Reconnection properties in collisionless plasma with open boundary conditions

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4889894· OSTI ID:22299807

Sun, H. E. ^[1]; Huang, J. ^[2]

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1. Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China)
2. Institute for Fusion Theory and Simulation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)

Collisionless magnetic reconnection in a Harris current sheet with different initial thicknesses is investigated using a 21/2 -D Darwin particle-in-cell simulation with the magnetosonic open boundary condition. It is found that the thicknesses of the ion dissipation region and the reconnection current sheet, when the reconnection rate E{sub r} reaches its first peak, are independent of the initial thickness of the current sheet; while the peak reconnection rate depends on it. The peak reconnection rate increases with decrease of the current sheet thickness as E{sub r}∼a{sup −1/2}, where a is the initial current sheet half-thickness.

• OSTI ID: 22299807
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
CURRENTS
HALF-THICKNESS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
SIMULATION
THICKNESS