Issue |
EPL
Volume 87, Number 1, July 2009
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 19001 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Geophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/87/19001 | |
Published online | 09 July 2009 |
Fast reconnection rate in electron-positron plasma based on group velocity cones of inertial Alfven waves
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama - Huntsville, AL 35899, USA
Corresponding author: siyawan.singh@gmail.com
Received:
21
May
2009
Accepted:
15
June
2009
Some recent simulations employing large size of the simulated plasma show that the reconnection structures in electron-positron plasmas have small flare angles. The apex of the wedge formed by the flaring is at the evolving diffusion centers. We find that reported half-cone angles () of the wedges and the reconnection rates (R) obey the relation R ~
. We suggest here that the flaring is caused by the radiation of inertial Alfven waves (IAWs) from a diffusion region (DR); these waves propagate in the outer region of the current sheet (CS) where plasma
is
. Since the wave propagation is controlled by the group velocity, the flaring half-angles are the group velocity cone angles of the IAWs. Based on the dispersive relation for IAWs, we calculate the group velocity cone angles and resulting reconnection rates. The rates and the angles are compared with those found in simulations.
PACS: 94.30.cp – Physics of the magnetosphere: Magnetic reconnection / 96.60.Iv – Solar physics: Magnetic reconnection / 52.35.Vd – Waves, oscillations, and instabilities in plasmas and intense beams: Magnetic reconnection
© EPLA, 2009
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