Hall effects on the generation of field-aligned currents in three-dimensional magnetic reconnection

Details Hall effects on the generation of field-aligned currents in three-dimensional magnetic reconnection Hall effects on the generation of field-aligned currents in three-dimensional magnetic reconnection

Nov 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001jgr...10625951m&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 106, Issue A11, p. 25951-25960

Physics

Plasma Physics

5

Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, Space Plasma Physics: Magnetic Reconnection, Space Plasma Physics: Numerical Simulation Studies

Scientific paper

A three-dimensional Hall MHD simulation is carried out to study the Hall effects on the generation of field-aligned currents (FAC) and Alfvén waves by magnetic reconnection. The magnetic field is initially set up with an antiparallel component (Bz) with respect to the plane x=0. The initial current flows in the y direction. Several interesting features emerge owing to the inclusion of the Hall term in the MHD equation. In Hall MHD, the magnetic field lines are frozen in the electron fluid, but not in the ion fluid. In the presence of a Hall term, a strong electron velocity in the -y direction is usually present in the region with a high current density J in the y direction. As a result, the reconnected magnetic field lines are bent and also shifted in the -y direction. Generated FACs break the dawn-dusk symmetry, and the region of generated FACs tends to shift to the side with y<0. The magnitude of generated FACs increases with increasing ion inertial length. We use the Walén relation to examine the presence of Alfvén waves. The ion and electron Walén ratios are defined as Ai≡Ωi∥/ΩA∥ and Ae≡Ωe∥/ΩA∥, respectively. Here, Ωi∥, Ωe∥, and ΩA∥ are the ion, electron, and Alfvén parallel vorticities, respectively. The ion and electron Walén relations are found to be different. It is also found that in the region J∥<0, Alfvén waves have a right-hand polarization with Ai<1, while in the region J∥<0, Alfvén waves have a left-hand polarization with Ai>1.

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