HR: 09:30h
AN: SH11B-05 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Multi-species reconnection throughout the Heliosphere
AU: * Shay, M A
EM: shay@umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, IREAP Energy Research Building University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 United States
AU: Mouikis, C
AF: University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center University of New Hampshire 39 College Rd, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Kistler, L
AF: University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center University of New Hampshire 39 College Rd, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AB: Much progress has been made recently in understanding how reconnection occurs in systems composed solely of electrons and a single ion species. However, reconnection throughout the heliosphere can be much more complex. In the magnetosphere, substantial amounts of O⁺ can be present due to ionospheric outflows, In the transition region between the solar chromosphere and corona, there can be a substantial neutral population. These multi-species plasmas exhibit reconnection with a much more complicated spatial scale structure than electron-ion reconnection. In the presence of O⁺, for example, it has recently been confirmed through simulations that a new whistler wave arises at larger length scales. Results from four-fluid simulations (electrons, ions, heavy charged species, and neutrals) will be shown and cross checked with analytical arguments. For the case of O⁺ in the magnetotail, results from the CIS-CODIF experiment on CLUSTER will be compared with the simulations.
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly