The scaling of collisionless, magnetic reconnection for large systems

Hybrid simulations with electron inertia, along with analytic scaling arguments, are presented which demonstrate that magnetic reconnection remains Alfvénic in a collisionless system even as the macroscopic scale length of the system becomes very large. This fast reconnection is facilitated by the w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 1999-07, Vol.26 (14), p.2163-2166
Main Authors: Shay, M. A., Drake, J. F., Rogers, B. N., Denton, R. E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Other topics in aeronomy and magnetospheric physics
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Summary:Hybrid simulations with electron inertia, along with analytic scaling arguments, are presented which demonstrate that magnetic reconnection remains Alfvénic in a collisionless system even as the macroscopic scale length of the system becomes very large. This fast reconnection is facilitated by the whistler physics present near the x‐line. The reconnection rate is found to be a universal constant corresponding to an inflow velocity towards the x‐line of around 0.1 cA.
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/1999GL900481