dc.contributor.author | Forbes, Terry G. | |
dc.contributor.author | Priest, Eric R. | |
dc.contributor.author | Seaton, Daniel B. | |
dc.contributor.author | Litvinenko, Yuri E. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-08-05T23:25:44Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-08-05T23:25:44Z | |
dc.date.copyright | 2013 | |
dc.date.issued | 2013 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Forbes, T. G., Priest, E. R., Seaton, D. B. & Litvinenko, Y. E. (2013). Indeterminacy and instability in Petschek reconnection. Physics of Plasmas, 20(5), 052902. | en_NZ |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10289/7821 | |
dc.description.abstract | We explain two puzzling aspects of Petschek's model for fast reconnection. One is its failure to occur in plasma simulations with uniform resistivity. The other is its inability to provide anything more than an upper limit for the reconnection rate. We have found that previously published analytical solutions based on Petschek's model are structurally unstable if the electrical resistivity is uniform. The structural instability is associated with the presence of an essential singularity at the X-line that is unphysical. By requiring that such a singularity does not exist, we obtain a formula that predicts a specific rate of reconnection. For uniform resistivity, reconnection can only occur at the slow, Sweet-Parker rate. For nonuniform resistivity, reconnection can occur at a much faster rate provided that the resistivity profile is not too flat near the X-line. If this condition is satisfied, then the scale length of the nonuniformity determines the reconnection rate. | en_NZ |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_NZ |
dc.publisher | AIP | en_NZ |
dc.relation.ispartof | Physics of Plasmas | |
dc.relation.uri | http://pop.aip.org/resource/1/phpaen/v20/i5/p052902_s1 | en_NZ |
dc.rights | This article has been published in the journal: Physics of Plasmas. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. Used with permission. | en_NZ |
dc.subject | magnetic reconnection | en_NZ |
dc.subject | plasma instability | en_NZ |
dc.subject | plasma magnetohydrodynamics | en_NZ |
dc.subject | plasma simulation | en_NZ |
dc.subject | plasma transport processes | en_NZ |
dc.title | Indeterminacy and instability in Petschek reconnection | en_NZ |
dc.type | Journal Article | en_NZ |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1063/1.4804337 | en_NZ |
dc.relation.isPartOf | Physics of Plasmas | en_NZ |
pubs.begin-page | 1 | en_NZ |
pubs.elements-id | 39069 | |
pubs.end-page | 13 | en_NZ |
pubs.issue | 5 | en_NZ |
pubs.volume | 20 | en_NZ |