Fast magnetic reconnection and the ideal evolution of a magnetic field

Boozer, Allen H.

doi:10.1063/1.5081828

Title: Fast magnetic reconnection and the ideal evolution of a magnetic field

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5081828· OSTI ID:1609488

^[1]

Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

Regardless of how small non-ideal effects may be, phenomena associated with changes in magnetic field line connections are frequently observed to occur on an Alfvénic time scale. Since it is mathematically impossible for magnetic field line connections to change when non-ideal effects are identically zero, an ideal evolution must naturally lead to states of unbound sensitivity to non-ideal effects. That such an evolution is natural is demonstrated by the use of Lagrangian coordinates based on the flow velocity of the magnetic field lines. The Lagrangian representation of an evolving magnetic field is highly constrained when neither the magnetic field strength nor the forces exerted by the magnetic field increase exponentially with time. The development of a state of fast reconnection consistent with these constraints (1) requires a three-dimensional evolution, (2) has an exponentially increasing sensitivity to non-ideal effects, and (3) has a parallel current density, which lies in exponentially thinning but exponentially widening ribbons, with a magnitude that is limited to a slow growth. The implication is that exponential growth in sensitivity is the cause of fast magnetic reconnection when non-ideal effects are sufficiently small. The growth of the non-ideal effect of the resistivity multiplied by the parallel current density is far too slow to be competitive.

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Research Organization:: Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-03ER54696; FG02-95ER54333; SC0018424; SC0019479

OSTI ID:: 1609488

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1504806

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 4; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 10 works

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Cited By (7)

Determining whether the squashing factor, Q , would be a good indicator of reconnection in a resistive MHD experiment devoid of null points Reid, J.; Parnell, C. E.; Hood, A. W. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 633 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936832	journal	January 2020
Magnetic reconnection with null and X-points Boozer, Allen H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5121320	journal	December 2019
Particle acceleration and fast magnetic reconnection Boozer, Allen H. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5094179	journal	August 2019
3D turbulent reconnection: Theory, tests, and astrophysical implications Lazarian, Alex; Eyink, Gregory L.; Jafari, Amir Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5110603	journal	January 2020
Particle acceleration and fast magnetic reconnection Boozer, Allen H. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1902.10860	text	January 2019
Magnetic reconnection with null and X-points Boozer, Allen H. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1907.08062	text	January 2019
3D Turbulent Reconnection: Theory, Tests and Astrophysical Implications Lazarian, Alex; Eyink, Gregory L.; Jafari, Amir arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2001.00868	text	January 2020

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Title: Fast magnetic reconnection and the ideal evolution of a magnetic field

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