Catastrophe Model for Fast Magnetic Reconnection Onset
Journal Article
·
· Physical Review Letters
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)
A catastrophe model for the onset of fast magnetic reconnection is presented that suggests why plasma systems with magnetic free energy remain apparently stable for long times and then suddenly release their energy. For a given set of plasma parameters there are generally two stable reconnection solutions: a slow (Sweet-Parker) solution and a fast (Alfvenic) Hall reconnection solution. Below a critical resistivity the slow solution disappears and fast reconnection dominates. Scaling arguments predicting the two solutions and the critical resistivity are confirmed with two-fluid simulations.
- OSTI ID:
- 20699654
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 23; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.235002; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Catastrophic onset of fast magnetic reconnection with a guide field
Onset of fast reconnection in Hall magnetohydrodynamics mediated by the plasmoid instability
Fast magnetic reconnection and sudden enhancement of current sheets due to inward boundary flows
Journal Article
·
Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007
· Physics of Plasmas
·
OSTI ID:20699654
Onset of fast reconnection in Hall magnetohydrodynamics mediated by the plasmoid instability
Journal Article
·
Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011
· Physics of Plasmas
·
OSTI ID:20699654
Fast magnetic reconnection and sudden enhancement of current sheets due to inward boundary flows
Journal Article
·
Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996
· Physics of Plasmas
·
OSTI ID:20699654