Robust Scalings in Compressible Flux Pile-Up Reconnection
Abstract
Flux pile-up magnetic reconnection is traditionally considered only for incompressible plasmas. The question addressed in this paper is whether the pile-up scalings with resistivity are robust when plasma compressibility is taken into account. A simple analytical argument makes it possible to understand why the transition from a highly compressible limit to the incompressible one is difficult to discern in typical simulations spanning a few decades in resistivity. From a practical standpoint, however, flux pile-up reconnection in a compressible plasma can lead to anomalous electric resistivity in the current sheet and flare-like energy release of magnetic energy in the solar corona.
- Publication:
-
Solar Physics
- Pub Date:
- December 2003
- DOI:
- 10.1023/B:SOLA.0000013041.22847.bb
- Bibcode:
- 2003SoPh..218..173L
- Keywords:
-
- Compressibility;
- Energy Release;
- Current Sheet;
- Electric Resistivity;
- Magnetic Energy