Ion heating and magnetic flux pile-up in a magnetic reconnection experiment with super-Alfvénic plasma inflows
Name
1802.09875.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
1.37 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9f63dfb047734d4f37481ac324459d04
Author(s)
Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F
Date Issued
April 2018
Journal
Physics of Plasmas
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Citation
Suttle, L.G., et al., "Ion heating and magnetic flux pile-up in a magnetic reconnection experiment with super-Alfvénic plasma inflows." Physics of Plasmas 25 (2018): no. 042108 doi: 10.1063/1.5023664 ©2018 Author(s)
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
This work presents a magnetic reconnection experiment in which the kinetic, magnetic, and thermal properties of the plasma each play an important role in the overall energy balance and structure of the generated reconnection layer. Magnetic reconnection occurs during the interaction of continuous and steady flows of super-Alfvénic, magnetized, aluminum plasma, which collide in a geometry with two-dimensional symmetry, producing a stable and long-lasting reconnection layer. Optical Thomson scattering measurements show that when the layer forms, ions inside the layer are more strongly heated than electrons, reaching temperatures of T [subscript]i ∼ Z T [subscript]e ≳ 300 eV--much greater than can be expected from strong shock and viscous heating alone. Later in time, as the plasma density in the layer increases, the electron and ion temperatures are found to equilibrate, and a constant plasma temperature is achieved through a balance of the heating mechanisms and radiative losses of the plasma. Measurements from Faraday rotation polarimetry also indicate the presence of significant magnetic field pile-up occurring at the boundary of the reconnection region, which is consistent with the super-Alfvénic velocity of the inflows. ©2018
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5023664
