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Three‐dimensional outflow jets generated in collisionless magnetic reconnection
Author(s) -
Fujimoto Keizo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl070810
Subject(s) - magnetic reconnection , outflow , physics , turbulence , flux (metallurgy) , magnetic flux , mechanics , current sheet , current (fluid) , electron , magnetic field , kinetic energy , computational physics , magnetohydrodynamics , classical mechanics , meteorology , nuclear physics , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , thermodynamics
The present study proposes a new theoretical model generating three‐dimensional (3‐D) outflow jets in collisionless magnetic reconnection by means of a large‐scale particle‐in‐cell simulation. The key mechanism is the formation of 3‐D flux ropes arising in the turbulent electron current layer formed around the magnetic x line. The scale of the flux ropes along the current density is determined by the wavelength of an electron flow shear mode which is a macroscopic scale larger than the typical kinetic scales. The 3‐D flux ropes are intermittently ejected from the current layer and regulates the outflow jets into three dimensions. The gross reconnection rate is sufficiently large, since reconnection takes place almost uniformly along the x line.