Time-dependent localized reconnection of skewed magnetic fields

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/91JA02762· OSTI ID:5509055

Semenov, V S; Kubyshkin, I V; Lebedeva, V V; Sidneva, M V ^[1]; Biernat, H K; Heyn, M F; Besser, B P ^[2]; Rijnbeek, R P ^[3]

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1. State Univ., St. Petersburg (USSR)
2. Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Graz (Austria)
3. Univ. of St. Andrews (United Kingdom)

The authors describe and analyze a model for time-varying, localized reconnection in a current sheet with skewed magnetic field orientations on opposite sides. As in Petschek's description, disruption is initiated in a localized part of the current sheet known as the diffusion region, and the disturbances are subsequently propagated into the system at large through magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. The MHD waves therefore play the dominant role in energy conversion, and collectively they form an outflow for plasma streaming toward the current sheet and a field reversal region joining magnetic field lines from opposite sides. They restrict the analysis to an incompressible plasma, in which case the Alfven wave and the slow shock merge to form shocks bounding the field reversal or outflow region, and the case of weak reconnection, which implies that the reconnection electric field is much smaller than the product of the characteristic values of the external field strength and Alfven speed. Reconnection also acts as a source of surface waves, and their analysis determines the behavior of the perpendicular field and flow components and the shape of the shocks. Lastly, the field reversal region can be considered as a thin boundary layer in the treatment, and the external disturbances can therefore be solved in a way similar to the flow around a thin aerofoil. The model presented here can be applied to the Earth's magnetopause, where reconnection is considered to be the dominant process coupling the solar wind and the magnetosphere.

• OSTI ID: 5509055
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 97:A4; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661320* -- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magnetospheric Phenomena-- (1992-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOUNDARY LAYERS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
INTERACTIONS
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOPAUSE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PLASMA DRIFT
SHOCK WAVES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND
TIME DEPENDENCE