Gyrokinetic simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection

Journal Article · Sat Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2774003· OSTI ID:21069822

Rogers, B N; Kobayashi, S; Ricci, P; Dorland, W; Drake, J; Tatsuno, T ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 (United States)

Linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection in the presence of a strong guide field are presented. A periodic slab system is considered with a sinusoidally varying reconnecting magnetic field component. The linear growth rates of the tearing mode in both the large and small {delta}{sup '} regimes are compared to kinetic and fluid theory calculations. In the nonlinear regime, focusing on the limit of large {delta}{sup '}, the nonlinear reconnection rates in the gyrokinetic simulations are found to be comparable to those obtained from a two-fluid model. In contrast to the fluid system, however, for T{sub i}>>T{sub e} and very small initial perturbation amplitudes, the reconnection in the gyrokinetic system saturates in the early nonlinear phase. This saturation can be overcome if the simulation is seeded initially with sufficient random noise.

• OSTI ID: 21069822
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 14; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AMPLITUDES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISTURBANCES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA FLUID EQUATIONS
PLASMA SIMULATION
RANDOMNESS
TEARING INSTABILITY