Nonplanar magnetic reconnection associated with conical slow shocks

Abstract

We study a nonplanar model of magnetic reconnection associated with conical slow shocks, assuming that the shock surfaces are two identical cones with circular cross sections symmetrical about the ±x-axis. In the inflow region upstream of the shocks, two oppositely directed magnetic fields are separated by a current sheet. The model treats the current sheet as a tangential discontinuity and treats shocks and tangential discontinuity as surfaces of zero thickness. The dynamical structure of the global magnetic field in the continuous regions is studied using compressible, non-resistive MHD equations. In the inflow region, nonplanar magnetic field lines first move toward the current sheet. Near the sheet, the middle sections of the field lines become highly flattened, almost parallel to the sheet. Eventually, then oppositely directed field lines merge across the tangential discontinuity between the two shocks, and the magnetic lines are reconnected at the intersection of the shock and the tangential discontinuity. Reconnected magnetic lines are carried away at high speeds by the MHD flow in the outflow region, downstream of the shocks.