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Role of Z-pinches in magnetic reconnection in space plasmas

Part of: Focus on Space Plasmas Present Achievements in SpacePlasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2014

Vyacheslav Olshevsky ,
Giovanni Lapenta ,
Stefano Markidis  and
Andrey Divin
Vyacheslav Olshevsky*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (CmPA), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, bus 2400 B-3001 Leuven, Belgium Main Astronomical Observatory of NAS, 27 Akademika Zabolotnoho st., 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine
Giovanni Lapenta
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (CmPA), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, bus 2400 B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
Stefano Markidis
Affiliation:
High Performance Computing and Visualization (HPCViz), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Andrey Divin
Affiliation:
Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala Division, SE-751 21, Uppsala, Sweden
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

A widely accepted scenario of magnetic reconnection in collisionless space plasmas is the breakage of magnetic field lines in X-points. In laboratory, reconnection is commonly studied in pinches, current channels embedded into twisted magnetic fields. No model of magnetic reconnection in space plasmas considers both null-points and pinches as peers. We have performed a particle-in-cell simulation of magnetic reconnection in a three-dimensional configuration where null-points are present initially, and Z-pinches are formed during the simulation along the lines of spiral null-points. The non-spiral null-points are more stable than spiral ones, and no substantial energy dissipation is associated with them. On the contrary, turbulent magnetic reconnection in the pinches causes the magnetic energy to decay at a rate of ~1.5% per ion gyro period. Dissipation in similar structures is a likely scenario in space plasmas with large fraction of spiral null-points.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , 325810105
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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