Out-of-plane shear flow effects on fast magnetic reconnection in a two-dimensional hybrid simulation model

The effects of out-of-plane shear flows on fast magnetic reconnection are numerically investigated by a twodimensional(2D)hybrid model in an initial Harris sheet equilibrium with flows.The equilibrium and driven shear flows out of the 2D reconnection plane with symmetric and antisymmetric profiles respectively are used in the simulation.It is found that the out-of-plane flows with shears in-plane can change the quadrupolar structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field and,therefore,modify the growth rate of magnetic reconnection.Furthermore,the driven flow varying along the anti-parallel magnetic field can either enhance or reduce the reconnection rate as the direction of flow changes.Secondary islands are also generated in the process with converting the initial X-point into an O-point.     

激光驱动磁重联过程中的喷流演化和电子能谱测量

利用神光Ⅱ激光器和日本大阪大学Gekko激光器构建了激光驱动等离子体磁重联过程. 在垂直于磁重联平面方向发现了高速喷流, 从不同观测方向实验证实了该喷流的存在并测量了喷流的流体力学演化过程, 对其中的电子能谱进行了诊断分析.     

Single-particle dynamics in collisionless magnetic reconnection

The role of single-particle dynamics in driven magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas is investigated experimentally and analytically. The trapping of particle orbits in the magnetic cusp is observed to allow fast reconnection in the absence of a macroscopic current layer, at a rate identical to that of vacuum. The development of an electrostatic potential structure around the magnetic X line during reconnection is predicted theoretically and observed experimentally.     

短脉冲强激光驱动磁重联过程的靶后电势分布特征

超短超强激光因其极端的物理参数范围以及可用于研究相对论等离子体等特征,成为当前激光驱动磁重联物理的研究热点.通常采用两路激光与平面靶相互作用实现激光驱动磁重联,然而在实验诊断中,由于激光等离子体自身的复杂性导致很难辨别磁重联的物理特征.本文对两路短脉冲激光驱动平面靶磁重联进行了数值模拟,重点分析了靶后电势分布特征和磁重联之间的关系.模拟结果显示,靶后电势分布可以直接影响被加速离子在探测面上的空间分布,因此可用来直接诊断短脉冲激光驱动磁重联实验.     

Laser-induced fluorescence measurement of the ion-energy-distribution function in a collisionless reconnection experiment

Observations in space and laboratory plasmas suggest magnetic reconnection as a mechanism for ion heating and formation of non-Maxwellian ion velocity distribution functions (IVDF). Laser-induced fluorescence measurements of the IVDF parallel to the X line of a periodically driven reconnection experiment are presented. A time-resolved analysis yields the evolution of the IVDF within a reconnection cycle. It is shown that reconnection causes a strong increase of the ion temperature, where the strongest increase is found at the maximum reconnection rate. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that ion heating is a consequence of the in-plane electric field that forms around the X line in response to reconnection.     

Observations of slow electron holes at a magnetic reconnection site

We report in situ observations of high-frequency electrostatic waves in the vicinity of a reconnection site in the Earth's magnetotail. Two different types of waves are observed inside an ion-scale magnetic flux rope embedded in a reconnecting current sheet. Electron holes (weak double layers) produced by the Buneman instability are observed in the density minimum in the center of the flux rope. Higher frequency broadband electrostatic waves with frequencies extending up to f(pe) are driven by the electron beam and are observed in the denser part of the rope. Our observations demonstrate multiscale coupling during the reconnection: Electron-scale physics is induced by the dynamics of an ion-scale flux rope embedded in a yet larger-scale magnetic reconnection process.     

Magnetic field annihilation and reconnection driven by femtosecond lasers in inhomogeneous plasma

The process of fast magnetic reconnection driven by intense ultra-short laser pulses in underdense plasma is investigated by particle-in-cell simulations. In the wakefield of such laser pulses, quasi-static magnetic fields at a few mega-Gauss are generated due to nonvanishing cross product ▽(n/) × p. Excited in an inhomogeneous plasma of decreasing density, the quasi-static magnetic field structure is shown to drift quickly both in lateral and longitudinal directions. When two parallel-propagating laser pulses with close focal spot separation are used, such field drifts can develop into magnetic reconnection(annihilation) in their overlapping region, resulting in the conversion of magnetic energy to kinetic energy of particles. The reconnection rate is found to be much higher than the value obtained in the Hall magnetic reconnection model. Our work proposes a potential way to study magnetic reconnection-related physics with short-pulse lasers of terawatt peak power only.     

Fast magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles

Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on fully kinetic particle simulations we find that fast reconnection in these strongly driven systems can be explained by magnetic flux pileup at the shoulder of the current sheet and subsequent fast reconnection via two-fluid, collisionless mechanisms. In the strong drive regime with two-fluid effects, we find that the ultimate reconnection time is insensitive to the nominal system Alfvén time.     

A charged particle in a homogeneous magnetic field accelerated by a time-periodic Aharonov–Bohm flux

We consider a nonrelativistic quantum charged particle moving on a plane under the influence of a uniform magnetic field and driven by a periodically time-dependent Aharonov–Bohm flux. We observe an acceleration effect in the case when the Aharonov–Bohm flux depends on time as a sinusoidal function whose frequency is in resonance with the cyclotron frequency. In particular, the energy of the particle increases linearly for large times. An explicit formula for the acceleration rate is derived with the aid of the quantum averaging method, and then it is checked against a numerical solution and a very good agreement is found.     

Magnetohydrodynamic theories of magnetic field reconnection

This article is concerned with a review of the prominent magnetohydrodynamic theories proposed to date to explain magnetic field reconnection. These theories fall into three categories: (i) resistive tearing-mode instability, (ii) steady externally driven processes, (iii) nonsteady externally driven processes. The purpose of this article is to give on the analytical side - (i) a detailed discussion including a critical appraisal of the existing pr ominent theories of magnetic reconnection, (ii) a further elaboration and more correct versions and extensions of some of the existing theories of magnetic reconnection, and a review of the laboratory and computational work on the problem. The controversies that surround the application of these theories to problems involving explosive releases of magnetic energy are discussed.     

Cause of sudden magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

The cause for sudden reconnection in reversed field pinch plasmas is determined experimentally for two cases: large reconnection events (the sawtooth crash) and small reconnection events during improved confinement. We measure the term in the MHD equations which represents the driving (or damping) of edge tearing modes due to the axisymmetric magnetic field. The term is negative for large reconnection events (the modes are stable, implying that reconnection may be driven by nonlinear coupling to other modes) and positive for small reconnection events (modes are unstable, reconnection is spontaneous).     

不可压缩等离子体的2维磁场重联模型

提出了一种2维磁场重联模型。磁场重联过程中的电荷分离在等离子体中产生静电场,等离子体在电场中的漂移运动可以解释阿尔芬速度量级的出流。该磁场重联模型给出如下结论:Sweet-Parker模型描述的重联率强烈地依赖于电子质量与离子质量之比;反常电阻率正比于离子惯性长度和电流片宽度比值的平方; 相对论效应和高温等离子体中电子-正电子对的产生可以提高重联率; 电磁波的激发对于磁能的损耗是必要的。     

Effect of the magnetization parameter on electron acceleration during relativistic magnetic reconnection in ultra-intense laser-produced plasma

Relativistic magnetic reconnection (MR) driven by two ultra-intense lasers with different spot separation distances is simulated by a three-dimensional (3D) kinetic relativistic particle-in-cell (PIC) code. We find that changing the separation distance between two laser spots can lead to different magnetization parameters of the laser plasma environment. As the separation distance becomes larger, the magnetization parameter σ becomes smaller. The electrons are accelerated in these MR processes and their energy spectra can be fitted with double power-law spectra whose index will increase with increasing separation distance. Moreover, the collisionless shocks' contribution to energetic electrons is close to the magnetic reconnection contribution with σ decreasing, which results in a steeper electron energy spectrum. Basing on the 3D outflow momentum configuration, the energetic electron spectra are recounted and their spectrum index is close to 1 in these three cases because the magnetization parameter σ is very high in the 3D outflow area.     

Numerical Simulation on a Possible Formation Mechanism of Interplanetary Magnetic Cloud Boundaries

The formation med2aniRm of the interplanetary magnetic cloud (MC) boundaries is numerically investigated by simulating the interactions between an MC of some initial momentum and a local interplanetary current sheet.The compressible 2.51:) MHD equations are solved. R~sults show that the magnetic reconnection process is a possible formation mechanism when an MC interacts with a surrounding current sheet. A number of interesting features are found. For instance, the front boundary of the MCs is a magnetic reconnection boundary that could be caused by a driven reconnection ahead of the cloud, and the tail boundary might be caused by the driving of the entrained flow as a result of the Bernoulli principle. Analysis of the magnetic field and plasma data demonstrates that at these two boundaries appear large value of the plasma parameter β, clear increase of plasma temperature and density, distinct decrease of magnetic magnitude, and a transition of maguetic field direction of about 180 degrees. The outcome of the present simulation agrees qualitatively with the observational results on MC boundary inferred from IMP-8, etc.     

Fast resistive reconnection regime in the nonlinear evolution of double tearing modes

Phases of nonlinear double tearing modes are studied numerically. The first two phases lead to the formation and growth of magnetic islands and are followed by a fast reconnection phase to complete the process, driven by a process of neighboring magnetic separatrices merging and magnetic islands coupling. The fast growth can be understood as a result of the island interaction equivalent to a steadily inward flux boundary driven. Resistivity dependences for various phases are studied and shown by scaling analysis for the first time. It is found that after an early Sweet-Parker phase with a eta(1/2)-scale, a slow nonlinear phase in a Rutherford regime with a eta(1)-scale is followed by the fast reconnection phase with a eta(1/5)-scale.     

Suppression of Hall-term effects by gyroviscous cancellation in steady collisionless magnetic reconnection

The formation of an ion-dissipation region, in which motions of electrons and ions decouple and fast magnetic reconnection occurs, is demonstrated during a steady state of two-dimensional collisionless driven reconnection by means of full-particle simulations. The Hall-term effect is suppressed due to the gyroviscous cancellation at scales between the ion-skin depth and ion-meandering-orbit scale, and thus ions are tied to the magnetic field. The ion frozen-in constraint is strongly broken by nongyrotropic pressure tensor effects due to ion-meandering motion, and thus the ion-dissipation region is formed at scales below the ion-meandering-orbit scale. A similar process is observed in the formation of an electron-dissipation region. These two dissipation regions are clearly observed in an out-of-plane current density profile.     

Towards a self-consistent theory of turbulent reconnection

Fast reconnection due to turbulent dissipation has long been hypothesized. This classic idea is critically examined in 3D reduced magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, by taking into account the backreaction of small-scale magnetic fields. We find that the backreaction leads to such a dramatic reduction in a global reconnection rate as to recover the original Sweet–Parker scaling. In 2D limit, the global reconnection rate is shown to be enhanced over the Sweet–Parker result by a factor of magnetic Mach number. These results are consequences of mean square magnetic potential balance.     

Dynamic Hall effect driven by circularly polarized light in a graphene layer

We report the observation of the circular ac Hall effect where the current is solely driven by the crossed ac electric and magnetic fields of circularly polarized radiation. Illuminating an unbiased monolayer sheet of graphene with circularly polarized terahertz radiation at room temperature generates--under oblique incidence--an electric current perpendicular to the plane of incidence, whose sign is reversed by switching the radiation helicity. Alike the classical dc Hall effect, the voltage is caused by crossed E and B fields which are, however rotating with the light's frequency.     

Charge degree of freedom and the single-spin fluid model in YBa2Cu4O8

We present a 17O nuclear magnetic resonance study in the stoichiometric superconductor YBa2Cu4O8. A double irradiation method enables us to show that, below around 200 K, the spin-lattice relaxation rate of plane oxygen is not only driven by magnetic fluctuations, but also significantly by quadrupolar fluctuations, i. e., low-frequency charge fluctuations. In the superconducting state, on lowering the temperature, the quadrupolar relaxation diminishes faster than the magnetic one. These findings show that, with the opening of the spin pseudogap, a charge degree of freedom of mainly oxygen character is present in the electronic low-energy excitation spectrum.