Collisionless reconnection: Mechanism of self-ignition in thin current sheets

Abstract

The spontaneous onset of magnetic reconnection in thin collisionless current sheets is shown to result from a thermal-anisotropy driven magnetic Weibel-mode, generating seed-magnetic field {\sf X}-points in the centre of the current layer.

8 pages, 6 figures, prepared for Annales Geophysicae

References in corpus (2)

• Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical
• Magnetic guide field generation in thin collisionless current sheets

Cited by in corpus (9)

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• Magnetic fields in the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
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• A note on the Weibel instability and thermal fluctuations
• Instabilities of collisionless current sheets revisited: the role of anisotropic heating
• Stimulated-emission based model of fast radio bursts
• A note on the structure and kinematics of Harris current sheets
• Collisionless reconnection: The sub-microscale mechanism of magnetic field line interaction
• Collisionless magnetic reconnection: Flux quanta, field lines, `composite electrons' -- Is the quantum-Hall effect involved in its micro-scale physics?