Related papers: Formation of Plasmoid Chains in Magnetic Reconnect…
We present a detailed analysis of the properties of magnetic reconnection at large-scale current sheets in a high cadence version of the Lynch & Edmondson (2013) 2.5D MHD simulation of sympathetic magnetic breakout eruptions from a…
This paper studies the growth rate of reconnection instabilities in thin current sheets in the presence of both resistivity and viscosity. In a previous paper, Pucci and Velli (2014), it was argued that at sufficiently high Lundquist number…
We revisit the well known Sweet-Parker (SP) model for magnetic reconnection in the framework of two dimensional incompressible magnetohydrodynamics. The steady-state solution is re-derived by considering a non zero viscosity via the…
We study the role of turbulence in magnetic reconnection, within the framework of magneto-hydrodynamics, using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. For small turbulent intensity we find that the reconnection rate obeys…
We study magnetic reconnection events in a turbulent plasma within the two-fluid theory. By identifying the diffusive regions, we measure the reconnection rates as function of the conductivity and current sheet thickness. We have found that…
Fast reconnection operating in magnetically dominated plasmas is often invoked in models for magnetar giant flares, for magnetic dissipation in pulsar winds, or to explain the gamma-ray flares observed in the Crab nebula, hence its…
Plasmoid instability is usually accounted for the onset of fast reconnection events observed in astrophysical plasmas. However, the measured reconnection rate from observations can be one order of magnitude higher than that derived from MHD…
We examine the effect of weak, small scale magnetic field structure on the rate of reconnection in a strongly magnetized plasma. This affects the rate of reconnection by reducing the transverse scale for reconnection flows, and by allowing…
Our understanding of the process of fast reconnection has undergone a dramatic change in the last 10 years driven, in part, by the availability of high-resolution numerical simulations that have consistently demonstrated the break-up of…
Solving the problem of fast eruptive events in magnetically dominated astrophysical plasmas requires the use of particularly well adapted numerical tools. Indeed, the central mechanism based on magnetic reconnection is determined by a…
Theoretical studies of the plasmoid instability generally assume that the reconnecting magnetic fields are symmetric. We relax this assumption by performing two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the plasmoid…
Magnetic reconnection, or the ability of the magnetic field lines that are frozen in plasma to change their topology, is a fundamental problem of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We briefly examine the problem starting with the well-known…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and fundamental process in plasmas by which magnetic fields change their topology and release magnetic energy. Despite decades of research, the physics governing the reconnection process in many…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory and simulations have shown that reconnection is triggered via a fast "ideal" tearing instability in current sheets whose inverse aspect ratio decreases to $a/L\sim S^{-1/3}$, with $S$ is the Lundquist number…
Blobs, or quasi-spherical emission regions containing relativistic particles and magnetic fields, are often assumed ad hoc in emission models of relativistic astrophysical jets, yet their physical origin is still not well understood. Here,…
Magnetic reconnection provides the primary source for explosive energy release, plasma heating and particle acceleration in many astrophysical environments. The last years witnessed a revival of interest in the MHD tearing instability as a…
Plasmoid instability accelerates reconnection in collisional plasmas by transforming a laminar reconnection layer into numerous plasmoids connected by secondary current sheets in two dimensions (2D) and by fostering self-generated turbulent…
We present the results of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical numerical simulations of relativistic magnetic reconnection, with particular emphasis on the dynamics of Petschek-type configurations with high Lundquist numbers, S ~…
We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but sub-Alfv\'enic.The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting, producing a…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous phenomenon for magnetized plasmas and leads to the rapid reconfiguration of magnetic field lines. During reconnection events, plasma is heated and accelerated until the magnetic field lines enclose and…