Magnetic reconnection on the ion-skin-depth scale in the dusty magnetotail of a comet

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1883184· OSTI ID:20736524

Jovanovic, D; Shukla, P K; Morfill, G ^[1]

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1. Institute of Physics, P.O. Box 57, 11001 Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro)

Resistive magnetic reconnection is studied in a dusty plasma configuration without a guide magnetic field, typical for cometary tails. For a high-{beta} plasma ({beta}{approx}1) consisting of electrons, ions, and immobile dust grains that constitute a neutralizing background, a two-fluid description is used to study electromagnetic perturbations with the frequency below the ion gyrofrequency, propagating at an arbitrary angle relative to the background magnetic field and including the effects of the Hall current. The perturbations consist of both the compressional and torsional components of the magnetic field, as well as of the acoustic perturbations and the electrostatic potential. The symmetry breaking between electrons and ions, introduced by the presence of dust grains, gives rise to an E-vectorxB-vector current in the unperturbed state which can support an antiparallel magnetic field configuration even in a cold plasma. In the perturbed state, the emergence of a new electromagnetic mode in a dusty plasma, which is evanescent below the Rao cutoff frequency and has the characteristic wavelength comparable to the ion skin depth, enables the reconnection at short spatial scales. The growth rate of the tearing instability is evaluated analytically.

• OSTI ID: 20736524
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 12; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLD PLASMA
COSMIC DUST
DISTURBANCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
INSTABILITY GROWTH RATES
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOTAIL
PLASMA WAVES
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TEARING INSTABILITY
WAVE PROPAGATION