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3D Magnetic Reconnection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2011

Clare E. Parnell ,
Rhona C. Maclean ,
Andrew L. Haynes  and
Klaus Galsgaard
Clare E. Parnell
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK email: [email protected]
Rhona C. Maclean
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK email: [email protected]
Andrew L. Haynes
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK email: [email protected]
Klaus Galsgaard
Affiliation:
Niels Bohr Institute, Julie Maries vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen 0, Denmark
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Abstract

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Magnetic reconnection is an important process that is prevalent in a wide range of astrophysical bodies. It is the mechanism that permits magnetic fields to relax to a lower energy state through the global restructuring of the magnetic field and is thus associated with a range of dynamic phenomena such as solar flares and CMEs. The characteristics of three-dimensional reconnection are reviewed revealing how much more diverse it is than reconnection in two dimensions. For instance, three-dimensional reconnection can occur both in the vicinity of null points, as well as in the absence of them. It occurs continuously and continually throughout a diffusion volume, as opposed to at a single point, as it does in two dimensions. This means that in three-dimensions field lines do not reconnect in pairs of lines making the visualisation and interpretation of three-dimensional reconnection difficult.

By considering particular numerical 3D magnetohydrodynamic models of reconnection, we consider how magnetic reconnection can lead to complex magnetic topologies and current sheet formation. Indeed, it has been found that even simple interactions, such as the emergence of a flux tube, can naturally give rise to ‘turbulent-like’ reconnection regions.

Keywords

magnetic fields(magnetohydrodynamics:) MHD
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 6 , Symposium S271: Astrophysical Dynamics: From Stars to Galaxies , June 2010 , pp. 227 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

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