Publication

Eigenmode response to driven magnetic reconnection in a collisionless plasma

Ambrogio Fasoli
2005
Journal Articles

Abstract

The collisionless plasma of the Versatile Toroidal Facility experiment [J. Egedal, A. Fasoli, M. Porkolab, and D. Tarkowski, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71, 3351 (2000)], applied to the study of magnetic reconnection, exhibits a global eigenmode response during which the reconnection rate and the current channel oscillate. The present paper describes experiments tailored for investigating this eigenmode response. It is found that the oscillatory plasma behavior is linked to ion-polarization currents and associated electron currents that flow to maintain quasineutrality within the active reconnection region. A theoretical model is developed which describes the eigenmode response and accounts for the temporal evolution of the measured profiles of key plasma parameters. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/e14540e6-6336-413f-90b7-534f3d7a742c

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Ambrogio Fasoli
2005
Journal Articles

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/e14540e6-6336-413f-90b7-534f3d7a742c

About this result

Related concepts (16)

Coronal mass ejection

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant ejection of magnetic field and accompanying plasma mass from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established. If a CME enters interplanetary space, it is referred to as an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME).

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