Special Issue: Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas
- Article
- Published:
The onset of magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail
Earth, Planets and Space volume 53, pages 645–653 (2001)
Abstract
This paper addresses the onset of collisionless magnetic reconnection in the tail of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The two-and-a-half-dimensional version of a fully electromagnetic particle-in-cell code is used to describe the pre- and post-onset dynamics of reconnection in thin current sheets in the magnetotail. The ion/electron mass ratio is set to 100. The simulation starts out from an apparently stable equilibrium configuration. Applying an external electric field, meant to be caused by magnetic flux transfer to the tail, leads to the formation of a thin current sheet in the center of the plasma sheet. This confirms earlier results obtains with fluid and hybrid-methods. In the thin sheet quasi-static force-balance leads to a substantial decrease of the north-south component of the magnetic field in the center of the sheet. This in turn causes the electrons to become significantly nongyrotropic, such that a tearing mode starts growing. Regarding the nonideal process that supports the electric field in the diffusion region, the simulation results are shown to be consistent with the notion that electron pressure anisotropies associated with the nongyrotropy generate the required diffusive electric fields. The destabilizing role of electron nongyrotropy is confirmed by a simplified analysis of the energy principle for two-dimensional collisionless plasmas.
References
Angelopoulos, V., W. Baumjohann, C. F. Kennel, F. V. Coroniti, M. G. Kivelson, R. Pellat, R. J. Walker, H. Lühr, and G. Paschmann, Bursty bulk flows in the inner central plasma sheet, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 4027, 1992.
Antiochos, S. K., C. R. DeVore, and J. A. Klimchuk, A model for solar coronal mass ejections, Astrophys. J., 510, 485, 1999.
Atkinson, G., Field-line merging and slippage, Geophys. Res. Lett., 5, 465, 1978.
Birn, J. and K. Schindler, Self-consistent theory of three-dimensional convection in the geomagnetic tail, J. Geophys. Res., 88, 6969, 1983.
Birn, J., M. Hesse, and K. Schindler, Formation of thin current sheets in space plasmas, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 6843, 1998.
Birn, J., J. F. Drake, M. A. Shay, B. N. Rogers, R. E. Denton, M. Hesse, M. M. Kuznetsova, Z. W. Ma, A. Bhattacharjee, A. Otto, and P. L. Pritchett, GEM magnetic reconnection challenge, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3715, 2001.
Brueckner, G. E., Global Coronal Disturbances as the Source for the Low Latitude Solar Wind, Transactions AGU, SH72B-05, 1996.
Cai, H. J. and L. C. Lee, The generalized Ohm’s law in collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 4, 509, 1997.
Cargill, P. A. and J. A. Klimchuk, A nanoflare explanation for the heating of coronal loops observed by Yohkoh, Astrophys. J., 478, 799, 1997.
Goldstein, H. and K. Schindler, Large-scale collision-free instability of two-dimensional plasma sheets, Phys. Rev. Lett, 48, 1468, 1982.
Gosling, J. T., J. Birn, and M. Hesse, Three-dimensional magnetic reconnection and the magnetic topology of coronal mass ejection events, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 869, 1995.
Haerendel, G., On the potential role of field-aligned currents in solar physics, Proceedings of 21st ESLAB Symposium, Bolkesjø, Norway, European Space Agency, Paris, 1987.
Hesse, M. and J. Birn, Near- and mid-tail current flow during substorms: Small- and large-scale aspects of current disruption, in Magnetospheric Currents, Geophys. Monogr. Ser., edited by S. Ohtani, R. Lysak, and M. Hesse, p. 295, AGU, Washington, D.C., 2000.
Hesse, M. and D. Winske, Electron dissipation in collisionless magnetic reconnection, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 26479, 1998.
Hesse, M., D. Winske, and M. M. Kuznetsova, Hybrid Modeling of collisionless reconnection in two-dimensional current sheets: Simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 21815, 1995.
Hesse, M., D. Winske, and J. Birn, On the ion scale structure of thin current sheets in the magnetotail, Phys. Scr., T74, 63, 1997.
Hesse, M., K. Schindler, J. Birn, and M. Kuznetsova, The diffusion region in collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 6, 1781, 1999.
Hewett, D. W., G. E. Frances, and C. E. Max, New regimes of magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma, Phys. Rev. Lett., 61, 893, 1988.
Horiuchi, R. and T. Sato, Particle simulation study of driven magnetic re-connection in a collisionless plasma, Phys. Plasmas, 1, 3587, 1994.
Horiuchi, R. and T. Sato, Particle simulation study of collisionless driven reconnection in a sheared magnetic field, Phys. Plasmas, 4, 277, 1997.
Krauss-Varban, D. and N. Omidi, Large-scale hybrid simulations of the magnetotail during reconnection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 3271, 1995.
Kuznetsova, M. M., M. Hesse, and D. Winske, Hybrid Modeling of the tearing instability in collisionless two-dimensional current sheets: Linear Theory, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 21827, 1995.
Kuznetsova, M., M. Hesse, and D. Winske, Kinetic quasi-viscous and bulk flow inertia effects in collisionless magnetotail reconnection, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 199, 1998.
Langdon, A. B., On enforcing Gauss’ law in electromagnetic particle-in-cell codes, Comp. Phys. Comm., 70, 447, 1992.
Lin, Y. and D. W. Swift, A two-dimensional hybrid simulation of the magnetotail reconnection layer, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 19859, 1996.
Lottermoser, R.-F., M. Scholer, and A. P. Matthews, Ion kinetic effects in magnetic reconnection: Hybrid simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 4547, 1998.
McPherron, R. L., Magnetospheric substorms, Rev. Geophys., 17, 657, 1979.
Nagai, T., et al., Structure and dynamics of magnetic reconnection for substorm onsets with Geotail observations, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 4419, 1998.
Pellat, R., F. Coroniti, and P. Pritchett, Does ion tearing exist?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 143, 1991.
Paschmann, G., et al, Plasma acceleration at the earth’s magnetopause: Evidence for reconnection, Nature, 282, 243, 1979.
Priest, E. R., Magnetic reconnection at the sun, in Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas, Geophys. Monogr. Ser., vol. 30, edited by E. W. Hones, p. 63, AGU, Washington, D.C., 1984.
Priest, E. R. and T. G. Forbes, Steady magnetic reconnection in three dimensions, Solar Phys., 119, 211, 1989.
Pritchett, P. L., Effect of electron dynamics on collisionless reconnection in two-dimensional magnetotail equilibria, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 5935, 1994.
Quest, K. B., H. Karimabadi, and M. Brittnacher, Consequences of particle conservation along a flux surface for magnetotail tearing, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 179, 1996.
Schindler, K. and J. Birn, Magnetospheric physics, Phys. Reports, 47, 109, 1978.
Schindler, K., D. Pfirsch, and H. Wobig, Stability of two-dimensional collison-free plasmas, Plasma Phys., 15, 1165, 1973.
Shay, M. A., J. F. Drake, R. E. Denton, and D. Biskamp, Structure of the dissipation region during collisionless magnetic reconnection, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 9165, 1998a.
Shay, M. A. and J. F. Drake, The role of electron dissipation on the rate of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3759, 1998b.
Sonnerup, B. U. Ö., et al., Evidence for magnetic field reconnection at the earth’s magnetopause, J. Geophys. Res., 86, 10049, 1981.
Tanaka, M., Macro-particle simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Phys. Plasmas, 2, 2920, 1995a.
Tanaka, M., The macro-em particle simulation method and a study of collisionless magnetic reconnection, Comp. Phys. Comm., 87, 117, 1995b.
Vasyliunas, V. M., Theoretical models of magnetic field line merging, 1, Rev. Geophys., 13, 303, 1975.
Villasenor, J. and O. Buneman, Rigorous charge conservation for local electromagnetic field solvers, Comp. Phys. Comm., 69, 306, 1992.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hesse, M., Schindler, K. The onset of magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail. Earth Planet Sp 53, 645–653 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353284
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353284