Laboratory Study of Hall Reconnection in Partially Ionized Plasmas
Authors: Eric E. Lawrence, Hanto Ji, Masaaki Yamaada and Jongsoo Yoo
Abstract:
The effects of partial ionization (ni/nn ≤ 1%) on magnetic reconnection in the
Hall regime have been studied systematically in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment
(MRX). It is shown that, when neutrals are added the Hall quadrupole
field pattern and thus electron flow is unchanged while the ion outflow speed is
reduced due to ion-neutral drag. However, in constrast to theoretical predictions,
the ion diffusion layer width does not change appreciably. Therefore, the total
ion outflow flux and the normalized reconnection rate are reduced.
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Submitted to: Physical Review Letters, (April 2012)
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