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Transition in electron physics of magnetic reconnection in weakly collisional plasma

Part of: Collisions in Collisionless Plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2014

A. Le ,
J. Egedal ,
W. Daughton ,
V. Roytershteyn ,
H. Karimabadi  and
C. Forest Open the ORCID record for C. Forest [Opens in a new window]
A. Le*
Affiliation:
SciberQuest, Inc., Del Mar, CA 92014, USA Center for Space Plasma Physics, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
J. Egedal
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
W. Daughton
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
V. Roytershteyn
Affiliation:
SciberQuest, Inc., Del Mar, CA 92014, USA
H. Karimabadi
Affiliation:
SciberQuest, Inc., Del Mar, CA 92014, USA
C. Forest
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

Using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations with a Monte Carlo treatment of the Coulomb collision operator, we study the transition in electron dynamics of magnetic reconnection for various levels of collisionality. The weakly collisional cases considered all fall into the so-called Hall or kinetic regime. Nevertheless, collisions may still alter the electron kinetic physics characteristic of collisionless reconnection, where adiabatic trapping energizes the electrons and leads to strong anisotropy of the electron velocity distribution and pressure. This anisotropy can support extended current sheets, associated with secondary island formation and turbulent flux rope interactions in three dimensional systems. The collisional simulations demonstrate how weak collisions may modify or eliminate these electron structures in the kinetic regimes. While the reconnection rate is not sensitive to the collisionality in the range studied, we find that increasing collisionality reduces the level of electron energization near the reconnection site. Finally, the results provide guidance for new laboratory reconnection experiments that will access the weakly collisional regimes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , 305810108
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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