Experimental observations of patchy reconnections associated with the three-dimensional tearing instability

Details Experimental observations of patchy reconnections associated with the three-dimensional tearing instability Experimental observations of patchy reconnections associated with the three-dimensional tearing instability

Mar 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991jgr....96.3829g&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 96, March 1, 1991, p. 3829-3833. Navy-supported research.

Physics

6

Collisionless Plasmas, Current Sheets, Flux Transfer Events, Magnetic Field Reconnection, Tearing Modes (Plasmas), Magnetic Signatures, Magnetopause, Solar Wind, Space Plasmas

Scientific paper

Experiments on tearing of a thin current sheet are performed in a collisionless laboratory plasma. It is observed that the three-dimensional tearing of a thin current sheet can lead to what can be identified as patchy reconnection in space plasma. It is found that the wavelengths of the most unstable mode of the three-dimensional tearing satisfy the scaling relationship of lambda(y) approximately equal to lambda(x) approximately equal to 30 L(z). It is also concluded that the e-folding time of the three-dimensional tearing is about 50 percent longer than that of the two-dimensional tearing, and is 20 percent longer than the collisional tearing growth rate predicted by Drake and Lee (1979). Also, the sites of the patchy reconnection are centered on the x line segments which are located in the local current density minima. The experimental results obtained support the observational concept that reconnections on the dayside magnetopause are probably patchy and intermittent.

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