Files in this item
The formation and stability of Petschek reconnection
Item metadata
dc.contributor.author | Baty, H. | |
dc.contributor.author | Forbes, T.G. | |
dc.contributor.author | Priest, E.R. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-02-13T16:31:03Z | |
dc.date.available | 2015-02-13T16:31:03Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014-11 | |
dc.identifier | 159065051 | |
dc.identifier | 03123e07-d8a8-4d49-ab26-63e8ae2c8241 | |
dc.identifier | 84911500892 | |
dc.identifier | 000345644200014 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Baty , H , Forbes , T G & Priest , E R 2014 , ' The formation and stability of Petschek reconnection ' , Physics of Plasmas , vol. 21 , no. 11 . https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901918 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 1070-664X | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0003-3621-6690/work/74117732 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/6100 | |
dc.description | E. R. Priest is grateful to the Leverhulme Trust. T. G. Forbes received support from NASA grant NNX-10AC04G to the University of New Hampshire. H. Baty acknowledges support by French National Research Agency (ANR) through Grant ANR-13-JS05-0003-01 (Project EMPERE). | en |
dc.description.abstract | A combined analytical and numerical study of magnetic reconnection in two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamics is carried out by using different explicit spatial variations of the resistivity. A special emphasis on the existence of stable/unstable Petschek's solutions is taken, comparing with the recent analytical model given by Forbes et al. [Phys. Plasmas 20, 052902 (2013)]. Our results show good quantitative agreement between the analytical theory and the numerical solutions for a Petschek-type solution to within an accuracy of about 10% or better. Our simulations also show that if the resistivity profile is relatively flat near the X-point, one of two possible asymmetric solutions will occur. Which solution occurs depends on small random perturbations of the initial conditions. The existence of two possible asymmetric solutions, in a system which is otherwise symmetric, constitutes an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking. | |
dc.format.extent | 11 | |
dc.format.extent | 5167006 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Physics of Plasmas | en |
dc.subject | QA Mathematics | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QA | en |
dc.title | The formation and stability of Petschek reconnection | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Applied Mathematics | en |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1063/1.4901918 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.