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The relation between reconnected flux, the parallel electric field, and the reconnection rate in a three-dimensional kinetic simulation of magnetic reconnection

We investigate the distribution of parallel electric fields and their relationship to the location and rate of magnetic reconnection in a large particle-in-cell simulation of 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions. The simulation's guide field geometry inhibits the for...

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Published in:Physics of plasmas 2013-12, Vol.20 (12), p.122105
Main Authors: Wendel, D. E., Olson, D. K., Hesse, M., Aunai, N., Kuznetsova, M., Karimabadi, H., Daughton, W., Adrian, M. L.
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container_issue 12
container_start_page 122105
container_title Physics of plasmas
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creator Wendel, D. E.
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description We investigate the distribution of parallel electric fields and their relationship to the location and rate of magnetic reconnection in a large particle-in-cell simulation of 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection with open boundary conditions. The simulation's guide field geometry inhibits the formation of simple topological features such as null points. Therefore, we derive the location of potential changes in magnetic connectivity by finding the field lines that experience a large relative change between their endpoints, i.e., the quasi-separatrix layer. We find a good correspondence between the locus of changes in magnetic connectivity or the quasi-separatrix layer and the map of large gradients in the integrated parallel electric field (or quasi-potential). Furthermore, we investigate the distribution of the parallel electric field along the reconnecting field lines. We find the reconnection rate is controlled by only the low-amplitude, zeroth and first–order trends in the parallel electric field while the contribution from fluctuations of the parallel electric field, such as electron holes, is negligible. The results impact the determination of reconnection sites and reconnection rates in models and in situ spacecraft observations of 3D turbulent reconnection. It is difficult through direct observation to isolate the loci of the reconnection parallel electric field amidst the large amplitude fluctuations. However, we demonstrate that a positive slope of the running sum of the parallel electric field along the field line as a function of field line length indicates where reconnection is occurring along the field line.
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subjects 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Amplitudes
Astrophysics
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
BOUNDARY LAYERS
Computer simulation
ELECTRIC FIELDS
FLUCTUATIONS
Holes (electron deficiencies)
Loci
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
Particle in cell technique
Physics
PLASMA
Plasma Physics
PLASMA POTENTIAL
PLASMA SIMULATION
Simulation
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TURBULENCE
Variation
title The relation between reconnected flux, the parallel electric field, and the reconnection rate in a three-dimensional kinetic simulation of magnetic reconnection
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