Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:07:31.661Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Compressible models of fast steady-state magnetic reconnection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

M. Jardine
Affiliation:
Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, U.K.
E. R. Priest
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical Sciences, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, U.K.

Abstract

We investigate the effects of compressibility on magnetic reconnection, using as a basis the incompressible models of Priest & Forbes and Jardine & Priest. Our results show that compressibility modifies the reconnection process, without changing its essential character. In the region of inflowing plasma, compressibility tends to increase the convergence or divergence of the flow. Also, for regimes with a compression in the inflow the maximum rate of reconnection is increased, while for regimes with an expansion in the inflow the magnetic Mach number at the entrance to the diffusion region is increased. In the region of outflowing plasma the main effects of compressibility are to produce faster and narrower outflow jets, with a lower magnetic field strength.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asseo, E. & Sol, H. 1986 Phys. Rep. 148, 308.Google Scholar
Biskamp, D. 1982 Phys. Lett. 87A, 357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biskamp, D. 1984 a Phys. Lett. 105A, 124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biskamp, D. 1984 b Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas (ed. Hones, M.), p. 369. A.G.U., Washington, D.C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biskamp, D. 1986 Phys. Fluids, 29, 1520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnet, R. M. & Dupree, A. K. (eds) 1981 Solar Phenomena in Stars and Stellar Systems. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, T. G. & Priest, E. R. 1982 Planet. Space Sci. 30, 1183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, T. G. & Priest, E. R. 1987 Rev. Geophys. 25, 1583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, Z. F. & Lee, L. C. 1985 Geophys. Res. Lett. 12, 291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gradshteyn, I. S. & Ryzhik, I. M. 1980 Tables of Integrais, Series, and Products, 4th edn.Academic.Google Scholar
Hones, M. (ed.) 1984 Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas. A.G.U., Washington, D.C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardine, M. & Priest, E. R. 1988 a J. Plasma Phys. 40, 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardine, M. & Priest, E. R. 1988 b Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn. 42, 163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardine, M. & Priest, E. R. 1988 c J. Plasma Phys. 40, 505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffrey, A. & Taniuti, T. 1964 Non-Linear Wave Propagation. Academic.Google Scholar
Lee, L.-C. & Fu, Z. F. 1986 a J. Geophys. Res. 91, 6807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, L.-C. & Fu, Z. F. 1986 b J. Geophys. Res. 91, 4551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mestel, L. 1985 Physica Scripta, T11, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petschek, H. E. 1964 Magnetic field annihilation. AAS-NASA Symposium on the Physics of Solar Flares; NASA Spec. Publ. SP-50, pp 425439.Google Scholar
Priest, E. R. 1984 Solar Magnetohydrodynamics. Reidel.Google Scholar
Priest, E. R. 1985 Rep. Prog. Phys. 48, 955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priest, E. R. & Forbes, T. G. 1986 J. Geophys. Res. 91, 5579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pudovkin, M. I. & Semenov, V. S. 1977 Ann. Geophys. 33, 429.Google Scholar
Semenov, V. S., Kubyshkin, I. V. & Heyn, M. F. 1983 J. Plasma Phys. 30, 303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shivamoggi, B. K. 1985 Phys. Rep. 127, 99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnerup, B. U. O. 1970 J. Plasma Phys. 4, 161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnerup, B. U. O. 1979 Solar System Plasma Physics (ed. Lanzerotti, L. T., Kennel, C. F. & Parker, E. N.), p. 45. North-Holland.Google Scholar
Sonnerup, B. U. O. & Priest, E. R. 1975 J. Plasma Phys. 14, 283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soward, A. & Priest, E. R. 1977 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 284, 369.Google Scholar
Soward, A. & Priest, E. R. 1982 J. Plasma Phys. 28, 335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ugai, M. 1984 Phys. Fluids, 27, 1463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasyliunas, V. M. 1975 Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 13, 303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar