Electromagnetic instability of thin reconnection layers: Comparison of three-dimensional simulations with MRX observations

Roytershteyn, V.; Dorfman, S.; Daughton, W.; Ji, H.; Yamada, M.; Karimabadi, H.

doi:10.1063/1.4811371

Electromagnetic instability of thin reconnection layers: Comparison of three-dimensional simulations with MRX observations

Journal Article · Fri Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4811371· OSTI ID:1565007

Roytershteyn, V. ^[1]; Dorfman, S. ^[2]; Daughton, W. ^[3]; Ji, H. ^[2]; Yamada, M. ^[2]; Karimabadi, H. ^[1]

SciberQuest, Inc., Del Mar, CA (United States)
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

In this study, the influence of current-aligned instabilities on magnetic reconnection in weakly collisional regimes is investigated using experimental observations from Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [M. Yamada et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)] and large-scale fully kinetic simulations. In the simulations as well as in the experiment, the dominant instability is localized near the center of the reconnection layer, produces large perturbations of the magnetic field, and is characterized by the wavenumber that is a geometric mean between electron and ion gyroradii k~(ρ_eρ_i)^-1/2. However, both the simulations and the experimental observations suggest the instability is not the dominant reconnection mechanism under parameters typical of MRX.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-09CH11466; AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1565007

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 22228012

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 20; ISSN 1070-664X

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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