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The role of electron dissipation on the rate of collisionless magnetic reconnection
Author(s) -
Shay M. A.,
Drake J. F.
Publication year - 1998
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 - 10.1029/1998gl900036
Subject(s) - physics , dissipation , magnetic reconnection , whistler , electron , plasma , computational physics , dispersion (optics) , quantum electrodynamics , mechanics , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics
Particle simulations and analytic arguments are presented to demonstrate that the electron dissipation region, including the physics which breaks the frozen‐in condition, does not affect the rate of reconnection in collisionless plasma. The result is a general consequence of the quadratic nature of the dispersion character of whistler waves, which control the plasma dynamics at small scales. The reconnection rate is instead controlled by the dynamics at length scales much greater than the electron dissipation region.