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Title: Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection

Abstract

Our understanding of magnetic reconnection in resistive magnetohydrodynamics has gone through a fundamental change in recent years. The conventional wisdom is that magnetic reconnection mediated by resistivity is slow in laminar high Lundquist (S) plasmas, constrained by the scaling of the reconnection rate predicted by Sweet-Parker theory. However, recent studies have shown that when S exceeds a critical value ∼10{sup 4}, the Sweet-Parker current sheet is unstable to a super-Alfvénic plasmoid instability, with a linear growth rate that scales as S{sup 1/4}. In the fully developed statistical steady state of two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, the normalized average reconnection rate is approximately 0.01, nearly independent of S, and the distribution function f(ψ) of plasmoid magnetic flux ψ follows a power law f(ψ)∼ψ{sup −1}. When Hall effects are included, the plasmoid instability may trigger onset of Hall reconnection even when the conventional criterion for onset is not satisfied. The rich variety of possible reconnection dynamics is organized in the framework of a phase diagram.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence, Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas, Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824 (United States)
  2. Center for Integrated Computation and Analysis of Reconnection and Turbulence, Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas, Max Planck-Princeton Center for Plasma Physics and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22218648
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 20; Journal Issue: 5; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; 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; ALFVEN WAVES; APPROXIMATIONS; DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS; ELECTRIC CURRENTS; MAGNETIC FLUX; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS; PLASMA; PLASMA INSTABILITY; PLASMA SIMULATION; STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS; TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS

Citation Formats

Huang, Yi-Min, and Bhattacharjee, A. Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4802941.
Huang, Yi-Min, & Bhattacharjee, A. Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4802941
Huang, Yi-Min, and Bhattacharjee, A. 2013. "Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4802941.
@article{osti_22218648,
title = {Plasmoid instability in high-Lundquist-number magnetic reconnection},
author = {Huang, Yi-Min and Bhattacharjee, A.},
abstractNote = {Our understanding of magnetic reconnection in resistive magnetohydrodynamics has gone through a fundamental change in recent years. The conventional wisdom is that magnetic reconnection mediated by resistivity is slow in laminar high Lundquist (S) plasmas, constrained by the scaling of the reconnection rate predicted by Sweet-Parker theory. However, recent studies have shown that when S exceeds a critical value ∼10{sup 4}, the Sweet-Parker current sheet is unstable to a super-Alfvénic plasmoid instability, with a linear growth rate that scales as S{sup 1/4}. In the fully developed statistical steady state of two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, the normalized average reconnection rate is approximately 0.01, nearly independent of S, and the distribution function f(ψ) of plasmoid magnetic flux ψ follows a power law f(ψ)∼ψ{sup −1}. When Hall effects are included, the plasmoid instability may trigger onset of Hall reconnection even when the conventional criterion for onset is not satisfied. The rich variety of possible reconnection dynamics is organized in the framework of a phase diagram.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4802941},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22218648}, journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
issn = {1070-664X},
number = 5,
volume = 20,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}

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