HR: 1340h
AN: SM53B-0422    [Abstracts]
TI: Forcing the onset of magnetic reconnection?
AU: * Birn, J
EM: jbirn@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Hesse, M
EM: mhesse@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 696, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: The onset of magnetic reconnection in the near magnetotail is one of the most crucial problems in understanding magnetospheric activity. It is now clear, from observations, theory, and computer simulations, that the formation of a thin current sheet, or the thinning of the tail current sheet to a scale of less than the ion inertia length is necessary to cause fast reconnection. However, the way in which this thinning is achieved remains unclear. MHD theory and simulations support a view that external deformations of the magnetotail, imposed by the solar wind, can lead to the formation of a thin current sheet embedded in the near tail plasma sheet. In this presentation we explore the response of a thick current sheet to such external deformations, comparing ideal and resistive MHD results with PIC simulations. The study also includes investigation of the final state from reconnection in a localized test configuration. It represents the first of a series of studies concerning the physics of magnetic reconnection in an approach akin to the ``GEM reconnection challenge.''
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 2788 Storms and substorms
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting