New Insights into Dissipation in the Electron Layer During Magnetic Reconnection
Authors: H. Ji, Y. Ren, M. Yamada, S. Dorfman, W. Daughton and S.P. Gerhardt
Abstract:
ELECTRON DISSIPATION IN RECONNECTION Detailed comparisons are reported between laboratory observations of electron scale dissipation layers near a reconnecting X-line and direct two-dimensional full-particle simulations. Many experimental features of the electron layers, such as insensitivity to the ion mass, are reproduced by the simulations; the layer thickness, however, is about 3 - 5 times larger than the predictions. Consequently, the leading candidate 2D mechanism based on collisionless electron nongyrotropic pressure is insuffcient to explain the observed reconnection rates. These results suggest that, in addition to the residual collisions, 3D effects play an important role in electron-scale dissipation during fast reconnection.
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Submitted to: Geophysical Research Letters (June 2008)
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Download PPPL-4334 (pdf 619KB 17pp)
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