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Volume 53 Supplement 6

Special Issue: Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas

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Thermo-dynamic plasma expansion acceleration in asymmetric spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection

Earth, Planets and Space volume 53, pages 673–676 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Asymmetric spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection model, in which the current sheet is initially put between two antiparallel straight magnetic field regions with different magnetic intensities, is studied by two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Especially, the supersonic expansion acceleration process which has been already observed in the symmetric case is focused on. In this paper, we find that if the initial asymmetry features are weak and one side of the magnetic field regions consists of sufficiently low beta plasma, the supersonic expansion acceleration process is generated in the reconnection jet region, like the symmetric case. Hence, in such an asymmetric case, a fast shock is formed at the top of the magnetic loop.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of computer science, Ehime university, Bunkyo town, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan

    Tohru Shimizu & Masayuki Ugai

Authors
  1. Tohru Shimizu
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  2. Masayuki Ugai
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Correspondence to Tohru Shimizu.

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Shimizu, T., Ugai, M. Thermo-dynamic plasma expansion acceleration in asymmetric spontaneous fast magnetic reconnection. Earth Planet Sp 53, 673–676 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353287

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353287

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