Suppression of collisionless magnetic reconnection in asymmetric current sheets

Abstract

Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the suppression of asymmetric reconnection in the limit where the diamagnetic drift speed >> Alfven speed and the magnetic shear angle is moderate. We demonstrate that the slippage between electrons and the magnetic flux facilitates reconnection, and can even result in fast reconnection that lacks one of the outflow jets. Through comparing a case where the diamagnetic drift is supported by the temperature gradient with a companion case that has a density gradient instead, we identify a robust suppression mechanism. The drift of the x-line is slowed down locally by the asymmetric nature of the current sheet and the resulting tearing modes, then the x-line is run over and swallowed by the faster-moving following flux.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains
• A catastrophe model for fast magnetic reconnection onset

Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Strongly localized magnetic reconnection by the super-Alfvenic shear flow
• Identification of active magnetic reconnection using magnetic flux transport in plasma turbulence
• Exact Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria for asymmetric current sheets
• Particle-in-cell simulation study of the scaling of asymmetric magnetic reconnection with in-plane flow shear
• Magnetic Flux Transport Identification of Active Reconnection: MMS Observations in Earth's Magnetosphere
• Scaling of magnetic reconnection with a limited x-line extent
• Extended magnetic reconnection in kinetic plasma turbulence
• The inverse problem for collisionless plasma equilibria