Faster Form of Electron Magnetic Reconnection with a Finite Length X-Line

Observations in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath downstream of a quasiparallel bow shock reveal a prevalence of electron-scale current sheets favorable for electron-only reconnection where ions are not coupled to the reconnecting magnetic fields. In small-scale turbulence, magnetic structures as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2021-10, Vol.127 (15), p.1-155101, Article 155101
Main Authors: Pyakurel, P. S., Shay, M. A., Drake, J. F., Phan, T. D., Cassak, P. A., Verniero, J. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Current sheets
Diffusion rate
Electrons
magnetic reconnection
magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
Magnetosheath
Particle in cell technique
Physics
plasma turbulence
space & astrophysical plasma
space science
Turbulence
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Summary:Observations in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath downstream of a quasiparallel bow shock reveal a prevalence of electron-scale current sheets favorable for electron-only reconnection where ions are not coupled to the reconnecting magnetic fields. In small-scale turbulence, magnetic structures associated with intense current sheets are limited in all dimensions. And since the coupling of ions are constrained by a minimum length scale, the dynamics of electron reconnection is likely to be 3D. Here, both 2D and 3D kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to investigate electron-only reconnection, focusing on the reconnection rate and associated electron flows. A new form of 3D electron-only reconnection spontaneously develops where the magnetic X-line is localized in the out-of-plane ( z ) direction. The consequence is an enhancement of the reconnection rate compared with two dimensions, which results from differential mass flux out of the diffusion region along z , enabling a faster inflow velocity and thus a larger reconnection rate. This outflow along z is due to the magnetic tension force in z just as the conventional exhaust tension force, allowing particles to leave the diffusion region efficiently along z unlike the 2D configuration.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.155101