HR: 12:00h
AN: SH42B-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Dissipation in Relativistic Pair-Plasma Reconnection
AU: * Hesse, M
EM: michael.hesse@nasa.gov
AF: Space Weather Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 674, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Zenitani, S
EM: zenitani@lssp-mail.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Space Weather Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 674, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AB: We present an investigation of the relativistic dissipation in magnetic reconnection. The investigated system consists of an electron-positron plasma. A relativistic generalization of Ohm's law is derived. We analyze a set of numerical simulations, composed of runs with and without guide magnetic field, and of runs with different species temperatures. The calculations indicate that the thermal inertia-based dissipation process survives in relativistic plasmas. For anti-parallel reconnection, it is found that the pressure tensor divergence remains the sole contributor to the reconnection electric field, whereas relativistic guide field reconnection exhibits a similarly important role of the bulk inertia terms.
DE: 2723 Magnetic reconnection (7526, 7835)
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 7526 Magnetic reconnection (2723, 7835)
DE: 7827 Kinetic and MHD theory
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection (2723, 7526)
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting