How anomalous resistivity accelerates magnetic reconnection
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Whether turbulence induced anomalous resistivity (AR) can facilitate a fast magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is a subject of active debate for decades. Recent space observations suggest that the reconnection rate can be higher than the Hall-reconnection rate and turbulent dissipation is required. In this paper, using particle-in-cell simulations, we present a case study of how AR produced by Buneman instability accelerates magnetic reconnection. We first show that the AR/drag produced by Buneman instability in a thin electron current layer (1) can dissipate magnetic energy stored in the current layer through dissipation of the kinetic energy of electron beams; (2) the inhomogeneous drag caused by wave couplings spontaneously breaks the magnetic field lines and causes impulsive fast non-Hall magnetic reconnection on electron-scales with a mean rate reaching of 0.6 VA. We then show that a Buneman instability driven by intense electron beams around the x-point in a 3D magnetic reconnection significantly enhances the dissipation of the magnetic energy. Electron-scale magnetic reconnections driven by the inhomogeneous drag around the x-line enhance the reconnection electric field and the in-plane perpendicular magnetic field. About 40% of the released magnetic energy is converted into electron thermal energy by AR while 50% is converted into kinetic energy of the electron beams through the acceleration by the reconnection electric field. The enhanced magnetic energy dissipation is balanced by a net Poynting flux in-flow. About 10% of the released magnetic energy is brought out by an enhanced Poynting flux out-flow. Furthermore these results suggest that AR with sufficient intensity and electron-scale inhomogeneity can significantly accelerate magnetic reconnection.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1497883
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 24; ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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