Properties of Magnetic Reconnection in a Stratified Atmosphere

Physics

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Scientific paper

We investigate properties of magnetic reconnection in a stratified atmosphere such as the solar photosphere, performing 2--dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations. The reconnection is caused by an encounter of oppositely directed vertical magnetic flux sheets, where the initial sheets are calculated assuming the thin flux tube approximation. We adopt a resistivity model in which the resistivity is described as a function of height with a maximum (where the magnetic Reynolds number = 2000) at a middle height of our simulation box, imitating the solar resistivity distribution which possesses a maximum at the temperature--minimum region. Owing to the resistivity, magnetic reconnection occurs at the middle and evolves into reconnection with slow mode MHD standing shock waves like the Petschek type reconnection. It is found that the velocity of the upward reconnection jet is faster than that of the downward jet. We next investigate mass, momentum, and energy carried by the outflow from the reconnection region. In these variables, however, the differences between the upward and the downward quantities are negligibly small in spite of the stratification. The inflow speed to the reconnection region (vi ~ 160 m/s) is nearly equal to the speeds implied by observations of canceling magnetic features on the photosphere. Thus photospheric magnetic reconnection seems to be a cancellation mechanism.

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