A current filamentation mechanism for breaking magnetic field lines during reconnection

H. Che (), J. F. Drake and M. Swisdak
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H. Che: Center For Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
J. F. Drake: University of Maryland, College Park
M. Swisdak: University of Maryland, College Park

Nature, 2011, vol. 474, issue 7350, 184-187

Abstract: Make and break for magnetic field reconnections The process of magnetic reconnection, which drives many explosive events in space including solar and stellar flares, involves the breakage and reconnection of magnetic field lines in a plasma. Exactly how this happens is not clear, but ion-electron drag arising from turbulence (or anomalous resistivity) and thermal momentum transport have been widely invoked. Che et al. report computer simulations showing that neither of these two mechanisms controls how magnetic field lines reconnect. Rather, they find that when current layers formed during magnetic reconnection become too intense, they disintegrate and spread into a complex web of filaments that causes the rate of reconnection to increase abruptly.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10091

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