Magnetic Field Dissipation in the Interstellar Medium
Abstract
There is strong phenomenological evidence that magnetic reconnection occurs in the interstellar medium. In particular, if there is a galactic dynamo there must be magnetic reconnection. But the magnetic Reynolds number Rm is very large for most interstellar structures, typically 10^15 - 10^20, suggesting that the magnetic reconnection rate does not scale as a power of R_m. Furthermore, interstellar magnetic fields are near equipartition with the turbulent velocities, suggesting that reconnection is dynamical as opposed to kinematic. I will discuss physical effects beyond MHD that could enhance the interstellar reconnection rate: ion-neutral drift, collisionless effects, and charged dust.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999APS..DPP.GM101Z