Document Detail


Self-feeding turbulent magnetic reconnection on macroscopic scales.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18643511     Owner:  NLM     Status:  PubMed-not-MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Within a MHD approach we find magnetic reconnection to progress in two entirely different ways. The first is well known: the laminar Sweet-Parker process. But a second, completely different and chaotic reconnection process is possible. This regime has properties of immediate practical relevance: (i) it is much faster, developing on scales of the order of the Alfvén time, and (ii) the areas of reconnection become distributed chaotically over a macroscopic region. The onset of the faster process is the formation of closed-circulation patterns where the jets going out of the reconnection regions turn around and force their way back in, carrying along copious amounts of magnetic flux.
Authors:
Giovanni Lapenta
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2008-06-09
Journal Detail:
Title:  Physical review letters     Volume:  100     ISSN:  0031-9007     ISO Abbreviation:  Phys. Rev. Lett.     Publication Date:  2008 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-07-22     Completed Date:  2008-08-12     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0401141     Medline TA:  Phys Rev Lett     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  235001     Citation Subset:  -    
Affiliation:
Centrum voor Plasma-Astrofysica, Departement Wiskunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Is turbulent mixing a self-convolution process?
Next Document:  Ultracold plasma expansion in a magnetic field.