Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm22a03p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM22A-03 INVITED
Physics
2724 Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2788 Storms And Substorms, 7827 Kinetic And Mhd Theory, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
The MHD theory of magnetic reconnection with two slow shock waves involves matching the flow conditions in the diffusion region, the outflow region and the inflow region. The key features which determine the matching condition are: 1) the requirement that the waves must have a component of magnetic field normal to the boundary in order to be stationary with a finite inflow velocity, 2) that this normal component of the field and the inflow fluid properties reduce the magnetic field near the origin just outside of the diffusion region and 3) that the rate of reconnection through the diffusion region will be reduced as the magnetic field near the origin decreases. This leads to a reconnection rate that is virtually independent of the assumed value of plasma resistivity. More recent numerical calculations, by several authors, involving more detailed particle mechanics have derived the same reconnection rate and a very similar plasma flow description as the MHD theory does -- even for different particle mechanics assumptions. It will be argued that the reconnection rate is determined by the large scale boundary conditions and that, while the particle mechanics near the neutral point provide interesting information about the mechanics of dissipation in a collisionless plasma, they adjust to the reconnection rate required by the larger scales and do not determine the rate.
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