Magnetic reconnection in a current sheet six-pack: a numerical experiment

Autor: Jürgen Dreher
Rok vydání: 1998
Předmět:
Zdroj: Physica Scripta. :46-49
ISSN: 1402-4896
0031-8949
DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/1998/t74/008
Popis: Two-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations are carried out to study magnetic reconnection in a configuration that is characterized by six current sheets extending radially from the z-axis. In the initial configuration, the current density within the current sheets sharply increases with increasing radial distance from the origin which makes it necessary to introduce a numerical wall-stabilization. With this, the interior region appears to be stable in the case of ideal Ohm's law, but finite resistivity leads to spontaneous magnetic reconnection, resulting in considerable plasma acceleration. The plasma flow is almost incompressible. The high symmetry of the initial configuration is approximately conserved even when a non-symmetric distribution of the resistivity is assumed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE