Electromagnetic instability of thin reconnection layers: Comparison of three-dimensional simulations with MRX observations | Zendy

V. Roytershteyn | Zendy; S. Dorfman | Zendy; W. Daughton | Zendy; Hantao Ji | Zendy; M. Yamada | Zendy; H. Karimabadi | Zendy

Open Access

Electromagnetic instability of thin reconnection layers: Comparison of three-dimensional simulations with MRX observations

Author(s) -

V. Roytershteyn,

S. Dorfman,

W. Daughton,

Hantao Ji,

M. Yamada,

H. Karimabadi

Publication year - 2013

Publication title -

physics of plasmas

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75

H-Index - 160

eISSN - 1089-7674

pISSN - 1070-664X

DOI - 10.1063/1.4811371

Subject(s) - physics , magnetic reconnection , instability , wavenumber , plasma , magnetic field , kinetic energy , kink instability , electron , computational physics , plasma instability , classical mechanics , mechanics , quantum mechanics

The influence of current-aligned instabilities on magnetic reconnection in weakly collisional regimes is investigated using experimental observations from Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [M. Yamada et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)] and large-scale fully kinetic simulations. In the simulations as well as in the experiment, the dominant instability is localized near the center of the reconnection layer, produces large perturbations of the magnetic field, and is characterized by the wavenumber that is a geometric mean between electron and ion gyroradii k∼(ρeρi)−1/2. However, both the simulations and the experimental observations suggest the instability is not the dominant reconnection mechanism under parameters typical of MRX.

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