Related papers: Do chaotic field lines cause fast reconnection in …
The magnetic field in many astrophysical plasmas -- such as the Solar corona and Earth's magnetosphere -- has been shown to have a highly complex, three-dimensional structure. Recent advances in theory and computational simulations have…
Magnetic field lines are quantum objects carrying one quantum $\Phi_0=2\pi\hbar/e$ of magnetic flux and have finite radius $\lambda_m$. Here we argue that they possess a very specific dynamical interaction. Parallel field lines reject each…
Using 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we study magnetic reconnection with the x-line being spatially confined in the current direction. We include thick current layers to prevent reconnection at two ends of a thin current sheet that…
Classical Sweet-Parker models of reconnection predict that reconnection rates depend inversely on the resistivity, usually parameterized using the dimensionless Lundquist number ($\Lund$). We describe magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations…
Magnetic reconnection, the rearrangement of magnetic field topology, is a fundamental physical process in magnetized plasma systems all over the universe1,2. Its process is difficult to be directly observed. Coronal structures, such as…
It has been established that the Sweet-Parker current layer in high Lundquist number reconnection is unstable to the super-Alfv\'enic plasmoid instability. Past two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations have demonstrated that the…
Magnetic reconnection has been observed in the transition region of quasi-parallel shocks. In this work, the particle-in-cell method is used to simulate three-dimensional reconnection in a quasi-parallel shock. The shock transition region…
Magnetic reconnection in an antiparallel uniform Harris current sheet equilibrium, which is initially perturbed by a region of enhanced resistivity limited in all three dimensions, is investigated through compressible magnetohydrodynamic…
When electron inertia is the only non-ideal effect in the evolution of a magnetic field $\vec{B}$, the field lines of $\vec{B}$ reconnect, but the lines of a related field $\vec{\mathcal{B}}$ do not. $\vec{\mathcal{B}} \equiv \vec{B} +…
Magnetic reconnection is a plasma phenomenon where a topological rearrangement of magnetic field lines with opposite polarity results in dissipation of magnetic energy into heat, kinetic energy and particle acceleration. Such a phenomenon…
Aims: Our aim is to investigate the resistive relaxation of a magnetic loop that contains braided magnetic flux but no net current or helicity. The loop is subject to line-tied boundary conditions. We investigate the dynamical processes…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mechanism in astrophysics. A common challenge in mimicking this process numerically in particular for the Sun is that the solar electrical resistivity is small compared to the diffusive effects caused…
Three-dimensional null points are present in abundance in the solar corona, and the same is likely to be true in other astrophysical environments. Recent studies suggest that reconnection at such 3D nulls may play an important role in the…
The elongated bright structures above solar flare loops are suggested to be current sheets, where magnetic reconnection takes place. Observations have revealed various characteristics of the current sheet; however, their physical origin…
Many in-situ spacecraft observations have demonstrated that magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail is largely controlled by the pre-reconnection current sheet configuration. One of the most important thin current sheet…
Although magnetic reconnection takes place in three-dimensional space, reconnection theory has focused on two-dimensional models for more than sixty years. Well-posed three-dimensional mathematics associated with the theory of fluid mixing…
We present the first results of three-dimensional (3D) numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the onset of magnetic reconnection via the tearing instability in dynamically thinning current sheets in the solar corona. In all our…
We investigate the impact of turbulence on magnetic reconnection through high-resolution 3D magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations, spanning Lundquist numbers from $S=10^3$ to $10^6$. Building on Lazarian and Vishniac's (1999) theory,…
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the dynamical mechanism underlying many explosive phenomena observed both in space and in the laboratory, though the question of how fast magnetic reconnection is triggered in such high Lundquist ($S$)…
The fast rates of magnetic reconnection found in both nature and experiments are important to understand theoretically. Recently, it was demonstrated that two-fluid magnetic reconnection remains fast in the strong guide field regime,…