The role of electron dissipation on the rate of collisionless magnetic reconnection
نویسندگان
چکیده
Particle simulations and analytic arguments are presented to demonstrate that the electron dissipation region, including the physics which breaks the frozen-in condition, does not affect the rate of reconnection in collisionless plasma. The result is a general consequence of the quadratic nature of the dispersion character of whistler waves, which control the plasma dynamics at small scales. The reconnection rate is instead controlled by the dynamics at length scales much greater than the electron dissipation region.
منابع مشابه
Structure of the dissipation region during collisionless magnetic reconnection
Collisionless magnetic reconnection isstudied using a 2 1/2-dimensional hybrid code including Hall dynamics and electron inertia. The simulations reveal that the dissipation region develops a two-scale structure: an inner electron region and an outer ion region. Close to the X line is a region with a scale of the electron collisionless kin depth, where the electron flows completely dominate tho...
متن کاملTwo-scale structure of the electron dissipation region during collisionless magnetic reconnection.
Particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection are presented that demonstrate that reconnection remains fast in very large systems. The electron dissipation region develops a distinct two-scale structure along the outflow direction. Consistent with fast reconnection, the length of the electron current layer stabilizes and decreases with decreasing electron mass, approaching...
متن کاملThe Inner Structure of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection
Magnetic reconnection is a driving engine of solar flares, stellar flares, and quite probably bursty events in high-energy astrophysical sites. The reconnection process is driven by a small-scale “dissipation region” surrounding the reconnection point (X-point), at which a plasma ideal condition breaks down. Recently, kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have revealed that the electron id...
متن کاملThe scaling of forced collisionless reconnection
We present two-fluid simulations of forced magnetic reconnection with finite electron inertia in a collisionless two-dimensional slab geometry. Reconnection in this system is driven by a spatially localized forcing function that is added to the ion momentum equation inside the computational domain. The resulting forced reconnection process is studied as a function of the temporal and spatial st...
متن کاملExtension of Electron Dissipation Region along the Downstream Direction in Steady Collisionless Driven Reconnection
Steady collisionless driven reconnection in an open system is investigated by means of 3D fullparticle simulations. When the system relaxes to the steady state, a long and narrow current sheet and electron dissipation region are formed in the downstream direction. The Sweet-Parker model predicts that outflow peak will appear at the edge of electron dissipation region. However, the electron diss...
متن کامل