Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufmsm61a0467d&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #SM61A-0467
Statistics
Computation
7827 Kinetic And Mhd Theory, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection, 7839 Nonlinear Phenomena, 7843 Numerical Simulation Studies
Scientific paper
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the mechanism by which magnetic energy is converted into plasma energy in such astrophysical dissipative events as solar flares and magnetospheric substorms. While many solar-terrestrial physicists now routinely invoke reconnection in models of such dissipative events, a self-consistent theory yielding realistic dissipation time scales does not yet exist. Recent computational work suggests that Hall electric fields (which are normally neglected in the usual resistive MHD treatment) play an essential role in allowing reconnection to occur on Alfvenic time scales (as required by observations). In this talk, we critically review this recent work, demonstrating the following: 1) Hall electric fields only play a direct role in driving fast reconnection when the scale sizes of the merging magnetic structures are comparable to the ion inertial scale; 2) Magnetic flux pile-up, an ideal MHD effect, seems to be the key physical effect which allows fast reconnection to occur for large systems; 3) For large, two-dimensional merging structures, Hall electric fields seem to play a more passive role than previously suggested, merely preventing the flux pile-up saturation (and consequent reduction in reconnection rate) which occurs in resistive MHD. We discuss the implications of this effect for the possibility of Alfvenic reconnection in astrophysical systems.
Birn Joachim
Dorelli John C.
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