Physics of Plasmas
Search:
   
 
 
 
Previous Article
Langmuir probe-based observables for plasma-turbulence code validation and application to the TORPEX basic plasma physics experiment
The methodology for plasma-turbulence code validation is discussed, with focus on the quantities to use for the simulation-experiment comparison, i.e., the validation observables, and application to t...
Next Article
Electron acoustic waves in pure ion plasmas
Standing electron acoustic waves (EAWs) are observed in a pure ion plasma. EAWs are slow nonlinear plasma waves; at small amplitude their phase velocities (vph1.4 for small kD) and their frequencies a...

Structure of the dissipation region in fluid simulations of asymmetric magnetic reconnection

Phys. Plasmas 16, 055704 (2009); doi:10.1063/1.3086867

Published 24 March 2009

You are not logged in to this journal. Log in

P. A. Cassak1 and M. A. Shay2
1Department of Physics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA

The structure of the dissipation region during asymmetric magnetic reconnection is studied assuming antiparallel magnetic fields in two dimensions. A physics-based prediction for the scaling of the thickness of the dissipation region in (collisionless) Hall reconnection is presented and confirmed with two-fluid simulations. However, the substructure of the dissipation region in these and additional single-fluid (magnetohydrodynamics) simulations disagrees with a recent model [Cassak and Shay, Phys. Plasmas 14, 102114 (2007)]. We attribute the disagreement to the lack of plasma mixing along newly reconnected field lines in fluid models, rendering the use of a fluid description of questionable validity for determining the dissipation region substructure. Applications to the dayside magnetopause are discussed. ©2009 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 7 December 2008; accepted 2 February 2009; published 24 March 2009
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?PHPAEN/16/055704/1
BUY THIS ARTICLE   (US$24)
Download PDF (459 kB) View Cart

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 52.30.Cv
    Plasma magnetohydrodynamics
  • 94.30.cp
    Magnetic reconnection in the magnetosphere
  • 94.30.ch
    Magnetopause
  • YEAR: 2009

RELATED DATABASES


To view database links for this article,
you need to log in.
To view database links for this article,
you need to log in.

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
1070-664X (print)   1089-7674 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef AIP

REFERENCES (52)

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in. For access to fully linked references, you need to Log in.
  1. J. W. Dungey, Philos. Mag. 44, 725 (1953).
  2. P. A. Sweet, in Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmical Physics, edited by B. Lehnert (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1958), p. 1237.
  3. E. N. Parker, J. Geophys. Res. 62, 509, DOI: 10.1029/JZ062i004p00509 (1957).
  4. H. E. Petschek, in AAS/NASA Symposium on the Physics of Solar Flares, edited by W. N. Ness (NASA, Washington, DC, 1964), p. 425.
  5. R. H. Levy, H. E. Petschek, and G. L. Siscoe, AIAA J. 2, 2065 (1964).
  6. T. D. Phan and G. Paschmann, J. Geophys. Res. 101, 7801, DOI: 10.1029/95JA03752 (1996).
  7. H. C. Ku and D. G. Sibeck, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 2243, DOI: 10.1029/96JA03162 (1997).
  8. F. Mozer, S. D. Bale, and T. D. Phan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 015002 (2002).
  9. F. Mozer and A. Retinó, J. Geophys. Res. 112, A10206, DOI: 10.1029/2007JA012406 (2007).
  10. J. E. Borovsky and J. T. Steinberg, J. Geophys. Res. 111, A07S10, DOI: 10.1029/2005JA011397 (2006).
  11. J. E. Borovsky and M. H. Denton, Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L20101, DOI: 10.1029/2006GL026519 (2006).
  12. J. Sanny, C. Beck, and D. G. Sibeck, J. Geophys. Res. 103, 4683, DOI: 10.1029/97JA03246 (1998).
  13. M. Øieroset, T. D. Phan, and M. Fujimoto, Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, L12801, DOI: 10.1029/2004GL019958 (2004).
  14. J. T. Gosling, S. Eriksson, R. M. Skoug, D. J. McComas, and R. J. Forsyth, Astrophys. J. 644, 613 (2006).
  15. V. V. Mirnov, C. C. Hegna, S. C. Prager, C. R. Sovinec, and H. Tian, IAEA FEC Conference, China, 2006 (unpublished), Paper No. TH–P3–18.
  16. N. A. Murphy and C. R. Sovinec, Phys. Plasmas 15, 042313 (2008).
  17. M. Ugai, Phys. Plasmas 7, 867 (2000).
  18. S. Servidio, W. H. Matthaeus, M. A. Shay, P. A. Cassak, and P. Dmitruk, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 115003 (2009).
  19. P. A. Cassak and M. A. Shay, Phys. Plasmas 14, 102114 (2007).
  20. H. Karimabadi, D. Krauss-Varban, N. Omidi, and H. X. Vu, J. Geophys. Res. 104, 12313, DOI: 10.1029/1999JA900089 (1999).
  21. M. Swisdak, J. F. Drake, M. A. Shay, and B. N. Rogers, J. Geophys. Res. 108, 1218, DOI: 10.1029/2002JA009726 (2003).
  22. J. E. Borovsky and M. Hesse, Phys. Plasmas 14, 102309 (2007).
  23. J. Birn, J. E. Borovsky, and M. Hesse, Phys. Plasmas 15, 032101 (2008).
  24. J. E. Borovsky, M. Hesse, J. Birn, and M. M. Kuznetsova, J. Geophys. Res. 113, A07210, DOI: 10.1029/2007JA012645 (2008).
  25. P. A. Cassak and M. A. Shay, Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L19102, DOI: 10.1029/2008GL035268 (2008).
  26. P. L. Pritchett, J. Geophys. Res. 113, A06210, DOI: 10.1029/2007JA012930 (2008).
  27. K. G. Tanaka, A. Retino, Y. Asano, M. Fujimoto, I. Shinohara, A. Vaivads, Y. Khotyaintsev, M. Andre, M. B. Bavassano-Cattaneo, and C. J. Owen, Ann. Geophys. 26, 2471 (2008).
  28. J. Huang, Z. W. Ma, and D. Li, Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L10105, DOI: 10.1029/2008GL033751 (2008).
  29. J. Huang and Z. W. Ma, Chin. J. Geophys. 51, 960 (2008).
  30. F. S. Mozer, V. Angelopoulos, J. Bonnell, K. H. Glassmeier, and J. P. McFadden, Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L17S04, DOI: 10.1029/2007GL033033 (2008).
  31. F. S. Mozer, P. Pritchett, J. Bonnell, D. Sundqvist, and M. Chang, J. Geophys. Res. 113, A00C03, DOI: 10.1029/2008JA013535 (2008).
  32. J. E. Borovsky, J. Geophys. Res. 113, A08228, DOI: 10.1029/2007JA012646 (2008).
  33. M. Nakamura and M. Scholer, J. Geophys. Res. 105, 23179, DOI: 10.1029/2000JA900101 (2000).
  34. M. Swisdak and J. F. Drake, Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L11106, DOI: 10.1029/2007GL029815 (2007).
  35. V. M. Vasyliunas, Rev. Geophys. 13, 303, DOI: 10.1029/RG013i001p00303 (1975).
  36. B. U. Ö. Sonnerup, in Solar System Plasma Physics, edited by L. J. Lanzerotti, C. F. Kennel, and E. N. Parker (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1979), Vol. 3, p. 46.
  37. M. A. Shay, J. F. Drake, R. E. Denton, and D. Biskamp, J. Geophys. Res. 103, 9165, DOI: 10.1029/97JA03528 (1998).
  38. Y. Ren, M. Yamada, S. Gerhardt, H. Ji, R. Kulsrud, and A. Kuritsyn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 055003 (2005).
  39. C. D. Cothran, M. Landreman, M. R. Brown, and W. H. Matthaeus, Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L03105, DOI: 10.1029/2004GL021245 (2005).
  40. A. G. Frank, S. Y. Bogdanov, G. V. Dreiden, V. S. Markov, and G. V. Ostrovskaya, Phys. Lett. A 348, 318 (2006).
  41. M. A. Shay, J. F. Drake, M. Swisdak, and B. N. Rogers, Phys. Plasmas 11, 2199 (2004).
  42. A. Retinó, A. Vaivads, M. André, F. Sahraoui, Y. Khotyaintsev, J. S. Pickett, M. B. B. Cattaneo, M. F. Marcucci, M. Morooka, C. J. Owen, S. C. Buchert, and N. Cornilleau-Wehrlin, Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L06101, DOI: 10.1029/2005GL024650 (2006).
  43. G. L. Siscoe, G. M. Erickson, B. U. O. Sonnerup, N. C. Maynard, J. A. Schoendorf, K. D. Siebert, D. R. Weimer, W. W. White, and G. R. Wilson, Geophys. Res. Lett. 29, 1626, DOI: 10.1029/2001GL013536 (2002).
  44. M. Hoshino and A. Nishida, J. Geophys. Res. 88, 6926, DOI: 10.1029/JA088iA09p06926 (1983).
  45. M. Scholer, J. Geophys. Res. 94, 8805, DOI: 10.1029/JA094iA07p08805 (1989).
  46. J. C. Dorelli, M. Hesse, M. M. Kuznetsova, L. Rastaetter, and J. Raeder, J. Geophys. Res. 109, A12216, DOI: 10.1029/2004JA010458 (2004).
  47. A. L. La Belle-Hamer, A. Otto, and L. C. Lee, J. Geophys. Res. 100, 11875, DOI: 10.1029/95JA00969 (1995).
  48. E. R. Priest, V. S. Titov, R. E. Grundy, and A. W. Hood, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 456, 1821 (2000).
  49. R. P. Rijnbeek, V. S. Semenov, A. A. Shmalts, H. K. Biernat, M. F. Heyn, and B. P. Besser, Planet. Space Sci. 39, 1377 (1991).
  50. D. Grasso, D. Borgogno, and F. Pegoraro, Phys. Plasmas 14, 055703 (2007).
  51. K. Germaschewski, A. Bhattacharjee, C. S. Ng, X. Wang, and L. Chacon, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 51, 312 (2006).
  52. B. U. Ö. Sonnerup, J. Geophys. Res. 79, 1546, DOI: 10.1029/JA079i010p01546 (1974).

CITING ARTICLES

For access to citing articles, you need to log in.
For access to citing articles, you need to Log in.