Whistler-mediated magnetic reconnection in large systems: Magnetic flux pileup and the formation of thin current sheets

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics

Volumn 108, Issue A3, 2003, Pages

  Dorelli, John C ^a,b   Birn, Joachim ^a  

^a LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY   (United States)

^b NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Computational plasma physics; Magnetic reconnection; MHD simulation

Indexed keywords

EID: 41749117036     PISSN: None     EISSN: 21699402     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2001JA009180     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Attico, N., F. Califano, and F. Pegoraro, Fast collisionless reconnection in the whistler frequency range, Phys. Plasmas, 7, 2381-2387, 2000.
2. Avinash, K., S. V. Bulanov, T. Esirkepov, P. Kaw, F. Pegoraro, P. V. Sasorov, and A. Sen, Forced magnetic field line reconnection in electron magnetohydrodynamics, Phys. Plasmas, 5, 2849-2860, 1998.
3. Bhattacharjee, A., F. Brunel, and T. Tajima, Magnetic reconnection driven by the coalescence instability, Phys. Fluids, 26, 3332-3337, 1983.
4. Birn, J., and M. Hesse, Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) magnetic reconnection challenge: Resistive tearing, anisotropic pressure and Hall effects, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3737-3750, 2001.
5. Birn, J., et al., Geospace environmental modeling (GEM) magnetic reconnection challenge, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3715-3719, 2001.
6. Biskamp, D., Magnetic reconnection via current sheets, Phys. Fluids, 29, 1520-1531, 1986.
7. Biskamp, D., Nonlinear Magnetohydrodynamics, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1993.
8. Biskamp, D., and E. Schwarz, Localization, the clue to fast magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 8, 4729-4731, 2001.
9. Biskamp, D., and H. Welter, Coalescence of magnetic islands, Phys. Rev. Lett., 44, 1069-1072, 1980.
10. Biskamp, D., E. Schwarz, and J. F. Drake, Ion-controlled collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Rev. Lett., 75, 3850-3853, 1995.
11. Biskamp, D., E. Schwartz, and J. F. Drake, Two-fluid theory of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 4, 1002-1009, 1997.
12. Bulanov, S. V., F. Pegoraro, and A. S. Sakharov, Magnetic reconnection in electron magnetohydrodynamics, Phys. Fluids, 4, 2499-2508, 1992.
13. Dorelli, J. C., and J. Birn, Electron magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetic island coalescence, Phys. Plasmas, 8, 4010-4019, 2001.
14. Fadeev, V. M., I. F. Kvartskhava, and N. N. Komarov, Self-focusing of local plasma currents, Nucl. Fusion, 5, 202, 1965.
15. Finn, J. M., and P. K. Kaw, Coalescence instability of magnetic islands, Phys. Fluids, 20, 72-78, 1977.
16. Harris, E. G., On a plasma sheet separating regions of oppositely directed magnetic field, Nuovo Cimento, 13, 110-121, 1962.
17. Hesse, M., K. Schindler, J. Birn, and M. Kuznetsova, The diffusion region in collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 6, 1781-1795, 1999.
18. Hesse, M., J. Birn, and M. Kuznetsova, Collisionless magnetic reconnection: Electron processes and transport modeling, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3721-3735, 2001.
19. Kingsep, A. S., K. V. Chukbar, and V. V. Yan'kov, Electron magnetohydrodynamics, in Reviews of Plasma Physics, edited by B. Kadomstev, vol. 16, p. 243, Consult. Bur., New York, 1990.
20. Kuznetsova, M. M., M. Hesse, and D. Winske, Collisionless reconnection supported by nongyrotropic pressure effects in hybrid and particle simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3799-3810, 2001.
21. Ma, Z. W., and A. Bhattacharjee, Fast impulsive reconnection and current sheet intensification due to electron pressure gradients in semi-collisional plasmas, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 1673-1676, 1996.
22. Ma, Z. W., and A. Bhattacharjee, Hall magnetohydrodynamic reconnection: The Geospace Environment Modeling challenge, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3773-3782, 2001.
23. Ma, Z. W., X. Wang, and A. Bhattacharjee, Growth, sudden enhancement, and relaxation of current sheets in the magnetotail: Two-dimensional substorm dynamics, J. Geophys. Res., 22, 2985-2988, 1995.
24. Mandt, M. E., R. E. Denton, and J. F. Drake, Transition to whistler mediated magnetic reconnection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 73-76, 1994.
25. Ohtani, S., K. Takahashi, L. J. Zanetti, T. A. Potemra, R. W. McEntire, and T. Iijima, Initial signatures of magnetic field and energetic particle fluxes at tail reconfiguration: Explosive growth phase, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 19, 311, 1992.
26. Otto, A., Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) magnetic reconnection challenge: MHD and Hall MHD - constant and current dependent resistivity models, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3751-3757, 2001.
27. Parker, E. N., Sweet's mechanism for merging magnetic fields in conducting fluids, J. Geophys. Res., 62, 509, 1957.
28. Petschek, H. E., Magnetic field annihilation, in AAS-NASA Symposium on Physics of Solar Flares, NASA Spec. Publ. 50, 425-439, 1964.
29. Priest, E. R., and T. G. Forbes, New models for fast steady state magnetic reconnection, J. Geophys. Res., 91, 5579-5588, 1986.
30. Pritchett, P. L., Geospace Environment Modeling magnetic reconnection challenge: Simulations with a full particle electromagnetic code, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3783-3798, 2001.
31. Pritchett, P. L., and C. C. Wu, Coalescence of magnetic islands, Phys. Fluids, 22, 2140-2146, 1979.
32. Shay, M. A., and J. F. Drake, The role of electron dissipation on the rate of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3759-3762, 1998.
33. Shay, M. A., J. F. Drake, and B. N. Rogers, The scaling of collisionless, magnetic reconnection for large systems, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 2163-2166, 1999.
34. Shay, M. A., J. F. Drake, B. N. Rogers, and R. E. Denton, Alfvénic collisionless magnetic reconnection and the Hall term, J. Geophy. Res., 106, 3759-3772, 2001.
35. Spitzer, L., and R. Härm, Transport phenomena in a completely ionized gas, Phys. Rev., 89, 977-981, 1953.
36. Sweet, P. A., The neutral point theory of solar flares, in Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmic Physics, edited by B. Lehnert, pp. 123-134, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1958.
37. Wang, X., Z. W. Ma, and A. Bhattacharjee, Fast magnetic reconnection and sudden enhancement of current sheets due to inward boundary flows, Phys. Plasmas, 3, 2129-2134, 1996.
38. Wang, X., A. Bhattacharjee, and Z. W. Ma, Collisionless reconnection: Effects of Hall current and electron pressure gradient, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 27,633-27,648, 2000.
39. Yan, M., L. C. Lee, and E. R. Priest, Fast magnetic reconnection with small shock angles, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 8277-8293, 1992.