53rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Volume 56, Number 16
Monday–Friday, November 14–18, 2011;
Salt Lake City, Utah
Session GI3: Plasma Turbulence
9:30 AM–12:30 PM,
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Room: Ballroom AC
Chair: Masaaki Yamada, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Abstract ID: BAPS.2011.DPP.GI3.4
Abstract: GI3.00004 : Highly localized, fully 3-D disruptions of the reconnection layer in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment
11:00 AM–11:30 AM
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Abstract
Author:
Seth Dorfman
(CMSO, PPPL)
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasmas which
converts magnetic energy to plasma kinetic and thermal energy
through topological changes. One of the important goals in
magnetic reconnection research is to explain the fast
reconnection rate observed in real three-dimensional laboratory
and astrophysical systems. In the Magnetic Reconnection
Experiment (MRX), an enhancement of the reconnection electric
field is often associated with a wholesale disruption of the
reconnection current layer, an intrinsically 3-D phenomena
observed in the presence of out-of-plane gradients of local
quantities such as reconnection layer current and density.
During a disruption, the out-of-plane current decreases as
current carrying electrons are redirected in the outflow
direction. Observed ``O-point'' signatures and density striations
suggest that this redirection often occurs though the ejection of
3-D flux rope structures. Large fluctuations in the lower hybrid
frequency range are also routinely seen, but the ratio of the
phase speed to the diamagnetic drift speed does not match what is
predicted by 3-D kinetic simulations without disruptions.
A 2-D Hall MHD analysis of the out-of-plane gradients is
consistent with the buildup of magnetic energy leading to the
event [1], but variation in all three spacial dimensions is
required in order to obtain results in agreement with the
disruptive behavior observed. Analysis and comparison with 3-D
simulations is ongoing to determine if the fluctuations and/or
disruptive behavior are responsible for the corresponding
discrepancies in the layer structure between the experiments and
2-D kinetic simulations [2,3,4]. Supported by DOE, NASA, and NSF.
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[1] J.D. Huba and L.I. Rudakov, Phys. Plasmas 10, 3139 (2003).\\[0pt]
[2] Y. Ren, et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 082113 (2008).\\[0pt]
[3] S. Dorfman, et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 102107 (2008).\\[0pt]
[4] V. Roytershteyn, et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 055706 (2010).
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.DPP.GI3.4