EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE SWEET-PARKER MODEL OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION

Authors
JI HT YAMADA M HSU S KULSRUD R
Citation
Ht. Ji et al., EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE SWEET-PARKER MODEL OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION, Physical review letters, 80(15), 1998, pp. 3256-3259
Citations number
25
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
Physical review letters → ACNP
ISSN journal
00319007
Volume
80
Issue
15
Year of publication
1998
Pages
3256 - 3259
Database
ISI
SICI code
0031-9007(1998)80:15<3256:ETOTSM>2.0.ZU;2-S
Abstract
We report a quantitative experimental test of the Sweet-Parker model o f magnetic reconnection in a controlled laboratory plasma. It is found that the observed reconnection rate can be explained by a generalized Sweet-Parker model which incorporates compressibility, downstream pre ssure, and the effective resistivity. The latter is significantly enha nced over its classical values in the collisionless limit.