Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T14:57:35.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Magnetic field-line reconnexion by localized enhancement of resistivity: Part 1. Evolution in a compressible MHD fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

Masayuki Ugai
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan
Takao Tsuda
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Extract

The temporal dynamics of field-line reconnexion is studied by numerical experiment in a compressible conducting fluid. It is shown that because of localized enhancement of resistivity the reconnexion takes place in an initially antiparallel magnetic field and that an X-type field configuration develops, occupying an extended region. There is also a remarkable release of magnetic energy into kinetic and thermal energies. The global flow pattern can spontaneously be set up through the field-line reconnexion under no specially imposed boundary conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Axford, W. I., Petschek, H. E. & Siscoe, G. L. 1965 J. Geophys. Res. 70, 1231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppi, B. & Friedland, A. B. 1971 Astrophys. J. 169, 379.Google Scholar
Dungey, J. W. 1953 Phil. Mag. 44, 725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, E. N. 1963 Astrophys. J. Suppl. 8, 177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petschek, H. E. 1964 The Physics of Solar Flares, AAS-NASA Symposium (ed. Hess, W. N.), p. 425 (NASA SP-50).Google Scholar
Stern, D. P. 1966 Space Sci. Rev. 6, 147.Google Scholar
Vasyliunas, V. M. 1975 Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 13, 303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeh, T. & Axford, W. I. 1970 J. Plasma Phys. 4, 207.Google Scholar