Wyper, P.F. and Jain, R. orcid.org/0000-0002-0080-5445 (2013) Reconnection at three dimensional magnetic null points: effect of current sheet asymmetry. Physics of Plasmas, 20 (5). 052901. ISSN 1070-664X
Abstract
Asymmetric current sheets are likely to be prevalent in both astrophysical and laboratory plasmas with complex three dimensional (3D) magnetic topologies. This work presents kinematic analytical models for spine and fan reconnection at a radially symmetric 3D null (i.e., a null where the eigenvalues associated with the fan plane are equal) with asymmetric current sheets. Asymmetric fan reconnection is characterized by an asymmetric reconnection of flux past each spine line and a bulk flow of plasma across the null point. In contrast, asymmetric spine reconnection is characterized by the reconnection of an equal quantity of flux across the fan plane in both directions. The higher modes of spine reconnection also include localized wedges of vortical flux transport in each half of the fan. In this situation, two definitions for reconnection rate become appropriate: a local reconnection rate quantifying how much flux is genuinely reconnected across the fan plane and a global rate associated with the net flux driven across each semi-plane. Through a scaling analysis, it is shown that when the ohmic dissipation in the layer is assumed to be constant, the increase in the local rate bleeds from the global rate as the sheet deformation is increased. Both models suggest that asymmetry in the current sheet dimensions will have a profound effect on the reconnection rate and manner of flux transport in reconnection involving 3D nulls.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. |
Keywords: | Electric currents; Laboratory procedures; Magnetic fields; Solar activity; Functional analysis; Magnetic reconnection; Plasma flows; Fluid dynamics; Flow instabilities; Fluid flows |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 May 2024 08:48 |
Last Modified: | 07 May 2024 08:48 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | AIP Publishing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1063/1.4804338 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:212259 |