Related papers: Current sheet formation under radiative cooling
We study, by means of MHD simulations, the onset and evolution of fast reconnection via the "ideal" tearing mode within a collapsing current sheet at high Lundquist numbers ($S\gg10^4$). We first confirm that as the collapse proceeds, fast…
The recent realization that Sweet-Parker current sheets are violently unstable to the secondary tearing (plasmoid) instability implies that such current sheets cannot occur in real systems. This suggests that, in order to understand the…
In a recent numerical study [Ng et al., Astrophys. J. {\bf 747}, 109, 2012], with a three-dimensional model of coronal heating using reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD), we have obtained scaling results of heating rate versus Lundquist…
The formation of a thin current sheet in a magnetic quasi-separatrix layer (QSL) is investigated by means of numerical simulation using a simplified ideal, low-$\beta$, MHD model. The initial configuration and driving boundary conditions…
We investigate properties of the reconnecting current layer in relativistic pair plasma reconnection. We found that the current layer self-regulates its thickness when the current layer runs out current carriers, and so relativistic…
Numerical simulations of strongly compressible MHD corresponding to a stellar atmosphere with substantial gravity and near force-free magnetic fields show that the current sheet collapses (its width decreasing substantially). As a result,…
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process associated with a rapid dissipation of magnetic energy, is believed to power many disruptive phenomena in laboratory plasma devices, the Earth magnetosphere, and the solar corona.…
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…
We develop a framework for studying the statistical properties of current sheets in numerical simulations of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. We describe an algorithm that identifies current sheets in a simulation snapshot and then…
To investigate the impact of current sheet motion on the reconnection process, we perform resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of two closely located reconnection sites which move apart from each other as reconnection develops.…
Magnetic reconnection before flux cancellation in the solar photosphere when two opposite-polarity photospheric magnetic fragments are approaching one another is usually modelled by assuming that a small so-called "floating current sheet"…
Combined tearing-thermal evolution plays an important role in the disruption of current sheets, and formation of cool condensations within the solar atmosphere. However, this has received limited attention to date. We numerically explore a…
Reconnection physics at micro-scales is investigated in an electron magnetohydrodynamics frame. A new process of collapse of the neutral current sheet is demonstrated by means of analytical and numerical solutions. It shows how at scales…
This paper analytically investigates a series of two-dimensional MHD reconnection solutions over a wide variation of magnetic Reynolds number ($R_{em}^*$). A new series of solutions explains a continuous transition from Petschek-like fast…
We present a model for the spontaneous onset of fast magnetic reconnection in a weakly collisional plasma, such as the solar corona. When a current layer of macroscopic width undergoes collisional (Sweet-Parker) reconnection, a narrow…
The formation, development and impact of slow shocks in the upstream region of reconnecting current layers are explored. Slow shocks have been documented in the upstream region of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of magnetic…
An MHD model of a Hydrogen plasma with flow, an energy equation, NLTE ionization and radiative cooling, and an Ohm's law with anisotropic electrical conduction and thermoelectric effects is used to self-consistently generate atmospheric…
Magnetic reconnection is the most likely mechanism responsible for the high temperature events that are observed in strongly magnetized locations around the temperature minimum in the low solar chromosphere. This work improves upon our…
Implosive formation of current sheets is a fundamental plasma process. Previous studies focused on the early time evolution, while here our primary aim is to explore the longer-term evolution, which may be critical for determining the…
Classical MHD reconnection theories, both the stationary Sweet-Parker model and the tearing instability, are known to provide rates which are too slow to explain the observations. However, a recent analysis has shown that there exists a…