Study of Energy Conversion and Partitioning in the Magnetic Reconnection Layer of a Laboratory Plasma
Authors: Masaaki Yamada, Jongsoo Yoo, Jonathan Jara-Almonte, William Daughton, Hantao Ji, et al.
Abstract: The essential feature of magnetic reconnection is that it energizes plasma particles by converting magnetic energy to particle energy; this process both accelerates and heats the plasma particles. Despite the long history of reconnection research, how this energy conversion occurs remains a major unresolved problem in plasma physics. Here we report that the energy conversion in a laboratory reconnection layer occurs in much larger region of the reconnection layer than previously considered. Our experimental study of the reconnection layer is carried out in the two-fluid regime where ions and electrons move quite di erently. The mechanisms for energizing ions in the magnetic reconnection layer are identified, and a quantitative inventory of the energy conversion process is presented for the first time in a well-defined reconnection layer of variable size. The study concludes that about 50% of the magnetic energy is converted to particle energy, 2/3 of which transferred to ions and 1/3 to electrons. Our results, which are compared with numerical simulations and space measurements, have broad implications for magnetic reconnection research.
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Submitted to: Physics of Plasmas
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Download PPPL-5101 (pdf 3.4 MB / 12pp)
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