Electrostatic Field Formed by Charge Separation in Antiparallel Magnetic Reconnection
The Hall effect resulting from the decoupled motions between ions and electrons is a critical factor in modeling collisionless magnetic reconnection. It leads to the production of charge separation in the reconnection plane, generating the electrostatic field with components perpendicular and parall...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add694 |
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| Summary: | The Hall effect resulting from the decoupled motions between ions and electrons is a critical factor in modeling collisionless magnetic reconnection. It leads to the production of charge separation in the reconnection plane, generating the electrostatic field with components perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field. In this paper, using a 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation, we investigate the formation of the charge separation in antiparallel magnetic reconnection. The charge separation is formed in three regions: the electron inflow region and the dipolarization front (DF) region both exhibit a positive charge density, while the electron outflow region exhibits a negative charge density. These charge separations generate the Hall electric field perpendicular to the magnetic field and the parallel electrostatic field. We quantitatively analyze the effects of the magnetic flux tube’s geometric dimensions and the parallel electron flux on the formation of charge separation. In the electron inflow region, the parallel electron flux from regions with smaller cross sections to regions with larger cross sections reduces electron density, generating a positive charge density near the separatrix. In contrast, within the outflow region, the parallel electron flux from regions with larger cross sections to regions with smaller cross sections increases electron density, generating a negative charge density near the separatrix. Besides, we attribute the charge separation in the DF region mainly to the acceleration of electrons, which generates a sharply varying parallel electron flux. This drives a net outflow of electrons and establishes an accumulation of positive charge. |
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| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |