven by explosive, fast reconnection between the stressed closed field of the embedded bipole and the open field of the surrounding coronal hole. Previous numerical studies in Cartesian geometry, assuming uniform ambient magnetic field and plasma while neglecting gravity and solar wind, demonstrated that the model is robust and can produce jet-like events in simple configurations. We have extended these investigations by including spherical geometry, gravity, and solarmore » wind in a nonuniform, coronal hole-like ambient atmosphere. Our simulations confirm that the jet is initiated by the onset of a kink-like instability of the internal closed field, which induces a burst of reconnection between the closed and external open field, launching a helical jet. Our new results demonstrate that the jet propagation is sustained through the outer corona, in the form of a traveling nonlinear Alfvén wave front trailed by slower-moving plasma density enhancements that are compressed and accelerated by the wave. This finding agrees well with observations of white-light coronal-hole jets, and can explain microstreams and torsional Alfvén waves detected in situ in the solar wind. We also use our numerical results to deduce scaling relationships between properties of the coronal source region and the characteristics of the resulting jet, which can be tested against observations.« less

Bursty, Broadband Electromagnetic Waves Associated with Thin Current Layers and Turbulent Magnetosheath Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adrian, M. L.; Wendel, D. E.

2011-01-01

We investigate observations of intense bursts of electromagnetic wave energy in association with the thin current layers of turbulent magnetosheath reconnection. These observed emissions form two distinct types: (i) broadband emissions that extend continuously to lOs of Hertz; and (ii) structured bursts of emitted energy that occur above 80-Hz, often displaying features reminiscent of absorption bands and are observed at local minima in the magnetic field. We present detailed analyses of these intense bursts of electromagnetic energy and quantify their proximity to X- and O-nulls, as well as their correlation to the amount of magnetic energy converted by the process of magnetic reconnection.

Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hare, J. D.; Lebedev, S. V.; Suttle, L. G.; Loureiro, N. F.; Ciardi, A.; Burdiak, G. C.; Chittenden, J. P.; Clayson, T.; Eardley, S. J.; Garcia, C.; Halliday, J. W. D.; Niasse, N.; Robinson, T.; Smith, R. A.; Stuart, N.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Swadling, G. F.; Ma, J.; Wu, J.

2017-10-01

We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but sub-Alfvénic. The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting, producing a well-defined reconnection layer that persists over many hydrodynamic time scales. The layer is diagnosed using a suite of high resolution laser based diagnostics, which provide measurements of the electron density, reconnecting magnetic field, inflow and outflow velocities, and the electron and ion temperatures. Using these measurements, we observe a balance between the power flow into and out of the layer, and we find that the heating rates for the electrons and ions are significantly in excess of the classical predictions. The formation of plasmoids is observed in laser interferometry and optical self-emission, and the magnetic O-point structure of these plasmoids is confirmed using magnetic probes.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Development of a sub-cm high resolution ion Doppler tomography diagnostics for fine structure measurement of guide field reconnection in TS-U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanabe, Hiroshi; Koike, Hideya; Hatano, Hironori; Hayashi, Takumi; Cao, Qinghong; Himeno, Shunichi; Kaneda, Taishi; Akimitsu, Moe; Sawada, Asuka; Ono, Yasushi

2017-10-01

A new type of high-throughput/high-resolution 96CH ion Doppler tomography diagnostics has been developed using ``multi-slit'' spectroscopy technique for detailed investigation of fine structure formation during high guide field magnetic reconnection. In the last three years, high field merging experiment in MAST pioneered new frontiers of reconnection heating: formation of highly peaked structure around X-point in high guide field condition (Bt > 0.3 T), outflow dissipation under the influence of better plasma confinement to form high temperature ring structure which aligns with closed flux surface of toroidal plasma, and interaction between ion and electron temperature profile during transport/confinement phase to form triple peak structure (τeiE 4 ms). To investigate more detailed mechanism with in-situ magnetic measurement, the university of Tokyo starts the upgrade of plasma parameters and spatial resolution of optical diagnostics as in MAST. Now, a new type of high-throughput/high-resolution 96CH ion Doppler tomography diagnostics system construction has been completed and it successfully resolved fine structure of ion heating downstream, aligned with closed flux surface formed by reconnected field. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 15H05750, 15K14279 and 17H04863.

Internal Shocks in the Magnetic Reconnection Jet in Solar Flares: Multiple Fast Shocks Created by the Secondary Tearing Instability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanuma, S.; Shibata, K.

2005-07-01

Space solar missions such as Yohkoh and RHESSI observe the hard X- and gamma-ray emission from energetic electrons in impulsive solar flares. Their energization mechanism, however, is unknown. In this Letter, we suggest that the internal shocks are created in the reconnection jet and that they are possible sites of particle acceleration. We examine how magnetic reconnection creates the multiple shocks by performing two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this Letter, we use a very small grid to resolve the diffusion region. As a result, we find that the current sheet becomes thin due to the tearing instability, and it collapses to a Sweet-Parker sheet. The thin sheet becomes unstable to the secondary tearing instability. Fast reconnection starts by the onset of anomalous resistivity immediately after the secondary tearing instability. During the bursty, time-dependent magnetic reconnection, the secondary tearing instability continues in the diffusion region where the anomalous resistivity is enhanced. As a result, many weak shocks are created in the reconnection jet. This situation produces turbulent reconnection. We suggest that multiple fast shocks are created in the jet and that the energetic electrons can be accelerated by these shocks.

Magnetic reconnection in 3D magnetosphere models: magnetic separators and open flux production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glocer, A.; Dorelli, J.; Toth, G.; Komar, C. M.; Cassak, P.

2014-12-01

There are multiple competing definitions of magnetic reconnection in 3D (e.g., Hesse and Schindler [1988], Lau and Finn [1990], and Boozer [2002]). In this work we focus on separator reconnection. A magnetic separator can be understood as the 3D analogue of a 2D x line with a guide field, and is defined by the line corresponding to the intersection of the separatrix surfaces associated with the magnetic nulls. A separator in the magnetosphere represents the intersection of four distinct magnetic topologies: solar wind, closed, open connected to the northern hemisphere, and open connected to the southern hemisphere. The integral of the parallel electric field along the separator defines the rate of open flux production, and is one measure of the reconnection rate. We present three methods for locating magnetic separators and apply them to 3D resistive MHD simulations of the Earth's magnetosphere using the BATS-R-US code. The techniques for finding separators and determining the reconnection rate are insensitive to IMF clock angle and can in principle be applied to any magnetospheric model. The present work examines cases of high and low resistivity, for two clock angles. We also examine the separator during Flux Transfer Events (FTEs) and Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

Turbulent Reconnection Rates from Cluster Observations in the Magneto sheath

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wendel, Deirdre

2011-01-01

The role of turbulence in producing fast reconnection rates is an important unresolved question. Scant in situ analyses exist. We apply multiple spacecraft techniques to a case of nonlinear turbulent reconnection in the magnetosheath to test various theoretical results for turbulent reconnection rates. To date, in situ estimates of the contribution of turbulence to reconnection rates have been calculated from an effective electric field derived through linear wave theory. However, estimates of reconnection rates based on fully nonlinear turbulence theories and simulations exist that are amenable to multiple spacecraft analyses. Here we present the linear and nonlinear theories and apply some of the nonlinear rates to Cluster observations of reconnecting, turbulent current sheets in the magnetos heath. We compare the results to the net reconnection rate found from the inflow speed. Ultimately, we intend to test and compare linear and nonlinear estimates of the turbulent contribution to reconnection rates and to measure the relative contributions of turbulence and the Hall effect.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Catastrophic onset of fast magnetic reconnection with a guide field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassak, P. A.; Drake, J. F.; Shay, M. A.

2007-05-01

It was recently shown that the slow (collisional) Sweet-Parker and the fast (collisionless) Hall magnetic reconnection solutions simultaneously exist for a wide range of resistivities; reconnection is bistable [Cassak, Shay, and Drake, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 235002 (2005)]. When the thickness of the dissipation region becomes smaller than a critical value, the Sweet-Parker solution disappears and fast reconnection ensues, potentially explaining how large amounts of magnetic free energy can accrue without significant release before the onset of fast reconnection. Two-fluid numerical simulations extending the previous results for anti-parallel reconnection (where the critical thickness is the ion skin depth) to component reconnection with a large guide field (where the critical thickness is the thermal ion Larmor radius) are presented. Applications to laboratory experiments of magnetic reconnection and the sawtooth crash are discussed.

The Inner Workings of Magnetic Reconnection: Diffusion Region in the Balance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael

2010-01-01

The question of whether the micro scale 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.

Relating magnetic reconnection to coronal heating

PubMed Central

Longcope, D. W.; Tarr, L. A.

2015-01-01

It is clear that the solar corona is being heated and that coronal magnetic fields undergo reconnection all the time. Here we attempt to show that these two facts are related—i.e. coronal reconnection generates heat. This attempt must address the fact that topological change of field lines does not automatically generate heat. We present one case of flux emergence where we have measured the rate of coronal magnetic reconnection and the rate of energy dissipation in the corona. The ratio of these two, , is a current comparable to the amount of current expected to flow along the boundary separating the emerged flux from the pre-existing flux overlying it. We can generalize this relation to the overall corona in quiet Sun or in active regions. Doing so yields estimates for the contribution to coronal heating from magnetic reconnection. These estimated rates are comparable to the amount required to maintain the corona at its observed temperature. PMID:25897089

Double Magnetic Reconnection Driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz Vortices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horton, W., Jr.; Faganello, M.; Califano, F.; Pegoraro, F.

2017-12-01

Simulations and theory for the solar wind driven magnetic reconnection in the flanks of the magnetopause is shown to be intrinsically 3D with the secular growth of couple pairs of reconnection regions off the equatorial plane. We call the process double mid-latitude reconnection and show supporting 3D simulations and theory descripting the secular growth of the magnetic reconnection with the resulting mixing of the solar wind plasma with the magnetosphere plasma. The initial phase develops Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices at low-latitude and, through the propagation of Alfven waves far from the region where the stresses are generated, creates a standard quasi-2D low latitude boundary layer magnetic reconnection but off the equatorial plane and with a weak guide field component. The reconnection exponential growth is followed by a secularly growing nonlinear phase that gradually closes the solar wind field lines on the Earth. The nonlinear field line structure provides a channel for penetration of the SW plasma into the MS as observed by spacecraft [THEMIS and Cluster]. The simulations show the amount of solar wind plasma brought into the magnetosphere by tracing the time evolution of the areas corresponding to double reconnected field lines with Poincare maps. The results for the solar wind plasma brought into the magnetosphere seems consistent with the observed plasma transport. Finally, we have shown how the intrinsic 3D nature of the doubly reconnected magnetic field lines leads to the generation of twisted magnetic spatial structures that differ from the quasi-2D magnetic islands structures.

Theory of magnetic reconnection in solar and astrophysical plasmas.

PubMed

Pontin, David I

2012-07-13

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a plasma that facilitates the release of energy stored in the magnetic field by permitting a change in the magnetic topology. In this paper, we present a review of the current state of understanding of magnetic reconnection. We discuss theoretical results regarding the formation of current sheets in complex three-dimensional magnetic fields and describe the fundamental differences between reconnection in two and three dimensions. We go on to outline recent developments in modelling of reconnection with kinetic theory, as well as in the magnetohydrodynamic framework where a number of new three-dimensional reconnection regimes have been identified. We discuss evidence from observations and simulations of Solar System plasmas that support this theory and summarize some prominent locations in which this new reconnection theory is relevant in astrophysical plasmas.

Reconnection Fluxes in Eruptive and Confined Flares and Implications for Superflares on the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tschernitz, Johannes; Veronig, Astrid M.; Thalmann, Julia K.; Hinterreiter, Jürgen; Pötzi, Werner

2018-01-01

We study the energy release process of a set of 51 flares (32 confined, 19 eruptive) ranging from GOES class B3 to X17. We use Hα filtergrams from Kanzelhöhe Observatory together with Solar Dynamics Observatory HMI and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory MDI magnetograms to derive magnetic reconnection fluxes and rates. The flare reconnection flux is strongly correlated with the peak of the GOES 1–8 Å soft X-ray flux (c = 0.92, in log–log space) for both confined and eruptive flares. Confined flares of a certain GOES class exhibit smaller ribbon areas but larger magnetic flux densities in the flare ribbons (by a factor of 2). In the largest events, up to ≈50% of the magnetic flux of the active region (AR) causing the flare is involved in the flare magnetic reconnection. These findings allow us to extrapolate toward the largest solar flares possible. A complex solar AR hosting a magnetic flux of 2 × 1023 Mx, which is in line with the largest AR fluxes directly measured, is capable of producing an X80 flare, which corresponds to a bolometric energy of about 7 × 1032 erg. Using a magnetic flux estimate of 6 × 1023 Mx for the largest solar AR observed, we find that flares of GOES class ≈X500 could be produced (E bol ≈ 3 × 1033 erg). These estimates suggest that the present day’s Sun is capable of producing flares and related space weather events that may be more than an order of magnitude stronger than have been observed to date.

On the occurrence of magnetic reconnection equatorward of the cusps at the Earth's magnetopause during northward IMF conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trattner, K. J.; Thresher, S.; Trenchi, L.; Fuselier, S. A.; Petrinec, S. M.; Peterson, W. K.; Marcucci, M. F.

2017-01-01

Magnetic reconnection changes the topology of magnetic field lines. This process is most readily observable with in situ instrumentation at the Earth's magnetopause as it creates open magnetic field lines to allow energy and momentum flux to flow from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. Most models use the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) to determine the location of these magnetopause entry points, known as reconnection lines. Dayside locations of magnetic reconnection equatorward of the cusps are generally found during sustained intervals of southward IMF, while high-latitude region regions poleward of the cusps are observed for northward IMF conditions. In this study we discuss Double Star magnetopause crossings and a conjunction with a Polar cusp crossing during northward IMF conditions with a dominant IMF BY component. During all seven dayside magnetopause crossings, Double Star detected switching ion beams, a known signature for the presence of reconnection lines. In addition, Polar observed a cusp ion-energy dispersion profile typical for a dayside equatorial reconnection line. Using the cutoff velocities for the precipitating and mirrored ion beams in the cusp, the distance to the reconnection site is calculated, and this distance is traced back to the magnetopause, to the vicinity of the Double Star satellite locations. Our analysis shows that, for this case, the predicted line of maximum magnetic shear also coincides with that dayside reconnection location.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Wave propagation in anisotropic medium due to an oscillatory point source with application to unidirectional composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, J. H., Jr.; Marques, E. R. C.; Lee, S. S.

1986-01-01

The far-field displacements in an infinite transversely isotropic elastic medium subjected to an oscillatory concentrated force are derived. The concepts of velocity surface, slowness surface and wave surface are used to describe the geometry of the wave propagation process. It is shown that the decay of the wave amplitudes depends not only on the distance from the source (as in isotropic media) but also depends on the direction of the point of interest from the source. As an example, the displacement field is computed for a laboratory fabricated unidirectional fiberglass epoxy composite. The solution for the displacements is expressed as an amplitude distribution and is presented in polar diagrams. This analysis has potential usefulness in the acoustic emission (AE) and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of composite materials. For example, the transient localized disturbances which are generally associated with AE sources can be modeled via this analysis. In which case, knowledge of the displacement field which arrives at a receiving transducer allows inferences regarding the strength and orientation of the source, and consequently perhaps the degree of damage within the composite.

Binary Oscillatory Crossflow Electrophoresis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molloy, Richard F.; Gallagher, Christopher T.; Leighton, David T., Jr.

1997-01-01

Electrophoresis has long been recognized as an effective analytic technique for the separation of proteins and other charged species, however attempts at scaling up to accommodate commercial volumes have met with limited success. In this report we describe a novel electrophoretic separation technique - Binary Oscillatory Crossflow Electrophoresis (BOCE). Numerical simulations indicate that the technique has the potential for preparative scale throughputs with high resolution, while simultaneously avoiding many problems common to conventional electrophoresis. The technique utilizes the interaction of an oscillatory electric field and a transverse oscillatory shear flow to create an active binary filter for the separation of charged protein species. An oscillatory electric field is applied across the narrow gap of a rectangular channel inducing a periodic motion of charged protein species. The amplitude of this motion depends on the dimensionless electrophoretic mobility, alpha = E(sub o)mu/(omega)d, where E(sub o) is the amplitude of the electric field oscillations, mu is the dimensional mobility, omega is the angular frequency of oscillation and d is the channel gap width. An oscillatory shear flow is induced along the length of the channel resulting in the separation of species with different mobilities. We present a model that predicts the oscillatory behavior of charged species and allows estimation of both the magnitude of the induced convective velocity and the effective diffusivity as a function of a in infinitely long channels. Numerical results indicate that in addition to the mobility dependence, the steady state behavior of solute species may be strongly affected by oscillating fluid into and out of the active electric field region at the ends of the cell. The effect is most pronounced using time dependent shear flows of the same frequency (cos((omega)t)) flow mode) as the electric field oscillations. Under such conditions, experiments indicate that

Relationship between acoustic voice onset and offset and selected instances of oscillatory onset and offset in young healthy males and females

PubMed Central

Patel, Rita; Forrest, Karen; Hedges, Drew

2016-01-01

Objective To investigate the relationship between (1) onset of the acoustic signal and pre-phonatory phases associated with oscillatory onset and (2) offset of the acoustic signal with the post-phonatory events associated with oscillatory offset across vocally healthy adults. Subjects and Methods High-speed videoendoscopy was captured simultaneously with the acoustic signal during repeated production of /hi.hi.hi/ at typical pitch and loudness from 56 vocally healthy adults (age 20–42 years; 21 male, 35 female). The relationship between the acoustic sound pressure signal and oscillatory onset /offset events from the glottal area waveforms (GAW), were statistically investigated using a multivariate linear regression analysis. Results The onset of the acoustic signal (X1a) is a significant predictor of the onset of first oscillations (X1g) and onset of sustained oscillations (X2g). X1a as well as gender are significant predictors of the first instance of medial contact (X1.5g). The offset of the acoustic signal (X2a) is a significant predictor of the first instance of oscillatory offset (X3g), first instance of incomplete glottal closure (X3.5g), and cessation of vocal fold motion (X4g). Conclusions The acoustic signal onset is closely related to the first medial contact of the vocal folds but the latency between these events is longer for females compared to males. The offset of the acoustic signal occurs immediately after incomplete glottal adduction. The emerging normative group latencies between the onset/offset of the acoustic and the GAW from this study appear promising for future investigations. PMID:27769696

Endogenous Magnetic Reconnection in Solar Coronal Loops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asgari-Targhi, M.; Coppi, B.; Basu, B.; Fletcher, A.; Golub, L.

2017-12-01

We propose that a magneto-thermal reconnection process occurring in coronal loops be the source of the heating of the Solar Corona [1]. In the adopted model, magnetic reconnection is associated with electron temperature gradients, anisotropic electron temperature fluctuations and plasma current density gradients [2]. The input parameters for our theoretical model are derived from the most recent observations of the Solar Corona. In addition, the relevant (endogenous) collective modes can produce high energy particle populations. An endogenous reconnection process is defined as being driven by factors internal to the region where reconnection takes place. *Sponsored in part by the U.S. D.O.E. and the Kavli Foundation* [1] Beafume, P., Coppi, B. and Golub, L., (1992) Ap. J. 393, 396. [2] Coppi, B. and Basu, B. (2017) MIT-LNS Report HEP 17/01.

Why dayside reconnection is rare at Saturn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masters, A.; Eastwood, J. P.; Swisdak, M. M.; Russell, C. T.; Thomsen, M. F.; Sergis, N.; Crary, F. J.; Dougherty, M. K.; Coates, A. J.; Krimigis, S. M.

2011-12-01

The interaction between the flow of solar wind plasma from the Sun and a magnetized planet produces a cavity in the flow known as a magnetosphere. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process that disrupts this shielding of the planet by allowing solar wind into the magnetosphere and releasing magnetic energy. Evidence for dayside reconnection at Saturn is very limited compared to Earth and other planets, representing one of the major open issues in Saturnian magnetospheric science. By combining theory, observations, and simulations we show that this is due to the pressure conditions in the vicinity of Saturn's magnetopause, which largely suppress reconnection. Our results demonstrate that solar wind-magnetosphere coupling via reconnection can vary between planets, and we cannot assume that the nature of this coupling is always Earth-like.

RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY RECONNECTING ELECTRIC FIELDS IN A LASER-DRIVEN BENCH-TOP SOLAR FLARE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhong, J. Y.; Zhang, K.; Yuan, D. W.

2016-08-01

Laboratory experiments have been carried out to model the magnetic reconnection process in a solar flare with powerful lasers. Relativistic electrons with energy up to megaelectronvolts are detected along the magnetic separatrices bounding the reconnection outflow, which exhibit a kappa-like distribution with an effective temperature of ∼10{sup 9} K. The acceleration of non-thermal electrons is found to be more efficient in the case with a guide magnetic field (a component of a magnetic field along the reconnection-induced electric field) than in the case without a guide field. Hardening of the spectrum at energies ≥500 keV is observed in both cases, which remarkably resembles themore » hardening of hard X-ray and γ -ray spectra observed in many solar flares. This supports a recent proposal that the hardening in the hard X-ray and γ -ray emissions of solar flares is due to a hardening of the source-electron spectrum. We also performed numerical simulations that help examine behaviors of electrons in the reconnection process with the electromagnetic field configurations occurring in the experiments. The trajectories of non-thermal electrons observed in the experiments were well duplicated in the simulations. Our numerical simulations generally reproduce the electron energy spectrum as well, except for the hardening of the electron spectrum. This suggests that other mechanisms such as shock or turbulence may play an important role in the production of the observed energetic electrons.« less

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

On fast reconnection in pair plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zocco, A.; Chacon, L.; Simakov, A.; Lukin, V.

2008-11-01

The relevance of two-fluid effects to fast magnetic reconnection in standard electron-proton plasmas is well-known. The currently accepted view is that such fast reconnection is enabled by fast dispersive waves, which originate in the ion-electron mass difference. However, electron-positron (pair) plasmas do not feature such mass difference, and thus do not support fast dispersive waves. Nevertheless, recent kinetic and fluid pair-plasmas simulations have demonstrated that fast magnetic reconnection is indeed possible, thus casting doubt on the accepted view. In this study, we develop an analytical fluid model for 2D reconnection in non-relativistic, large-guide-field, low-β pair plasmas, including inertia, resistivity, and parallel viscosity.^4 We conclude that fast reconnection is possible in the collisionless (viscosity-dominated) regime, but not in the collisional (resistivity-dominated) one. J. Birn et al., J. Geophys. Res. 106 (A3), pp. 3715--3719 (2001) M. A. Shay et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 26, 2163 (1999); B. N. Rogers et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 195004 (2001) See e.g. S. Zenitani and M. Hoshino, Astrophys. J. 562, L63 (2001); N. Bessho and A. Bhattacharjee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 245001 (2005); W. Daughton and H. Karimabadi, Phys. Plasmas 14, 72303 (2007). L. Chac'on, A. N. Simakov, V. S. Lukin, A. Zocco, Phys. Rev. Lett., 025003 (2008)

Multiscale Auroral Emission Statistics as Evidence of Turbulent Reconnection in Earth's Midtail Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alex; Uritsky, Vadim; Donovan, Eric

2010-01-01

We provide indirect evidence for turbulent reconnection in Earth's midtail plasma sheet by reexamining the statistical properties of bright, nightside auroral emission events as observed by the UVI experiment on the Polar spacecraft and discussed previously by Uritsky et al. The events are divided into two groups: (1) those that map to absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) < 12 R(sub E) in the magnetotail and do not show scale-free statistics and (2) those that map to absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) > 12 R(sub E) and do show scale-free statistics. The absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) dependence is shown to most effectively organize the events into these two groups. Power law exponents obtained for group 2 are shown to validate the conclusions of Uritsky et al. concerning the existence of critical dynamics in the auroral emissions. It is suggested that the auroral dynamics is a reflection of a critical state in the magnetotail that is based on the dynamics of turbulent reconnection in the midtail plasma sheet.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

MMS Observation of Magnetic Reconnection in the Turbulent Magnetosheath

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Evidence for Secondary Flux Rope Generated by the Electron Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a Magnetic Reconnection Diffusion Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Z. H.; Tang, R. X.; Zhou, M.; Deng, X. H.; Pang, Y.; Paterson, W. R.; Giles, B. L.; Burch, J. L.; Tobert, R. B.; Ergun, R. E.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Lindquist, P.-A.

2018-02-01

Secondary flux ropes are suggested to play important roles in energy dissipation and particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection. However, their generation mechanism is not fully understood. In this Letter, we present the first direct evidence that a secondary flux rope was generated due to the evolution of an electron vortex, which was driven by the electron Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in an ion diffusion region as observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The subion scale (less than the ion inertial length) flux rope was embedded within the electron vortex, which contained a secondary electron diffusion region at the trailing edge of the flux rope. We propose that intense electron shear flow produced by reconnection generated the electron Kelvin-Helmholtz vortex, which induced a secondary reconnection in the exhaust of the primary X line and then led to the formation of the flux rope. This result strongly suggests that secondary electron Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is important for reconnection dynamics.

Evidence for Secondary Flux Rope Generated by the Electron Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a Magnetic Reconnection Diffusion Region.

PubMed

Zhong, Z H; Tang, R X; Zhou, M; Deng, X H; Pang, Y; Paterson, W R; Giles, B L; Burch, J L; Tobert, R B; Ergun, R E; Khotyaintsev, Y V; Lindquist, P-A

2018-02-16

Secondary flux ropes are suggested to play important roles in energy dissipation and particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection. However, their generation mechanism is not fully understood. In this Letter, we present the first direct evidence that a secondary flux rope was generated due to the evolution of an electron vortex, which was driven by the electron Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in an ion diffusion region as observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The subion scale (less than the ion inertial length) flux rope was embedded within the electron vortex, which contained a secondary electron diffusion region at the trailing edge of the flux rope. We propose that intense electron shear flow produced by reconnection generated the electron Kelvin-Helmholtz vortex, which induced a secondary reconnection in the exhaust of the primary X line and then led to the formation of the flux rope. This result strongly suggests that secondary electron Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is important for reconnection dynamics.

A new magnetic reconnection paradigm: Stochastic plasmoid chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Improved Filon-type asymptotic methods for highly oscillatory differential equations with multiple time scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Bin; Wu, Xinyuan

2014-11-01

In this paper we consider multi-frequency highly oscillatory second-order differential equations x″ (t) + Mx (t) = f (t , x (t) ,x‧ (t)) where high-frequency oscillations are generated by the linear part Mx (t), and M is positive semi-definite (not necessarily nonsingular). It is known that Filon-type methods are effective approach to numerically solving highly oscillatory problems. Unfortunately, however, existing Filon-type asymptotic methods fail to apply to the highly oscillatory second-order differential equations when M is singular. We study and propose an efficient improvement on the existing Filon-type asymptotic methods, so that the improved Filon-type asymptotic methods can be able to numerically solving this class of multi-frequency highly oscillatory systems with a singular matrix M. The improved Filon-type asymptotic methods are designed by combining Filon-type methods with the asymptotic methods based on the variation-of-constants formula. We also present one efficient and practical improved Filon-type asymptotic method which can be performed at lower cost. Accompanying numerical results show the remarkable efficiency.

Hybrid simulations of magnetic reconnection with kinetic ions and fluid electron pressure anisotropy

DOE PAGES

Le, A.; Daughton, W.; Karimabadi, H.; ...

2016-03-16

We present the first hybrid simulations with kinetic ions and recently developed equations of state for the electron fluid appropriate for reconnection with a guide field. The equations of state account for the main anisotropy of the electron pressure tensor.Magnetic reconnection is studied in two systems, an initially force-free current sheet and a Harris sheet. The hybrid model with the equations of state is compared to two other models, hybrid simulations with isothermal electrons and fully kinetic simulations. Including the anisotropicequations of state in the hybrid model provides a better match to the fully kinetic model. In agreement with fullymore » kinetic results, the main feature captured is the formation of an electron current sheet that extends several ion inertial lengths. This electron current sheet modifies the Hall magnetic field structure near the X-line, and it is not observed in the standard hybrid model with isotropic electrons. The saturated reconnection rate in this regime nevertheless remains similar in all three models. Here, implications for global modeling are discussed.« less

The heavy ion diffusion region in magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y. H.; Mouikis, C. G.; Kistler, L. M.; Wang, S.; Roytershteyn, V.; Karimabadi, H.

2015-05-01

While the plasma in the Earth's magnetotail predominantly consists of protons and electrons, there are times when a significant amount of oxygen is present. When magnetic reconnection occurs, the behavior of these heavy ions can be significantly different from that of the protons, due to their larger gyroradius. In this study, we investigate the heavy ion distribution functions in the reconnection ion diffusion region from a 2.5D three-species particle-in-cell numerical simulation and compare those with Cluster observations from the near-Earth magnetotail. From the simulation results, we find that the heavy ions are demagnetized and accelerated in a larger diffusion region, the heavy ion diffusion region. The ion velocity distribution functions show that, inside the heavy ion diffusion region, heavy ions appear as counterstreaming beams along z in the GSM x-z plane, while drifting in y, carrying cross-tail current. We compare this result with Cluster observations in the vicinity of reconnection regions in the near-Earth magnetotail and find that the simulation predictions are consistent with the observed ion distribution functions in the ion diffusion region, as well as the inflow, exhaust, and separatrix regions. Based on the simulation and observation results, the presence of a multiscale diffusion region model, for O+ abundant reconnection events in the Earth's magnetotail, is demonstrated. A test particle simulation shows that in the diffusion region, the H+ gains energy mainly through Ex, while the O+ energy gain comes equally from Ex and Ey.

Electron scale magnetic reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath: Kinetic PIC simulation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, P.; Shay, M. A.; Drake, J. F.; Phan, T.; Haggerty, C. C.; TenBarge, J. M.; Cassak, P.; Swisdak, M.

2017-12-01

Recent MMS observations have revealed electron scale reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath. Surprisingly, although one of the reconnection events is associated with a very strong guide field, the ions show no coupling to the reconnection dynamics. We first review the MMS observations. Then, using kinetic PIC simulations with similar plasma conditions, we study reconnection at electron scales and show that the reconnection exhibits whistler-like dynamics similar to the case of anti-parallel reconnection rather than the kinetic Alfven wave dynamics that is often associated with reconnection with a strong guide field. We study the factors controlling this behavior and discuss the implications for reconnection and turbulence at electron scales in both the magnetosheath and solar wind.

Magnetic reconnection physics in the solar wind with Voyager 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

DNA Molecules in Microfluidic Oscillatory Flow

PubMed Central

Chen, Y.-L.; Graham, M.D.; de Pablo, J.J.; Jo, K.; Schwartz, D.C.

2008-01-01

The conformation and dynamics of a single DNA molecule undergoing oscillatory pressure-driven flow in microfluidic channels is studied using Brownian dynamics simulations, accounting for hydrodynamic interactions between segments in the bulk and between the chain and the walls. Oscillatory flow provides a scenario under which the polymers may remain in the channel for an indefinite amount of time as they are stretched and migrate away from the channel walls. We show that by controlling the chain length, flow rate and oscillatory flow frequency, we are able to manipulate the chain extension and the chain migration from the channel walls. The chain stretch and the chain depletion layer thickness near the wall are found to increase as the Weissenberg number increases and as the oscillatory frequency decreases. PMID:19057656

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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).

Frequently Occurring Reconnection Jets from Sunspot Light Bridges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Resonance suppression from color reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acconcia, R.; Chinellato, D. D.; de Souza, R. Derradi; Takahashi, J.; Torrieri, G.; Markert, C.

2018-02-01

We present studies that show how multi-parton interaction and color reconnection affect the hadro-chemistry in proton-proton (pp) collisions with special focus on the production of resonances using the pythia8 event generator. We find that color reconnection suppresses the relative production of meson resonances such as ρ0 and K* , providing an alternative explanation for the K*/K decrease observed in proton-proton collisions as a function of multiplicity by the ALICE collaboration. Detailed studies of the underlying mechanism causing meson resonance suppression indicate that color reconnection leads to shorter, less energetic strings whose fragmentation is less likely to produce more massive hadrons for a given quark content, therefore reducing ratios such as K*/K and ρ0/π in high-multiplicity pp collisions. In addition, we have also studied the effects of allowing string junctions to form and found that these may also contribute to resonance suppression.

SCALING LAW OF RELATIVISTIC SWEET-PARKER-TYPE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

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

2011-10-01

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 {approx_equal} 1), even when the magnetic energy dominates the thermal and rest mass energies in the inflow region. Most of the magneticmore » 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{approx_equal}S{sup -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.« less

Reconnection Outflows in the Extended Corona and Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savage, Sabrina; Kobelski, Adam

2017-08-01

Observational signatures of reconnection have been studied extensively in the lower corona for decades, successfully providing insight into energy release mechanisms in the region above post-flare arcade loops and below 1.5 solar radii. During large eruptive events, however, energy release continues to occur well beyond the presence of reconnection signatures at these low heights. Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) and downflowing loops (SADLs) are particularly useful measures of continual reconnection in the corona as they may indicate the presence and path of retracting post-reconnection loops. SADs and SADLs have been observed for days beyond the passage of corona mass ejections through the SOHO/LASCO field of view and for nearly a week after an eruption on 14 October 2014. The association of these features with magnetic reconnection increases the significance of understanding their genesis. SADs have been interpreted as wakes behind newly reconnected and outflowing loops (SADLs). Models have shown the plausibility of this interpretation, though this interpretation has not yet been fully accepted. We will present a preliminary study of complementary observations of magnetic reconnection detected via in situ instruments in the magnetosphere. These observations, provided by five THEMIS spacecraft, reveal similar structures and conditions to those related to SADs. We compare data from multiple SADs and dipolarization fronts to test the similarity between these plasma regimes, strongly favoring the interpretation of SADs as instabilities trailing retracting loops. We will also use these observations to strengthen the case for the development of an EUV wide-field coronal imager.

Ion and Electron Energization in Guide Field Reconnection Outflows with Kinetic Riemann Simulations and Parallel Shock Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Q.; Drake, J. F.; Swisdak, M.

2017-12-01

How ions and electrons are energized in magnetic reconnection outflows is an essential topic throughout the heliosphere. Here we carry out guide field PIC Riemann simulations to explore the ion and electron energization mechanisms far downstream of the x-line. Riemann simulations, with their simple magnetic geometry, facilitate the study of the reconnection outflow far downstream of the x-line in much more detail than is possible with conventional reconnection simulations. We find that the ions get accelerated at rotational discontinuities, counter stream, and give rise to two slow shocks. We demonstrate that the energization mechanism at the slow shocks is essentially the same as that of parallel electrostatic shocks. Also, the electron confining electric potential at the slow shocks is driven by the counterstreaming beams, which tend to break the quasi-neutrality. Based on this picture, we build a kinetic model to self consistently predict the downstream ion and electron temperatures. Additional explorations using parallel shock simulations also imply that in a very low beta(0.001 0.01 for a modest guide field) regime, electron energization will be insignificant compared to the ion energization. Our model and the parallel shock simulations might be used as simple tools to understand and estimate the energization of ions and electrons and the energy partition far downstream of the x-line.

3D Reconnection and SEP Considerations in the CME-Flare Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moschou, S. P.; Cohen, O.; Drake, J. J.; Sokolov, I.; Borovikov, D.; Alvarado Gomez, J. D.; Garraffo, C.

2017-12-01

Reconnection is known to play a major role in particle acceleration in both solar and astrophysical regimes, yet little is known about its connection with the global scales and its comparative contribution in the generation of SEPs with respect to other acceleration mechanisms, such as the shock at a fast CME front, in the presence of a global structure such as a CME. Coupling efforts, combining both particle and global scales, are necessary to answer questions about the fundamentals of the energetic processes evolved. We present such a coupling modeling effort that looks into particle acceleration through reconnection in a self-consistent CME-flare model in both particle and fluid regimes. Of special interest is the supra-thermal component of the acceleration due to the reconnection that will at a later time interact colliding with the solar atmospheric material of the more dense chromospheric layer and radiate in hard X- and γ-rays for super-thermal electrons and protons respectively. Two cutting edge computational codes are used to capture the global CME and flare dynamics, specifically a two fluid MHD code and a 3D PIC code for the flare scales. Finally, we are connecting the simulations with current observations in different wavelengths in an effort to shed light to the unified CME-flare picture.

Studies of Magnetic Reconnection in Colliding Laser-Produced Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, Michael

2013-10-01

Novel images of magnetic fields and measurements of electron and ion temperatures have been obtained in the magnetic reconnection region of high- β, laser-produced plasmas. Experiments using laser-irradiated foils produce expanding, hemispherical plasma plumes carrying MG Biermann-battery magnetic fields, which can be driven to interact and reconnect. Thomson-scattering measurements of electron and ion temperatures in the interaction region of two colliding, magnetized plasmas show no thermal enhancement due to reconnection, as expected for β ~ 8 plasmas. Two different proton radiography techniques used to image the magnetic field structures show deformation, pileup, and annihilation of magnetic flux. High-resolution images reveal unambiguously reconnection-induced jets emerging from the interaction region and show instabilities in the expanding plasma plumes and supersonic, hydrodynamic jets due to the plasma collision. Quantitative magnetic flux data show that reconnection in experiments with asymmetry in the scale size, density, temperature, and plasma flow across the reconnection region occurs less efficiently than in similar, symmetric experiments. This result is attributed to disruption of the Hall mechanism mediating collisionless reconnection. The collision of plasmas carrying parallel magnetic fields has also been probed, illustrating the deformation of magnetic field structures in high-energy-density plasmas in the absence of reconnection. These experiments are particularly relevant to high- β reconnection environments, such as the magnetopause. This work was performed in collaboration with C. Li, F. Séguin, A. Zylstra, H. Rinderknecht, H. Sio, J. Frenje, and R. Petrasso (MIT), I. Igumenshchev, V. Glebov, C. Stoeckl, and D. Froula (LLE), J. Ross and R. Town (LLNL), W. Fox (UNH), and A. Nikroo (GA), and was supported in part by the NLUF, FSC/UR, U.S. DOE, LLNL, and LLE.

Vortex reconnection in the K-type transitional channel flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yaomin; Yang, Yue; Chen, Shiyi

2016-11-01

Vortex reconnection, as the topological change of vortex lines or surfaces, is a critical process in transitional flows, but is challenging to accurately characterize in shear flows. We apply the vortex-surface field (VSF), whose isosurface is the vortex surface consisting of vortex lines, to study vortex reconnection in the K-type temporal transition in channel flow. Based on the VSF, both qualitative visualization and quantitative analysis are used to investigate the reconnection between the hairpin-like vortical structures evolving from the opposite channel halves. The incipient vortex reconnection is characterized by the vanishing minimum distance between a pair of vortex surfaces and the reduction of vorticity flux through the region enclosed by the VSF isolines on the spanwise symmetric plane. In addition, we find that the surge of the wall friction coefficient begins at the identified reconnection time, which is discussed with the induced velocity during reconnection and the Biot-Sarvart law. This work has been supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11522215 and 11521091), and the Thousand Young Talents Program of China.

Observations of Reconnection Flows in a Flare on the Solar Disk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Juntao; Simões, P. J. A.; Jeffrey, N. L. S.

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 flaremore » 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.« less

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

MESSENGER observations of magnetic reconnection in Mercury's magnetosphere.

PubMed

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.;

MESSENGER Observations of Rapid and Impulsive Magnetic Reconnection in Mercury's Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, J.; Wei, Y.; Pu, Z. Y.; Wang, X. G.; Wan, W. X.; Slavin, J. A.; Cao, X.; Raines, J. M.; Zhang, H.; Xiao, C. J.; Du, A. M.; Wang, R. S.; Dewey, R. M.; Chai, L. H.; Rong, Z. J.; Li, Y.

2018-06-01

The nature of magnetic reconnection in planetary magnetospheres may differ between various planets. We report the first observations of a rapidly evolving magnetic reconnection process in Mercury’s magnetotail by the MESSENGER spacecraft. The reconnection process was initialized in the plasma sheet and then evolved into the lobe region during a ∼35 s period. The tailward reconnection fronts of primary and secondary flux ropes with clear Hall signatures and energetic electron bursts were observed. The reconnection timescale of a few seconds is substantially shorter than that of terrestrial magnetospheric plasmas. The normalized reconnection rate during a brief quasi-steady period is estimated to be ∼0.2 on average. The observations show the rapid and impulsive nature of the exceedingly driven reconnection in Mercury’s magnetospheric plasma that may be responsible for the much more dynamic magnetosphere of Mercury.

Phonon-assisted oscillatory exciton dynamics in monolayer MoSe 2

DOE PAGES

Chow, Colin M.; Yu, Hongyi; Jones, Aaron M.; ...

2017-10-13

In monolayer semiconductor transition metal dichalcogenides, the exciton–phonon interaction strongly affects the photocarrier dynamics. Here, we report on an unusual oscillatory enhancement of the neutral exciton photoluminescence with the excitation laser frequency in monolayer MoSe 2. The frequency of oscillation matches that of the M-point longitudinal acoustic phonon, LA(M), suggesting the significance of zone-edge acoustic phonons and hence the deformation potential in exciton-phonon coupling in MoSe 2. Moreover, oscillatory behavior is observed in the steady-state emission linewidth and in time-resolved PLE data, which reveals variation with excitation energy in the exciton lifetime. These results clearly expose the key role playedmore » by phonons in the exciton formation and relaxation dynamics of two-dimensional van der Waals semiconductors.« less

Electron Jet of Asymmetric Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

Externally-Driven Onset of Localized Magnetic Reconnection in a Magnetotail Configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pritchett, P. L.; Lu, S.

2017-12-01

In observations of the nightside auroral arcs and ionospheric currents, the onset or breakup phase of a substorm is sharply defined in time and is highly localized in space. Attempts to understand this localization in terms of the onset of localized magnetic reconnection have generally been unsuccessful. Thus, a y-localized driving convection electric field Ey applied at the lobe boundaries spreads out before it reaches the equatorial plane and results only in 2-D reconnection. In this work, the response of a magnetotail equilibrium containing a dipole magnetic field and plasma sheet regions to the imposition of a longitudinally-limited, high-latitude driving electric field is investigated using 3-D particle-in-cell simulations. The initial response involves a reduction in the equatorial Bz field that is then followed by the development of a dawn-dusk asymmetric current sheet relative to the meridian plane of the driving field. The key feature is the presence of a dusk-side Hall electric field Ez that drives magnetic flux dawnward and thus further reduces the Bz field on the duskward side. The net result is that Bz is driven through zero in a localized region on the duskward side, leading to the onset of localized reconnection and the emergence of magnetic flux ropes. The cross-tail extent of the reconnection expands but remains limited to ˜30di, where di is the ion inertia length. The dissipation E' \\cdot J is peaked along the finite X line, with a load region (negative E' \\cdot J) forming tailward of this region. The particle energy spectra in the downtail region show shoulders for the ions in the energy range ˜3-8Eth (Eth is the initial thermal energy) and extended tails for the electrons in the range ˜10-20Eth. These results demonstrate the ability of a high-latitude disturbance that may be connected to dayside flow channels [Nishimura et al., 2014] to initiate localized magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail.

Sub-grid-scale description of turbulent magnetic reconnection in magnetohydrodynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Widmer, F., E-mail: widmer@mps.mpg.de; Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen; Büchner, J.

Magnetic reconnection requires, at least locally, a non-ideal plasma response. In collisionless space and astrophysical plasmas, turbulence could transport energy from large to small scales where binary particle collisions are rare. We have investigated the influence of small scale magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) turbulence on the reconnection rate in the framework of a compressible MHD approach including sub-grid-scale (SGS) turbulence. For this sake, we considered Harris-type and force-free current sheets with finite guide magnetic fields directed out of the reconnection plane. The goal is to find out whether unresolved by conventional simulations MHD turbulence can enhance the reconnection process in high-Reynolds-number astrophysicalmore » plasmas. Together with the MHD equations, we solve evolution equations for the SGS energy and cross-helicity due to turbulence according to a Reynolds-averaged turbulence model. The SGS turbulence is self-generated and -sustained through the inhomogeneities of the mean fields. By this way, the feedback of the unresolved turbulence into the MHD reconnection process is taken into account. It is shown that the turbulence controls the regimes of reconnection by its characteristic timescale τ{sub t}. The dependence on resistivity was investigated for large-Reynolds-number plasmas for Harris-type as well as force-free current sheets with guide field. We found that magnetic reconnection depends on the relation between the molecular and apparent effective turbulent resistivity. We found that the turbulence timescale τ{sub t} decides whether fast reconnection takes place or whether the stored energy is just diffused away to small scale turbulence. If the amount of energy transferred from large to small scales is enhanced, fast reconnection can take place. Energy spectra allowed us to characterize the different regimes of reconnection. It was found that reconnection is even faster for larger Reynolds numbers controlled by the molecular

Inner Plasma Structure of the Low-Latitude Reconnection Layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Q.-H.; Dunlop, M. W.; Lockwood, M.; Lavraud, B.; Bogdanova, Y. V.; Hasegawa, H.; Yang, H. -G.; Liu, R. -Y.; Hu, H. -Q.; Zhang, B. -C.;

Experimental Study of Current-Driven Turbulence During Magnetic Reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porkolab, Miklos; Egedal-Pedersen, Jan; Fox, William

CMPD Final Report Experimental Study of Current-Driven Turbulence During Magnetic Reconnection Miklos Porkolab, PI, Jan Egedal, co-PI, William Fox, graduate student. This is the final report for Grant DE-FC02-04ER54786, MIT Participation in the Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics, which was active from 8/1/2004 to 7/31/2010. This Grant supported the thesis work of one MIT graduate student, William Fox, The thesis research consisted of an experimental study of the fluctuations arising during magnetic reconnection in plasmas on the Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF) at MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). The thesis was submitted and accepted by the MIT physics Department,.more » Fox, Experimental Study of Current-Driven Turbulence During Magnetic Reconnection, Ph.D. Thesis, MIT (2009). In the VTF experiment reconnection and current-sheet formation is driven by quickly changing currents in a specially arranged set of internal conductors. Previous work on this device [Egedal, et al, PRL 98, 015003, (2007)] identified a spontaneous reconnection regime. In this work fluctuations were studied using impedance-matched, high-bandwidth Langmuir probes. Strong, broadband fluctuations, with frequencies extending from near the lower-hybrid frequency [fLH = (fcefci)1/2] to the electron cyclotron frequency fce were found to arise during the reconnection events. Based on frequency and wavelength measurements, lower-hybrid waves and Trivelpiece-Gould waves were identified. The lower-hybrid waves are easiest to drive with strong perpendicular drifts or gradients which arise due to the reconnection events; an appealing possibility is strong temperature gradients. The Trivelpiece-Gould modes can result from kinetic, bump-on-tail instability of a runaway electron population energized by the reconnection events. We also observed that the turbulence is often spiky, consisting of discrete positive-potential spikes, which were identified as electron phase-space holes, a class of

MAVEN Observations of Magnetic Reconnection on the Dayside Martian Magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Flares, Magnetic Reconnections and Accretion Disk Viscosity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welsh, William

2001-07-01

Accretion disks are invoked to explain a host of astrophysical phenomena, from protostellar objects to AGN. And yet the mechanism allowing accretion disks to operate are completely unknown. This proposal seeks to observe the ``smoking gun'' signature of magnetically-driven viscosity in accretion disks. Magnetically-induced viscosity is a plausible and generally accepted hypothesis {for esthetic reasons}, but it is completely untested. Determining the cause of accretion disk viscosity is of major significance to all accretion-disk powered systems {e.g. CVs, X-ray binaries, AGN and protostellar disks}. These data will also firmly establish the importance of magnetic fields in accretion disks. Because of its known flaring properites, we will observe the accretion disk in EM Cyg simulataneously with STIS/FUV and CHANDRA. The simultaneous X-rays are absolutely necessary for the unambiguous detection of accretion disk magnetic reconnection flares.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

PubMed

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 region 1,2 . 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 speed 3-5 . Much of the energy conversion occurs in spatially extended ion exhausts downstream of the diffusion region 6 . 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 scales 7-11 . 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.

Dependence of the dayside magnetopause reconnection rate on local conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Examination of Bursty Electromagnetic Waves Observed During Intervals of Turbulent Magnetosheath Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adrian, Mark L.; Wendel, D. E.

2011-01-01

We investigate observations of intense bursts of electromagnetic waves in association with magnetic reconnection in the turbulent magnetosheath. These structured, broadband bursts occur above 80-Hz, often displaying features reminiscent of absorption bands and are observed at local minima in the magnetic field. We present detailed analyses of these intense bursts of electromagnetic waves and quantify their proximity to X- and O-nulls.

Density Enhancements and Voids Following Patchy Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guidoni, S. E.; Longcope, D. W.

2011-04-01

We show, through a simple patchy reconnection model, that retracting reconnected flux tubes may present elongated regions relatively devoid of plasma, as well as long lasting, dense central hot regions. Reconnection is assumed to happen in a small patch across a Syrovatskiiˇ (non-uniform) current sheet (CS) with skewed magnetic fields. The background magnetic pressure has its maximum at the center of the CS plane and decreases toward its edges. The reconnection patch creates two V-shaped reconnected tubes that shorten as they retract in opposite directions, due to magnetic tension. One of them moves upward toward the top edge of the CS, and the other one moves downward toward the top of the underlying arcade. Rotational discontinuities (RDs) propagate along the legs of the tubes and generate parallel supersonic flows that collide at the center of the tube. There, gas-dynamic shocks that compress and heat the plasma are launched outwardly. The descending tube moves through the bottom part of the CS where it expands laterally in response to the decreasing background magnetic pressure. This effect may decrease plasma density by 30%-50% of background levels. This tube will arrive at the top of the arcade that will slow it to a stop. Here, the perpendicular dynamics is halted, but the parallel dynamics continues along its legs; the RDs are shut down, and the gas is rarified to even lower densities. The hot post-shock regions continue evolving, determining a long lasting hot region on top of the arcade. We provide an observational method based on total emission measure and mean temperature that indicates where in the CS the tube has been reconnected.

Evidence of Multiple Reconnection Lines at the Magnetopause from Cusp Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trattner, K. J.; Petrinec, S. M.; Fuselier, S. A.; Omidi, N.; Sibeck, David Gary

2012-01-01

Recent global hybrid simulations investigated the formation of flux transfer events (FTEs) and their convection and interaction with the cusp. Based on these simulations, we have analyzed several Polar cusp crossings in the Northern Hemisphere to search for the signature of such FTEs in the energy distribution of downward precipitating ions: precipitating ion beams at different energies parallel to the ambient magnetic field and overlapping in time. Overlapping ion distributions in the cusp are usually attributed to a combination of variable ion acceleration during the magnetopause crossing together with the time-of-flight effect from the entry point to the observing satellite. Most "step up" ion cusp structures (steps in the ion energy dispersions) only overlap for the populations with large pitch angles and not for the parallel streaming populations. Such cusp structures are the signatures predicted by the pulsed reconnection model, where the reconnection rate at the magnetopause decreased to zero, physically separating convecting flux tubes and their parallel streaming ions. However, several Polar cusp events discussed in this study also show an energy overlap for parallel-streaming precipitating ions. This condition might be caused by reopening an already reconnected field line, forming a magnetic island (flux rope) at the magnetopause similar to that reported in global MHD and Hybrid simulations

Magnetic Reconnection: Theoretical and Observational Perspectives: Preface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, W. S.; Antiochos, S. K,; Drake, J. F.

2011-01-01

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma-physical process by which energy stored in a magnetic field is converted, often explosively, into heat and the kinetic energy of the charged particles that constitute the plasma. It occurs in a variety of astrophysical settings, ranging from the solar corona to pulsar magnetospheres and winds, as well as in laboratory fusion experiments, where it is responsible for sawtooth crashes. First proposed by R.G. Giovanelli in the late I 940s as the mechanism responsible for solar flares, magnetic reconnection was invoked at the beginning of the space age to explain not just solar flares but also the transfer of energy, mass, and momentum from the solar wind to Earth's magnetosphere and the subsequent storage and release of the transferred energy in the magnetotai\\. During the half century or so that has followed the seminal theoretical works by J.W. Dungey, P.A. Sweet, E.N. Parker, and H.E. Petschek, in-situ measurements by Earth-orbiting satellites and remote-sensing observations of the solar corona have provided a growing body of evidence for the occurrence of reconnection at the Sun, in the solar wind, and in the near-Earth space environment. The last thirty years have also seen the development of laboratory reconnection experiments at a number of institutions. In parallel with the efforts of experimentalists in both space and laboratory plasma physics, theorists have investigated, analytically and with the help of increasingly powerful MHD, hybrid, and kinetic numerical simulations, the structure of the diffusion region, the factors controlling the rate, onset, and cessation of reconnection, and the detailed physics that enables the demagnetization of the ions and electrons and the topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field. Moreover, the scope of theoretical reconnection studies has been extended well beyond solar system and laboratory plasmas to include more exotic astrophysical plasma systems whose strong (10

The Time-Dependent Structure of the Electron Reconnection Layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2009-01-01

Collisionless magnetic reconnection is often associated with time-dependent behavior. Specifically, current layers in the diffusion region can become unstable to tearing-type instabilities on one hand, or to instabilities with current-aligned wave vectors on the other. In the former case, the growth of tearing instabilities typically leads to the production of magnetic islands, which potentially provide feedback on the reconnection process itself, as well as on the rate of reconnection. The second class of instabilities tend to modulate the current layer along the direction of the current flow, for instance generating kink-type perturbations, or smaller-scale turbulence with the potential to broaden the current layer. All of these processes contribute to rendering magnetic reconnection time-dependent. In this presentation, we will provide a summary of these effects, and a discussion of how much they contribute to the overall magnetic reconnection rate.

X-ray Point Source Populations in Spiral and Elliptical Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colbert, E.; Heckman, T.; Weaver, K.; Ptak, A.; Strickland, D.

2001-12-01

In the years of the Einstein and ASCA satellites, it was known that the total hard X-ray luminosity from non-AGN galaxies was fairly well correlated with the total blue luminosity. However, the origin of this hard component was not well understood. Some possibilities that were considered included X-ray binaries, extended upscattered far-infrared light via the inverse-Compton process, extended hot 107 K gas (especially in ellipitical galaxies), or even an active nucleus. Now, for the first time, we know from Chandra images that a significant amount of the total hard X-ray emission comes from individual X-ray point sources. We present here spatial and spectral analyses of Chandra data for X-ray point sources in a sample of ~40 galaxies, including both spiral galaxies (starbursts and non-starbursts) and elliptical galaxies. We shall discuss the relationship between the X-ray point source population and the properties of the host galaxies. We show that the slopes of the point-source X-ray luminosity functions are different for different host galaxy types and discuss possible reasons why. We also present detailed X-ray spectral analyses of several of the most luminous X-ray point sources (i.e., IXOs, a.k.a. ULXs), and discuss various scenarios for the origin of the X-ray point sources.

Oxygen acceleration in magnetotail reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Haoming; Lapenta, Giovanni; Walker, Raymond J.; Schriver, David; El-Alaoui, Mostafa; Berchem, Jean

2017-01-01

Motivated by the observed high concentration of oxygen ions in the magnetotail during enhanced geomagnetic activity, we investigated the oxygen acceleration in magnetotail reconnection by using 2.5-D implicit particle-in-cell simulations. We found that lobe oxygen ions can enter the downstream outflow region, i.e., the outflow region downstream of the dipolarization fronts (DFs) or the reconnection jet fronts. Without entering the reconnection exhaust, they are accelerated by the Hall electric field. They can populate the downstream outflow region before the DFs arrive there. This acceleration is in addition to acceleration in the exhaust by the Hall and reconnection electric fields. Oxygen ions in the preexisting current sheet are reflected by the propagating DF creating a reflected beam with a hook shape in phase space. This feature can be applied to deduce a history of the DF speed. However, it is difficult to observe for protons because their typical thermal velocity in the plasma sheet is comparable those of the DF and the reflection speed. The oxygen ions from the lobes and the preexisting current sheet form multiple beams in the distribution function in front of the DF. By comparing oxygen concentrations of 50%, 5%, and 0% with the same current sheet thickness, we found that the DF thickness is proportional to the oxygen concentration in the preexisting current sheet. All the simulation results can be used to compare with the observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

[Recent results in research on oscillatory chemical reactions].

PubMed

Poros, Eszter; Kurin-Csörgei, Krisztina

2014-01-01

The mechanisms of the complicated periodical phenomenas in the nature (e.g. hearth beat, sleep cycle, circadian rhythms, etc) could be understood with using the laws of nonlinear chemical systems. In this article the newest result in the research of the subfield of nonlinear chemical dynamics aimed at constructing oscillatory chemical reactions, which are novel either in composition or in configuration, are presented. In the introductory part the concept of chemical periodicity is defined, then the forms as it can appear in time and space and the methods of their study are discussed. Detailed description of the experimental work that has resulted in two significant discoveries is provided. A method was developed to design pH-oscillators which are capable of operating under close conditions. The batch pH-oscillators are more convenient to use in some proposed applications than the equivalent CSTR variant. A redox oscillator that is new in composition was found. The permanganate oxidation of some amino acids was shown to take place according to oscillatory kinetics in a narrow range of the experimental parameters. The KMnO4 - glycine - Na2HPO4 system represents the first example in the family of manganese based oscillators where amino acids is involved. In the conclusion formal analogies between the simple chemical and some more complicated biological oscillatory phenomena are mentioned and the possibility of modeling periodic processes with the use of information gained from the studies of chemical oscillations is pointed out.

Oscillatory bistability of real-space transfer in semiconductor heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Do˙ttling, R.; Scho˙ll, E.

1992-01-01

Charge transport parallel to the layers of a modulation-doped GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterostructure is studied theoretically. The heating of electrons by the applied electric field leads to real-space transfer of electrons from the GaAs into the adjacent AlxGa1-xAs layer. For sufficiently large dc bias, spontaneous periodic 100-GHz current oscillations, and bistability and hysteretic switching transitions between oscillatory and stationary states are predicted. We present a detailed investigation of complex bifurcation scenarios as a function of the bias voltage U0 and the load resistance RL. For large RL subcritical Hopf bifurcations and global bifurcations of limit cycles are displayed.

Solar Hard X-ray Observations with NuSTAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, David M.; Krucker, S.; Hudson, H. S.; Hurford, G. J.; White, S. M.; Mewaldt, R. A.; Stern, D.; Grefenstette, B. W.; Harrison, F. A.

2011-05-01

High-sensitivity imaging of coronal hard X-rays allows detection of freshly accelerated nonthermal electrons at the acceleration site. A few such observations have been made with Yohkoh and RHESSI, but a leap in sensitivity could help pin down the time, place, and manner of reconnection. In 2012, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), a NASA Small Explorer for high energy astrophysics that uses grazing-incidence optics to focus X-rays up to 80 keV, will be launched. NuSTAR is capable of solar pointing, and three weeks will be dedicated to solar observing during the baseline two-year mission. NuSTAR will be 200 times more sensitive than RHESSI in the hard X-ray band. This will allow the following new observations, among others: 1) Extrapolation of the micro/nanoflare distribution by two orders of magnitude down in flux 2) Search for hard X-rays from network nanoflares (soft X-ray bright points) and evaluation of their role in coronal heating 3) Discovery of hard X-ray bremsstrahlung from the electron beams driving type III radio bursts, and measurement of their electron spectrum 4) Hard X-ray studies of polar soft X-ray jets and impulsive solar energetic particle events at the edge of coronal holes, and comparison of these events with observations of 3He and other particles in interplanetary space 5) Study of coronal bremsstrahlung from particles accelerated by coronal mass ejections as they are first launched 6) Study of particles at the coronal reconnection site when flare footpoints are occulted; and 7) Search for hypothetical axion particles created in the solar core via the hard X-ray signal from their conversion to X-rays in the coronal magnetic field. NuSTAR will also serve as a pathfinder for a future dedicated space mission with enhanced capabilities, such as a satellite version of the FOXSI sounding rocket.

Fast magnetic reconnection supported by sporadic small-scale Petschek-type shocks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shibayama, Takuya, E-mail: shibayama@stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp; Nakabou, Takashi; Kusano, Kanya

2015-10-15

Standard magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory predicts reconnection rate that is far too slow to account for a wide variety of reconnection events observed in space and laboratory plasmas. Therefore, it was commonly accepted that some non-MHD (kinetic) effects play a crucial role in fast reconnection. A recently renewed interest in simple MHD models is associated with the so-called plasmoid instability of reconnecting current sheets. Although it is now evident that this effect can significantly enhance the rate of reconnection, many details of the underlying multiple-plasmoid process still remain controversial. Here, we report results of a high-resolution computer simulation which demonstrate thatmore » fast albeit intermittent magnetic reconnection is sustained by numerous small-scale Petschek-type shocks spontaneously formed in the current sheet due to its plasmoid instability.« less

Modeling Reconnection-Driven Solar Polar Jets with Gravity and Wind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karpen, Judith T.; DeVore, C. R.; Antiochos, S. K.

2013-07-01

Solar polar jets are dynamic, narrow, radially extended structures observed in EUV emission. They have been found to originate within the open magnetic field of coronal holes in “anemone” regions, which are generally accepted to be intrusions of opposite polarity. The associated embedded-dipole topology consists of a spine line emanating from a null point atop a dome-shaped fan surface. Previous work (Pariat et al. 2009, 2010) has validated the idea that magnetic free energy stored on twisted closed field lines within the fan surface can be released explosively by the onset of fast reconnection between the highly stressed closed field inside the null and the unstressed open field outside (Antiochos 1996). The simulations showed that a dense jet comprising a nonlinear, torsional Alfven wave is ejected into the outer corona on the newly reconnected open field lines. While proving the principle of the basic model, those simulations neglected the important effects of gravity, the solar wind, and an expanding spherical geometry. We introduce those additional physical processes in new simulations of reconnection-driven jets, to determine whether the model remains robust in the resulting more realistic setting, and to begin establishing the signatures of the jets in the inner heliosphere for comparison with observations. Initial results demonstrate explosive energy release and a jet in the low corona very much like that in the earlier Cartesian, gravity-free, static-atmosphere runs. We report our analysis of the results, their comparison with previous work, and their implications for observations. This work was supported by NASA’s LWS TR&T program.Abstract (2,250 Maximum Characters): Solar polar jets are dynamic, narrow, radially extended structures observed in EUV emission. They have been found to originate within the open magnetic field of coronal holes in “anemone” regions, which are generally accepted to be intrusions of opposite polarity. The associated

Diffusion region in magnetopause reconnection observed by the MMS mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Li-Jen

2017-10-01

The diffusion region is the primary location where the plasmas are energized to dissipate the magnetic energy in reconnection. The NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, capable of resolving sub-gyroscales of both electrons and ions, has created new frontiers in the state-of-the-art understanding of the diffusion region. The MMS detection of reconnection at Earth's magnetopause will be discussed to highlight the roles of demagnetized particle orbits and wave fluctuations in the reconnection dynamics. When the guide field is significantly weaker than the reconnecting magnetic field, the reconnection current layer is gyro-resistive and the electron distribution functions exhibit strong finite-gyroradius effects with crescent and counterstreaming characteristics. When the guide field is comparable to the reconnecting component, the electron jets are mainly the E cross B drift due to the polarization electric field and the guide magnetic field, and the energy conversion at the jet reversal is dominated by the wave electric field near the lower hybrid frequency. Insensitive to the guide-field, the dense magnetosheath electrons in the reconnection exhaust are transported, by wave turbulence, across the magnetospheric separatrix to modify the plasma properties and field structures in the magnetosphere. The MMS results will be compared with available laboratory measurements from the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment in Princeton, and challenges in diffusion region physics will be discussed. The MMS and MRX teams are acknowledged. Work is supported by NASA, DOE, and NSF.

An experimental platform for pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hare, J. D.; Suttle, L. G.; Lebedev, S. V.; Loureiro, N. F.; Ciardi, A.; Chittenden, J. P.; Clayson, T.; Eardley, S. J.; Garcia, C.; Halliday, J. W. D.; Robinson, T.; Smith, R. A.; Stuart, N.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Tubman, E. R.

2018-05-01

We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on the exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 225001 (2016)]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows for the duration of the generator current pulse (250 ns), resulting in a long-lasting reconnection layer. The layer exists for long enough to allow the evolution of complex processes such as plasmoid formation and movement to be diagnosed by a suite of high spatial and temporal resolution laser-based diagnostics. We can access a wide range of magnetic reconnection regimes by changing the wire material or moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays. We present results with aluminium and carbon wires, in which the parameters of the inflows and the layer that forms are significantly different. By moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays, we change how strongly the inflows are driven. This enables us to study both symmetric reconnection in a range of different regimes and asymmetric reconnection.

Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection in the Extended Corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, Sabrina; West, Matthew J.; Seaton, Daniel B.; Kobelski, Adam

2016-01-01

Observational signatures of reconnection have been studied extensively in the lower corona for decades, successfully providing insight into energy release mechanisms in the region above post-flare arcade loops and below 1.5 solar radii. During large eruptive events, however, energy release continues to occur well beyond the presence of reconnection signatures at these low heights. Supra-Arcade Downflows (SADs) and Supra-Arcade Downflowing Loops (SADLs) are particularly useful measures of continual reconnection in the corona as they may indicate the presence and path of retracting post-reconnection loops. SADs and SADLs have been faintly observed up to 18 hours beyond the passage of coronas mass ejections through the SOHO/LASCO field of view, but a recent event from 2014 October 14 associated with giant arches provides very clear observations of these downflows for days after the initial eruption. We report on this unique event and compare these findings with observational signatures of magnetic reconnection in the extended corona for more typical eruptions.

Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection in the Extended Corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, Sabrina; West, Matthew J.; Seaton, Danial B.; Kobelski, Adam

2016-01-01

Observational signatures of reconnection have been studied extensively in the lower corona for decades, successfully providing insight into energy release mechanisms in the region above post-flare arcade loops and below 1.5 solar radii. During large eruptive events, however, energy release continues to occur well beyond the presence of reconnection signatures at these low heights. Supra-Arcade Downflows (SADs) and Supra-Arcade Downflowing Loops (SADLs) are particularly useful measures of continual reconnection in the corona as they may indicate the presence and path of retracting post-reconnection loops. SADs and SADLs have been faintly observed up to 18 hours beyond the passage of corona mass ejections through the SOHO/LASCO field of view, but a recent event from 2014 October 14 associated with giant arches provides very clear observations of these downflows for days after the initial eruption. We report on this unique event and compare these findings with observational signatures of magnetic reconnection in the extended corona for more typical eruptions.

Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection in the Extended Corona

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, Sabrina; West, Matthew J.; Seaton, Daniel B.; Kobelski, Adam

2017-01-01

Observational signatures of reconnection have been studied extensively in the lower corona for decades, successfully providing insight into energy release mechanisms in the region above post-flare arcade loops and below 1.5 solar radii. During large eruptive events, however, energy release continues to occur well beyond the presence of reconnection signatures at these low heights. Supra-Arcade Downflows (SADs) and Supra-Arcade Downflowing Loops (SADLs) are particularly useful measures of continual reconnection in the corona as they may indicate the presence and path of retracting post-reconnection loops. SADs and SADLs have been faintly observed up to 18 hours beyond the passage of corona mass ejections through the SOHO/LASCO field of view, but a recent event from 2014 October 14 associated with giant arches provides very clear observations of these downflows for days after the initial eruption. We report on this unique event and compare these findings with observational signatures of magnetic reconnection in the extended corona for more typical eruptions.

Budget of energetic electrons during solar flares in the framework of magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, G.; Warmuth, A.

2011-04-01

Context. Among other things, solar flares are accompanied by the production of energetic electrons as seen in the nonthermal radio and X-ray radiation of the Sun. Observations of the RHESSI satellite show that 1032-1036 nonthermal electrons are produced per second during flares. They are related to an energy flux in the range 1018-1022 W. These electrons play an important role, since they carry a substantial part of the energy released during a flare. Aims: In which way so many electrons are accelerated up to high energies during a fraction of a second is still an open question. By means of radio and hard X-ray data, we investigate under which conditions this acceleration happens in the corona. Methods: The flare is considered in the framework of magnetic reconnection. The conditions in the acceleration region in the corona are deduced by using the conservation of the total electron number and energy. Results: In the inflow region of the magnetic reconnection site, there are typical electron number densities of about 2.07 × 109 cm-3 and magnetic fields of about 46 G. These are regions with high Alfvén speeds of about 2200 km s-1. Then, sufficient energetic electrons (as required by the RHESSI observations) are only generated if the plasma inflow towards the reconnection site has Alfvén-Mach numbers in the range 0.1-1, which can lead to a super-Alfvénic outflow with speeds up to 3100 km s-1.

Multi-scale structures of turbulent magnetic reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nakamura, T. K. M., E-mail: takuma.nakamura@oeaw.ac.at; Nakamura, R.; Narita, Y.

2016-05-15

We have analyzed data from a series of 3D fully kinetic simulations of turbulent magnetic reconnection with a guide field. A new concept of the guide filed reconnection process has recently been proposed, in which the secondary tearing instability and the resulting formation of oblique, small scale flux ropes largely disturb the structure of the primary reconnection layer and lead to 3D turbulent features [W. Daughton et al., Nat. Phys. 7, 539 (2011)]. In this paper, we further investigate the multi-scale physics in this turbulent, guide field reconnection process by introducing a wave number band-pass filter (k-BPF) technique in whichmore » modes for the small scale (less than ion scale) fluctuations and the background large scale (more than ion scale) variations are separately reconstructed from the wave number domain to the spatial domain in the inverse Fourier transform process. Combining with the Fourier based analyses in the wave number domain, we successfully identify spatial and temporal development of the multi-scale structures in the turbulent reconnection process. When considering a strong guide field, the small scale tearing mode and the resulting flux ropes develop over a specific range of oblique angles mainly along the edge of the primary ion scale flux ropes and reconnection separatrix. The rapid merging of these small scale modes leads to a smooth energy spectrum connecting ion and electron scales. When the guide field is sufficiently weak, the background current sheet is strongly kinked and oblique angles for the small scale modes are widely scattered at the kinked regions. Similar approaches handling both the wave number and spatial domains will be applicable to the data from multipoint, high-resolution spacecraft observations such as the NASA magnetospheric multiscale (MMS) mission.« less

Multi-scale structures of turbulent magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, T. K. M.; Nakamura, R.; Narita, Y.; Baumjohann, W.; Daughton, W.

2016-05-01

We have analyzed data from a series of 3D fully kinetic simulations of turbulent magnetic reconnection with a guide field. A new concept of the guide filed reconnection process has recently been proposed, in which the secondary tearing instability and the resulting formation of oblique, small scale flux ropes largely disturb the structure of the primary reconnection layer and lead to 3D turbulent features [W. Daughton et al., Nat. Phys. 7, 539 (2011)]. In this paper, we further investigate the multi-scale physics in this turbulent, guide field reconnection process by introducing a wave number band-pass filter (k-BPF) technique in which modes for the small scale (less than ion scale) fluctuations and the background large scale (more than ion scale) variations are separately reconstructed from the wave number domain to the spatial domain in the inverse Fourier transform process. Combining with the Fourier based analyses in the wave number domain, we successfully identify spatial and temporal development of the multi-scale structures in the turbulent reconnection process. When considering a strong guide field, the small scale tearing mode and the resulting flux ropes develop over a specific range of oblique angles mainly along the edge of the primary ion scale flux ropes and reconnection separatrix. The rapid merging of these small scale modes leads to a smooth energy spectrum connecting ion and electron scales. When the guide field is sufficiently weak, the background current sheet is strongly kinked and oblique angles for the small scale modes are widely scattered at the kinked regions. Similar approaches handling both the wave number and spatial domains will be applicable to the data from multipoint, high-resolution spacecraft observations such as the NASA magnetospheric multiscale (MMS) mission.

Observational Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Chromospheric Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Limei; He, Jiansen; Xia, Lidong; Jiao, Fangran

2015-05-01

The chromospheric anemone jets with an inverse “Y” shape are ubiquitous, as revealed by the Solar Optical Telescope observations. These jets are considered to be consequences of chromospheric magnetic reconnections. Although these jets have been studied intensively, the dynamics and their driving causes remain unclear observationally. In this work, we report a case of a chromospheric jet showing complete observational evidence for the cause and consequence of chromospheric intermittent reconnection. The intermittent eruption of this jet shows two distinct quasi-periods, 50-60 s and 600-700 s. The short-period eruptions may be related to the plasmoid-induced reconnection, and the long-period ones may be interpreted as sequences of cycles of energy storage and release during magnetic reconnections. The observations also reveal Alfvénic waves with a mean period around 88 s and a maximum transverse displacement around 0.″26. The jet is hosted by a loop moving smoothly with a horizontal speed of ˜0.4 km s-1. Our results provide observational evidence supporting the magnetic reconnection model of the formation of the chromospheric jets with related products, in which the loop advection drives intermittent magnetic reconnections, and the reconnection outflows carrying plasmoids collide further with the ambient field lines and finally excite waves and jets.

Dynamic behavior of the bray-liebhafsky oscillatory reaction controlled by sulfuric acid and temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pejić, N.; Vujković, M.; Maksimović, J.; Ivanović, A.; Anić, S.; Čupić, Ž.; Kolar-Anić, Lj.

2011-12-01

The non-periodic, periodic and chaotic regimes in the Bray-Liebhafsky (BL) oscillatory reaction observed in a continuously fed well stirred tank reactor (CSTR) under isothermal conditions at various inflow concentrations of the sulfuric acid were experimentally studied. In each series (at any fixed temperature), termination of oscillatory behavior via saddle loop infinite period bifurcation (SNIPER) as well as some kind of the Andronov-Hopf bifurcation is presented. In addition, it was found that an increase of temperature, in different series of experiments resulted in the shift of bifurcation point towards higher values of sulfuric acid concentration.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Bursty, Broadband Electromagnetic Waves Associated with Three-Dimensional Nulls Observed in Turbulent Magnetosheath Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adrian, Mark L.; Wendel, D. E.

2012-01-01

We investigate observations of intense bursts of electromagnetic wave energy in association with the thin current layers of turbulent magnetosheath reconnection. These observed emissions - typically detected in the layers immediately outside of the current layer proper - form two distinct types: (i) broadband emissions that extend continuously to lOs of Hertz; and (ii) structured bursts of emitted energy that occur above 80-Hz, often displaying features reminiscent of absorption bands and are observed near the local minima in the magnetic field. We present detailed analyses of these intense bursts of electromagnetic energy and quantify their proximity to X-IO-nulls and magnetic spine connected null pairs, as well as their correlation - if any - to the amount of magnetic energy converted by the process of magnetic reconnection.

The Role of Fluid Compression in Particle Energization during Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2017-12-01

Theories of particle transport and acceleration have shown that fluid compression is the leading mechanism for particle energization. However, the role of compression in particle energization during magnetic reconnection is unclear. We present a cluster of studies to clarify and show the effect of fluid compression in accelerating particles to high energies during magnetic reconnection. Using fully kinetic reconnection simulations, we show that fluid compression is the leading mechanism for high-energy particle energization. We find that the compressional energization is more important in a low-beta plasma or in a reconnection layer with a weak guide field (the magnetic field component perpendicular to the reconnecting magnetic field), which are relevant to solar flares. Our analysis on 3D kinetic simulations shows that the self-generated turbulence scatters particles and enhances the particle diffusion processes in the acceleration regions. Based on these results, we then study large-scale reconnection acceleration by solving the particle transport equation in a large-scale reconnection layer evolved with MHD simulations. Due to the compressional effect, particles are accelerated to high energies and develop power-law energy distributions. This study clarifies the nature of particle acceleration in reconnection layer and is important to understand particle energization during large-scale acceleration such as solar flares.

Ion and electron heating characteristics of magnetic reconnection in tokamak plasma merging experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ono, Y.; Tanabe, H.; Yamada, T.; Inomoto, M.; T, Ii; Inoue, S.; Gi, K.; Watanabe, T.; Gryaznevich, M.; Scannell, R.; Michael, C.; Cheng, C. Z.

2012-12-01