Study of driven magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, Hantao; Hsu, Scott; Carter, Troy; Kulsrud, Russell M.; Bretz, N.; Jobes, F. C.; Ono, Yasushi; Perkins, F. W.

doi:10.1063/1.872336

Cited by 294 publications

(232 citation statements)

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“…In this Letter, we present the first identification of the electron diffusion region, in which demagnetized electrons are accelerated to super-Alfvénic velocity, in the laboratory neutral sheet of the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [9]. The width of the electron diffusion region scales with the electron skin depth (∼ 5.5 − 7.5c/ω pe ), and the peak electron outflow scales with the electron Alfvén velocity (∼ 0.12 − 0.16V eA ), independent of ion mass.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…To our knowledge, the direct demonstration of the decoupling of electrons from ions and the formation of a demagnetized electron diffusion region in a laboratory neutral sheet has not been reported in the literature. In MRX plasmas, the MHD criteria (S >> 1, ρ i << L, where S is the Lundquist number; ρ i is the ion gyroradius; L is the system scale length) are satisfied in the bulk of the plasma [9]. …”

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Identification of the Electron-Diffusion Region during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Ren

Yamada²,

Ji³

et al. 2008

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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Identification of the Electron-Diffusion Region during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Ren

Yamada²,

Ji³

et al. 2008

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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“…However, those heating characteristics of reconnection are still under serious discussion, indicating that direct evidence for the reconnection heating mechanisms should be provided by a proper laboratory experiment. Since 1986 the merging of two toroidal plasmas (flux tubes) has been studied in a number of experiments: TS-3 [6] [7], START [8], MRX [9], SSX [10], VTF [11], TS-4 [12], UTST [13] [14], and MAST [15]. For those laboratory experiments, evidence of plasma acceleration toward outflow direction were observed as split line-integrated distribution function in 0D [16], 1D and 2D bidirectional toroidal acceleration during counter helicity spheromak merging [17] [18], and in-plane Mach probe measurement around X point with and without guide field [19][20] [21].…”

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Electron and Ion Heating Characteristics during Magnetic Reconnection in the MAST Spherical Tokamak

Tanabe

Yamada²,

Watanabe

et al. 2015

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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Local electron and ion heating characteristics during merging reconnection startup on the MAST spherical tokamak have been revealed for the first time using a 130 channel YAG-TS system and a new 32 chord ion Doppler tomography diagnostic. 2D local profile measurement of Te, ne and Ti detect highly localized electron heating at the X point and bulk ion heating downstream. For the push merging experiment under high guide field condition, thick layer of closed flux surface formed by reconnected field sustains the heating profile for more than electron and ion energy relaxation time τ E ei ∼ 4 − 10ms, both heating profiles finally form triple peak structure at the X point and downstream. Toroidal guide field mostly contributes the formation of peaked electron heating profile at the X point. The localized heating increases with higher guide field, while bulk downstream ion heating is unaffected by the change in the guide field under MAST conditions (Bt > 3Brec).PACS numbers: 52.35. Vd, 52.55.Fa, 52.72.+v Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process which converts the magnetic energy of reconnecting fields to kinetic and thermal energy of plasma through the breaking and topological rearrangement of magnetic field lines. Recent satellite observations of solar flares revealed several important signatures of reconnection heating. In the solar flares, hard X-ray spots appear at loop-tops of coronas together with another two foot-point spots on the photosphere. The loop-top hot spots are considered to be caused by fast shocks formed in the down-stream of reconnection outflow [3]. The two-dimensional (2D) measurements of the Hinode spectrometer documented a significant broadening of Ca line-width downstream of reconnection [4]. These phenomena strongly suggest direct ion heating by reconnection outflow. On the other hand, the V-shape high electron temperature region was found around X-line of reconnection as an possible evidence of slow shock structure [5]. However, those heating characteristics of reconnection are still under serious discussion, indicating that direct evidence for the reconnection heating mechanisms should be provided by a proper laboratory experiment. Since 1986 the merging of two toroidal plasmas (flux tubes) has been studied in a number of experiments: TS-3

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“…Furthermore, the dependence of the qudrupole field amplitude on the collisionality indicates that the Hall effect plays an important role in collisionless reconnection. This In the MRX the MHD criteria (S >> 1, ρ i << L, where S is the Lundquist number; ρ i is the ion gyroradius; L is the system scale length) are satisfied in the bulk of the plasma [5]. A variety of diagnostics are used in the MRX to measure essential parameters of the current sheet [19].…”

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“…It is therefore necessary to go beyond resistive MHD physics to find fast reconnection mechanisms. Non-MHD effects are studied extensively in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) [5] and other experimental devices [6,7].…”

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Experimental Verification of the Hall Effect during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

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Study of driven magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Cited by 294 publications

References 32 publications

Identification of the Electron-Diffusion Region during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Identification of the Electron-Diffusion Region during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Electron and Ion Heating Characteristics during Magnetic Reconnection in the MAST Spherical Tokamak

Experimental Verification of the Hall Effect during Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

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