Whistler Mode Based Explanation for the Fast Reconnection Rate Measured in the MIT Versatile Toroidal Facility
- Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama 35899 (United States)
Despite the widely discussed role of whistler waves in mediating magnetic reconnection (MR), the direct connection between such waves and the MR has not been demonstrated by comparing the characteristic temporal and spatial features of the waves and the MR process. Using the whistler wave dispersion relation, we theoretically predict the experimentally measured rise time ({tau}{sub rise}) of a few microseconds for the fast rising MR rate in the Versatile Toroidal Facility at MIT. The rise time is closely given by the inverse of the frequency bandwidth of the whistler waves generated in the evolving current sheet. The wave frequencies lie much above the ion cyclotron frequency, but they are limited to less than 0.1% of the electron cyclotron frequency in the argon plasma. The maximum normalized MR rate R=0.35 measured experimentally is precisely predicted by the angular dispersion of the whistler waves.
- OSTI ID:
- 21612555
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 107; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ARGON
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
DISPERSION RELATIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
INSTABILITY
LEPTONS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
NOISE
NONMETALS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PULSE RISE TIME
RADIATIONS
RADIO NOISE
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
RARE GASES
TIMING PROPERTIES
WHISTLER INSTABILITY
WHISTLERS