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Fast MHD Magnetic Reconnection on Macroscopic Scales : Turbulent Regime Based on Plasma Self-Feeding

Boekbijdrage - Boekhoofdstuk Conferentiebijdrage

We find that on the same given macroscopic system described with a visco-resistive MHD (without any Hall or extended MHD terms) approach, magnetic reconnection can progress in two entirely different ways. The first is the well-known laminar Sweet-Parker process. But a second, completely different and chaotic reconnection process is possible. This regime presents properties of immediate observational and experimental relevance [1]: i) it is much faster, developing on scales of the order of the Alfvén time rather than the usual diffusive time of resistive processes, and ii) the areas of reconnection become distributed chaotically over a macroscopic area of the system. The onset of this fast chaotic reconnection process is the formation of closed circulation patterns where the jet going out of the reconnection region turns around and forces its way back in, carrying along copious amounts of magnetic flux and allowing fast macroscopic reconnection.
Boek: AGU Fall Meeting 2008
Jaar van publicatie:2008