Structure and dynamics of the fast reconnection mechanism in an initially force-free current sheet

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 032304 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ugai
Keyword(s):  
Current Sheet ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Free Current ◽  
Fast Reconnection

scholarly journals Ion motion in the current sheet with sheared magnetic field – Part 2: Non-adiabatic effects

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 899-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Artemyev ◽  
A. I. Neishtadt ◽  
L. M. Zelenyi
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Particle Motion ◽  
Phase Plane ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Ion Motion ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Adiabatic Theory ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Abstract. We investigate dynamics of charged particles in current sheets with the sheared magnetic field. In our previouspaper (Artemyev et al., 2013) we studied the particle motion in such magnetic field configurations on the basis of the quasi-adiabatic theory and conservation of the quasi-adiabatic invariant. In this paper we concentrate on violation of the adiabaticity due to jumps of this invariant and the corresponding effects of stochastization of a particle motion. We compare effects of geometrical and dynamical jumps, which occur due to the presence of the separatrix in the phase plane of charged particle motion. We show that due to the presence of the magnetic field shear, the average value of dynamical jumps is not equal to zero. This effect results in the decrease of the time interval necessary for stochastization of trapped particle motion. We investigate also the effect of the magnetic field shear on transient trajectories, which cross the current sheet boundaries. Presence of the magnetic field shear leads to the asymmetry of reflection and transition of particles in the current sheet. We discuss the possible influence of single-particle effects revealed in this paper on the current sheet structure and dynamics.

scholarly journals Collisionless distribution functions for force-free current sheets: using a pressure transformation to lower the plasma beta

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Wilson ◽  
T. Neukirch ◽  
O. Allanson
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Function ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Plasma Phys ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Hermite Functions ◽  
Slow Convergence ◽  
Nonlinear Force ◽  
Free Current ◽  
Transformed Distribution ◽  
General Method

So far, only one distribution function giving rise to a collisionless nonlinear force-free current sheet equilibrium allowing for a plasma beta less than one is known (Allansonet al.,Phys. Plasmas, vol. 22 (10), 2015, 102116; Allansonet al.,J. Plasma Phys., vol. 82 (3), 2016a, 905820306). This distribution function can only be expressed as an infinite series of Hermite functions with very slow convergence and this makes its practical use cumbersome. It is the purpose of this paper to present a general method that allows us to find distribution functions consisting of a finite number of terms (therefore easier to use in practice), but which still allow for current sheet equilibria that can, in principle, have an arbitrarily low plasma beta. The method involves using known solutions and transforming them into new solutions using transformations based on taking integer powers ($N$) of one component of the pressure tensor. The plasma beta of the current sheet corresponding to the transformed distribution functions can then, in principle, have values as low as$1/N$. We present the general form of the distribution functions for arbitrary$N$and then, as a specific example, discuss the case for$N=2$in detail.

scholarly journals A two-fluid study of oblique tearing modes in a force-free current sheet

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 012112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cihan Akçay ◽  
William Daughton ◽  
Vyacheslav S. Lukin ◽  
Yi-Hsin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Current Sheet ◽  
Tearing Modes ◽  
Free Current ◽  
Two Fluid

Hall currents in a current sheet: Structure and dynamics

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 092102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna G. Frank ◽  
Sergey G. Bugrov ◽  
Vladimir S. Markov
Keyword(s):  
Current Sheet ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Sheet Structure ◽  
A Current

scholarly journals The structure and dynamics of a large-scale plasmoid generated by fast reconnection in the geomagnetic tail

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ugai
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Current Sheet ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Component ◽  
The North ◽  
Reconnection Region ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
East West ◽  
Fast Reconnection

Abstract. As a sequence of Ugai (2010b), the present paper studies in detail the structure and dynamics of large-scale (principal) plasmoid, generated by the fast reconnection evolution in a sheared current sheet with no initial northward field component. The overall plasmoid domain is divided into the plasmoid reconnection region P and the plasmoid core region C. In the region P, the magnetized plasma with reconnected field lines are accumulated, whereas in the region C, the plasma, which was intially embedded in the current sheet and has been ejected away by the reconnection jet, is compressed and accumulated. In the presence of the sheared magnetic field in the east-west direction in the current sheet, the upper and lower parts of the reconnection region P are inversely shifted in the east-west directions. Accordingly, the plasmoid core region C with the accumulated sheared field lines is bent in the north-south direction just ahead of the plasmoid center x=XC, causing the magnetic field component in the north-south direction, whose sign is always opposite to that of the reconnected field lines. Therefore, independently of the sign of the initial sheared field, the magnetic field component Bz in the north-south direction has the definite bipolar profile around XC along the x-axis. At x=XC, the sheared field component has the peak value, and as the sheared fields accumulated in the region C become larger, the bipolar field profile becomes more distinct.

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