Laboratory observation of resistive electron tearing in a two-fluid reconnecting current sheet

Jara-Almonte, Jonathan; Ji, Hantao; Yamada, Masaaki; Yoo, Jongsoo; Fox, William

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.095001

Title: Laboratory observation of resistive electron tearing in a two-fluid reconnecting current sheet

Journal Article · Thu Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.095001· OSTI ID:1334747

Jara-Almonte, Jonathan ^[1]; Ji, Hantao ^[1]; Yamada, Masaaki ^[1]; Yoo, Jongsoo ^[1]; Fox, William ^[1]

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

The spontaneous formation of plasmoids via the resistive electron tearing of a reconnecting current sheet is observed in the laboratory. These experiments are performed during driven, antiparallel reconnection in the two-fluid regime within the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment. It is found that plasmoids are present even at a very low Lundquist number, and the number of plasmoids scales with both the current sheet aspect ratio and the Lundquist number. Furthermore, the reconnection electric field increases when plasmoids are formed, leading to an enhanced reconnection rate.

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Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-09CH11466; NNH15AB29I; NNH14AX631; AC0209CH11466

OSTI ID:: 1334747

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1306701

Report Number(s):: 5302; PRLTAO; PII: S0167819116300552

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 117, Issue 9; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 26 works

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Influence of 3D plasmoid dynamics on the transition from collisional to kinetic reconnection Stanier, A.; Daughton, W.; Le, A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5100737	journal	July 2019
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Relativistic Tearing Mode in Pair Plasmas and Application to Magnetic Giant Flares Yang, S. D. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 880, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab29f6	journal	July 2019
Exploring Plasma Heating in the Current Sheet Region in a Three-dimensional Coronal Mass Ejection Simulation Reeves, Katharine K.; Török, Tibor; Mikić, Zoran The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 887, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ce8	journal	December 2019
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