Outflow structure and reconnection rate of the self-similar evolution model of fast magnetic reconnection

Abstract

In order to understand the nature of magnetic reconnection in ``free space'' which is free from any influence of external circumstances, I have studied the structure of spontaneous reconnection outflow using a shock tube approximation. The reconnection system of this case continues to expand self-similarly. This work aims 1) to solve the structure of reconnection outflow and 2) to clarify the determination mechanism of reconnection rate of the ``self-similar evolution model'' of fast reconnection. Many cases of reconnection in astrophysical phenomena are characterized by a huge dynamic range of expansion in size ($\sim 10^7$ for typical solar flares). Although such reconnection is intrinsically time dependent, a specialized model underlying the situation has not been established yet. The theoretical contribution of this paper is in obtaining a solution for outflow structure which is absent in our previous papers proposing the above new model. The outflow has a shock tube-like structure, i.e., forward slow shock, reverse fast shock and contact discontinuity between them. By solving the structure in a sufficiently wide range of plasma-$\beta$: $0.001\le \beta \le 100$, we obtain an almost constant reconnection rate ($\sim 0.05$: this value is the maximum for spontaneous reconnection and is consistent with previous models) and a boundary value along the edge of the outflow (good agreement with our simulation result) which is important to solve the inflow region. Note that everything, including the reconnection rate, is spontaneously determined by the reconnection system itself in our model.

arXiv comment15 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Fast magnetic reconnection in free space: self-similar evolution process
• Self-similar solution of fast magnetic reconnection: Semi-analytic study of inflow region

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Centrifugal Breakout of Magnetically Confined Line-Driven Stellar Winds
• Measurement of the Energy Release Rate and the Reconnection Rate in Solar Flares
• Statistical Study of the Reconnection Rate in Solar Flares Observed with YOHKOH/SXT
• Continuous transition from fast magnetic reconnection to slow reconnection and change of the reconnection system structure
• Magnetic Reynolds number dependence of reconnection rate and flow structure of the self-similar evolution model of fast magnetic reconnection
• Effects of magnetic shear and thermodynamic asymmetry on spontaneous MHD magnetic reconnection