Bridging the Gap Between Magnetic Reconnection in Space & Laboratory Plasmas Using 3D Kinetic Simulations

Details Bridging the Gap Between Magnetic Reconnection in Space & Laboratory Plasmas Using 3D Kinetic Simulations Bridging the Gap Between Magnetic Reconnection in Space & Laboratory Plasmas Using 3D Kinetic Simulations

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm21a1570r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM21A-1570

Physics

Plasma Physics

[2723] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [2772] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Waves And Instabilities, [7829] Space Plasma Physics / Kinetic Waves And Instabilities, [7835] Space Plasma Physics / Magnetic Reconnection

Scientific paper

The influence of current-aligned instabilities on magnetic reconnection is investigated using state-of-the-art fully kinetic simulations with boundary conditions mimicking Magnetic Reconnection eXperiment (MRX). MRX is a controlled, well-diagnosed reconnection experiment that provides a unique opportunity to perform detailed comparison between simulations and observations in ways that are not as easily possible with spacecraft data. At the same time, simulations help extrapolate the experimental results to the parameter regimes (e.g. collisionless regimes) not accessible in the real device. We present the first results from 3D simulations that have been recently carried out as a part of the open science campaign on Roadrunner, the world’s first petascale computer. The simulations were performed using a high-performance Particle-In-Cell code VPIC, which utilizes a Monte-Carlo model for Coulomb collisions thus allowing regimes with arbitrary collisionality to be studied [4]. Simulations in MRX geometry are compared to those performed in large-scale collisionless systems with open boundary conditions. Fluctuations with characteristic frequency and wavenumbers in the lower-hybrid range are observed in both geometries and in case of MRX simulations compare well with the ones detected in MRX. The possible role of these fluctuations in global reconnection dynamics is discussed. [1] T. Carter, et al., Phys. Plasmas, 9, 3272, 2002 [2] H. Ji, et al., Phys. Rev. Letters 92, 115001, 2004 [3] S. Dorfman, et al., Phys. of Plasmas 15, 102107, 2008 [4] W. Daughton et al. Phys. Plasmas 16, 072117, 2009

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