Three-dimensional oscillatory magnetic reconnection

Abstract

Here we detail the dynamic evolution of localised reconnection regions about three-dimensional (3D) magnetic null points by using numerical simulation. We demonstrate for the first time that reconnection triggered by the localised collapse of a 3D null point due to an external MHD wave involves a self-generated oscillation, whereby the current sheet and outflow jets undergo a reconnection reversal process during which back-pressure formation at the jet heads acts to prise open the collapsed field before overshooting the equilibrium into an opposite-polarity configuration. The discovery that reconnection at fully 3D nulls can proceed naturally in a time-dependent and periodic fashion is suggestive that oscillatory reconnection mechanisms may play a role in explaining periodicity in astrophysical phenomena associated with magnetic reconnection, such as the observed quasi-periodicity of solar and stellar flare emission. Furthermore, we find a consequence of oscillatory reconnection is the generation of a plethora of freely-propagating MHD waves which escape the vicinity of the reconnection region

Accepted in ApJ, will be published gold open access, refer to main journal for animated content

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Persistent Quasi-Periodic Pulsations During a Large X-Class Solar Flare
• A quasi-periodic fast-propagating magnetosonic wave associated with the eruption of a magnetic flux rope
• Observation of a reversal of breakout reconnection preceding a jet: evidence of oscillatory magnetic reconnection?
• Properties of quasi-periodic pulsations in solar flares from a single active region
• Scaling laws of quasi-periodic pulsations in solar flares
• The formation and dissipation of current sheets and shocks due to compressive waves in a stratified atmosphere containing a magnetic null