Evolution of magnetic flux in an isolated reconnection process

Gunnar Hornig; Eric Priest

doi:10.1063/1.1580120

Evolution of magnetic flux in an isolated reconnection process

Gunnar Hornig, Eric Priest

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Abstract

A realistic notion of magnetic reconnection is essential to understand the dynamics of magnetic fields in plasmas. Therefore a three-dimensional reconnection process is modeled in a region of nonvanishing magnetic field and is analyzed with respect to the way in which the connection of magnetic flux is changed. The process is localized in space in the sense that the diffusion region is limited to a region of finite radius in an otherwise ideal plasma. A kinematic, stationary model is presented, which allows for analytical solutions. Aside from the well-known flipping of magnetic flux in the reconnection process, the localization requires additional features which were not present in previous two- and 2.5-dimensional models. In particular, rotational plasma flows above and below the diffusion region are found, which substantially modify the process

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2712-2721
Number of pages	10
Journal	Physics of Plasmas
Volume	10
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1580120
Publication status	Published - Jul 2003

Keywords

Plasma magnetohydrodynamics
Magnetic flux
Plasma flow

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evolu-mag-flux.pdf
Copyright (2003) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Physics of Plasmas 10, 2712 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1580120

Cite this

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title = "Evolution of magnetic flux in an isolated reconnection process",

abstract = "A realistic notion of magnetic reconnection is essential to understand the dynamics of magnetic fields in plasmas. Therefore a three-dimensional reconnection process is modeled in a region of nonvanishing magnetic field and is analyzed with respect to the way in which the connection of magnetic flux is changed. The process is localized in space in the sense that the diffusion region is limited to a region of finite radius in an otherwise ideal plasma. A kinematic, stationary model is presented, which allows for analytical solutions. Aside from the well-known flipping of magnetic flux in the reconnection process, the localization requires additional features which were not present in previous two- and 2.5-dimensional models. In particular, rotational plasma flows above and below the diffusion region are found, which substantially modify the process",

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AU - Priest, Eric

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N2 - A realistic notion of magnetic reconnection is essential to understand the dynamics of magnetic fields in plasmas. Therefore a three-dimensional reconnection process is modeled in a region of nonvanishing magnetic field and is analyzed with respect to the way in which the connection of magnetic flux is changed. The process is localized in space in the sense that the diffusion region is limited to a region of finite radius in an otherwise ideal plasma. A kinematic, stationary model is presented, which allows for analytical solutions. Aside from the well-known flipping of magnetic flux in the reconnection process, the localization requires additional features which were not present in previous two- and 2.5-dimensional models. In particular, rotational plasma flows above and below the diffusion region are found, which substantially modify the process

AB - A realistic notion of magnetic reconnection is essential to understand the dynamics of magnetic fields in plasmas. Therefore a three-dimensional reconnection process is modeled in a region of nonvanishing magnetic field and is analyzed with respect to the way in which the connection of magnetic flux is changed. The process is localized in space in the sense that the diffusion region is limited to a region of finite radius in an otherwise ideal plasma. A kinematic, stationary model is presented, which allows for analytical solutions. Aside from the well-known flipping of magnetic flux in the reconnection process, the localization requires additional features which were not present in previous two- and 2.5-dimensional models. In particular, rotational plasma flows above and below the diffusion region are found, which substantially modify the process

KW - Plasma magnetohydrodynamics

KW - Magnetic flux

KW - Plasma flow

U2 - 10.1063/1.1580120

DO - 10.1063/1.1580120

M3 - Article

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VL - 10

SP - 2712

EP - 2721

JO - Physics of Plasmas

JF - Physics of Plasmas

IS - 7

ER -

Evolution of magnetic flux in an isolated reconnection process

Abstract

Keywords

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