A new explanation for the explosive nature of magnetic reconnection
Courtesy of Yi-Min Huang
At the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), researchers found that the Sweet-Parker model itself is flawed. To solve the problem, the researchers turned their attention to plasmoids--instabilities that occur in plasma containing the reconnecting lines of force--as the possible cause of fast reconnection (Figure 1). These instabilities take place very rapidly and change the predictions described by the Sweet-Parker model.
The new model predicts a novel regime in which the fast reconnection rate appears to be independent of the resistivity--or resistance to electrical current--of the system. "This fundamental discovery has attracted a great deal of interest from theorists as well as experimentalists in laboratory and space plasma physics," said Amitava Bhattacharjee, head of the Theory Department at PPPL.
This new nonlinear model was developed by Bhattacharjee and Yi-Min Huang, a research scholar in Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences. The model is based on an earlier model of the linear instability by Nuno Loureiro, a former post-doctoral fellow at PPPL. Loureiro now heads the Theory and Modeling Group at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion in Lisbon and will receive the Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research at the APS meeting.
Most read news
Topics
Organizations
Other news from the department science
Get the chemical industry in your inbox
From now on, don't miss a thing: Our newsletter for the chemical industry, analytics, lab technology and process engineering brings you up to date every Tuesday and Thursday. The latest industry news, product highlights and innovations - compact and easy to understand in your inbox. Researched by us so you don't have to.