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Can turbulent reconnection be fast in 2D?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2011

K. Kulpa-Dybeł
Affiliation:
Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland
G. Kowal
Affiliation:
Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland Núcleo de Astrofsica Teorica, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul-Rua Galvão Bueno 868, CEP 01506-000 São Paulo, Brazil
K. Otmianowska-Mazur
Affiliation:
Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland
A. Lazarian
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
E. Vishniac
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, CANADA
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Abstract

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Turbulent reconnection is studied by means of two-dimensional (2D) compressible magnetohydrodynamical numerical calculations. The process of homogeneous turbulence is set up by adding two-dimensional random forcing implemented in the spectral space at small wave numbers with no correlation between velocity and forcing. We apply the initial Harris current sheet configuration together with a density profile calculated from the numerical equilibrium of magnetic and gas pressures. We assume that there is no external driving of the reconnection. The reconnection develops as a result of the initial vector potential perturbation. We use open boundary conditions. Our main goal is to find the dependencies of reconnection rate on the uniform resistivity. We present that the reconnection speed depends on the Lindquist number in 2D in the case of low as well as high resolution. When we apply more powerful turbulence the reconnection is faster, however the speed of reconnection is smaller than in the case of our three-dimensional numerical simulations.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

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