Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusmsm54a..07c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #SM54A-07
Statistics
Applications
2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2724 Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835), 7835 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7526), 7859 Transport Processes
Scientific paper
Magnetic reconnection is usually studied under the assumption that the plasmas on either side of the dissipation region are symmetric, with identical densities and magnetic field strengths. While ostensibly appropriate for reconnection in the magnetotail, this assumption does not describe reconnection at the dayside magnetopause where the magnetosphere and magnetosheath plasmas have considerably different properties. There has been wide interest in the shock structure of fast asymmetric reconnection, but a general theory of the structure of the dissipation region and the rate of reconnection during asymmetric reconnection has only been addressed recently. Analytical expressions for the scaling of the reconnection rate were recently derived [1] from first principles using a Sweet-Parker type scaling analysis, but have only been tested using simulations of collisional plasmas. Here, we address the scaling of collisionless (Hall) magnetic reconnection. We show using two- dimensional Hall-MHD simulations that the scaling laws derived for collisional reconnection are valid for collisionless reconnection. We confirm that a general property of asymmetric reconnection is that the X-line and stagnation point are not co-located, leading to a bulk flow of plasma across the X-line. Further, in collisionless reconnection, the ion and electron stagnation points are at different locations. Applications to the magnetosphere will be discussed. [1] P. A. Cassak and M. A. Shay, Phys. Plasmas, 14, 102114 (2007).
Cassak Paul A.
Shay Michael A.
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