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Title: Energy budgets in collisionless magnetic reconnection: Ion heating and bulk acceleration

Abstract

This paper investigates the energy transfer in the process of collisionless antiparallel magnetic reconnection. Using two-dimensional hybrid simulations, we measure the increase of the bulk and thermal kinetic energies and compare it to the loss of magnetic energy through a contour surrounding the ion decoupling region. It is shown, for both symmetric and asymmetric configurations, that the loss of magnetic energy is not equally partitioned between heating and acceleration. The heating is found to be dominant and the partition ratio depends on the asymptotic parameters, and future investigations will be needed to understand this dependence.

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), Ecole Polytechnique, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Universite Paris 11 Orsay, CNRS, route de Scalay, 91128 Palaiseau (France)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22047136
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 12; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ACCELERATION; ASYMMETRY; ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DECOUPLING; ENERGY TRANSFER; IONS; KINETIC ENERGY; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS; PLASMA; PLASMA HEATING; PLASMA SIMULATION; TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS

Citation Formats

Aunai, N, Belmont, G, and Smets, R. Energy budgets in collisionless magnetic reconnection: Ion heating and bulk acceleration. United States: N. p., 2011. Web. doi:10.1063/1.3664320.
Aunai, N, Belmont, G, & Smets, R. Energy budgets in collisionless magnetic reconnection: Ion heating and bulk acceleration. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3664320
Aunai, N, Belmont, G, and Smets, R. 2011. "Energy budgets in collisionless magnetic reconnection: Ion heating and bulk acceleration". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3664320.
@article{osti_22047136,
title = {Energy budgets in collisionless magnetic reconnection: Ion heating and bulk acceleration},
author = {Aunai, N and Belmont, G and Smets, R},
abstractNote = {This paper investigates the energy transfer in the process of collisionless antiparallel magnetic reconnection. Using two-dimensional hybrid simulations, we measure the increase of the bulk and thermal kinetic energies and compare it to the loss of magnetic energy through a contour surrounding the ion decoupling region. It is shown, for both symmetric and asymmetric configurations, that the loss of magnetic energy is not equally partitioned between heating and acceleration. The heating is found to be dominant and the partition ratio depends on the asymptotic parameters, and future investigations will be needed to understand this dependence.},
doi = {10.1063/1.3664320},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22047136}, journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
issn = {1070-664X},
number = 12,
volume = 18,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2011},
month = {Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2011}
}