Overview on numerical studies of reconnection and dissipation in the solar wind

En:

AIP Conf. Proc. 2013;1539:99-104

Fecha:

2013

Formato:

application/pdf

Tipo de documento:

info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject
info:ar-repo/semantics/documento de conferencia
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Descriptores:

Magnetic Reconnection -  Plasma simulations -  Plasma Turbulence -  Solar Windc

Descripción:

In this work, recent advances in numerical studies of local reconnection events in the turbulent plasmas are reviewed. Recently [1], the nonlinear dynamics of magnetic reconnection in turbulence has been investigated through high resolution numerical simulations. Both fluid (MHD and Hall MHD) and kinetic (HybridVlasov) 2D simulations reveal the presence of a large number of X-type neutral points, where magnetic reconnection locally occurs. The associated reconnection rates are distributed over a wide range of values and they depend on the local geometry of the diffusion region. This new approach to the study of magnetic reconnection has broad applications to the turbulent solar wind (SW). Strong magnetic SW discontinuities are in fact strongly related to these intermittent processes of reconnection [2, 3]. Methods employed to identify sets of possible reconnection events along a one-dimensional path through the turbulent field (emulating experimental sampling by a single detector in a highspeed flow) are here reviewed. These local reconnection/discontinuity events may be the main sites of heating and particle acceleration processes [4]. Results from hybrid-Vlasov kinetic simulations support these observations [5, 6]. In the turbulent regime, in fact, kinetic effects manifest through a deformation of the ion distribution function. These patterns of non-Maxwellian features are concentrated in space nearby regions of strong magnetic activity. These results open a new path on the study of kinetic processes such as heating, particle acceleration, and temperature anisotropy, commonly observed in astrophysics. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.
Fil:Dmitruk, P. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.

Identificador(es):

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_0094243X_v1539_n_p99_Donato

Derechos:

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar