Quick Triggering Research Articles

From transidentity to transidentification quick triggering of gender dysphoria in adolescents confronting the malaise of puberty

ObjectivesThis article discusses the new phenomenon of a significant increase in requests for social and even medical transition, mainly from adolescents who identify as trans and often feel uncomfortable in their bodies. In France, as in all industrialized countries, this exponential increase is linked to the use of digital social networks. This phenomenon of transidentification, which we distinguish from gender dysphoria, contrasts with the previous descriptions affecting mainly adult men (who have transitioned in adulthood). We will try to understand this important increase in requests and we will try to understand the meaning of the trans identification of these adolescents. MethodFirst, in order to understand the emergence and the context of appearance of gender dysphoria in the psychological organization of young people, we will rely on studies that have highlighted the psychopathological comorbidities of transidentification. Then, we will present an analysis of certain invariants identified in our clinical practice, based on a group of 26 adolescents, around psychological history, psychic structure, and family functioning. ResultsThese elements will allow us to discuss “transidentification,” which is more a process of identification with the signifier “trans” than a fixed identity and which seems to be a solution to pubertal malaise. We will conclude on the types of psychotherapeutic treatments that seem relevant to these adolescents. DiscussionWhat psychotherapeutic care should be given to these young people? How can we listen to the request for a sex change in a hyper-connected society where images flow in a present time disconnected from history? ConclusionTransidentification is a concept that seems to us to be heuristic to think about the significant and recent increase of adolescents who present a dysphoria that seems more linked to puberty itself than to gender.

A route to explosive large-scale magnetic reconnection in a super-ion-scale current sheet

Abstract. How to trigger magnetic reconnection is one of the most interesting and important problems in space plasma physics. Recently, electron temperature anisotropy (αeo=Te⊥/Te||) at the center of a current sheet and non-local effect of the lower-hybrid drift instability (LHDI) that develops at the current sheet edges have attracted attention in this context. In addition to these effects, here we also study the effects of ion temperature anisotropy (αio=Ti⊥/Ti||). Electron anisotropy effects are known to be helpless in a current sheet whose thickness is of ion-scale. In this range of current sheet thickness, the LHDI effects are shown to weaken substantially with a small increase in thickness and the obtained saturation level is too low for a large-scale reconnection to be achieved. Then we investigate whether introduction of electron and ion temperature anisotropies in the initial stage would couple with the LHDI effects to revive quick triggering of large-scale reconnection in a super-ion-scale current sheet. The results are as follows. (1) The initial electron temperature anisotropy is consumed very quickly when a number of minuscule magnetic islands (each lateral length is 1.5~3 times the ion inertial length) form. These minuscule islands do not coalesce into a large-scale island to enable large-scale reconnection. (2) The subsequent LHDI effects disturb the current sheet filled with the small islands. This makes the triggering time scale to be accelerated substantially but does not enhance the saturation level of reconnected flux. (3) When the ion temperature anisotropy is added, it survives through the small island formation stage and makes even quicker triggering to happen when the LHDI effects set-in. Furthermore the saturation level is seen to be elevated by a factor of ~2 and large-scale reconnection is achieved only in this case. Comparison with two-dimensional simulations that exclude the LHDI effects confirms that the saturation level enhancement is due to the ion anisotropy effects, while the LHDI effects shorten the overall time scale significantly. The results imply that the ion temperature anisotropy is one of the key properties that enable large-scale magnetic reconnection to develop in a super-ion-scale current sheet.

Quick triggering of magnetic reconnection in magnetotail

Recently, quick triggering of magnetic reconnection (QMRT) even in an ion-scale current sheet is found to be possible with the help of the nonlinear evolution of the lower hybrid drift instability (LHDI). The details of the QMRT mechanism are reviewed mostly based on three-dimensional full-particle simulation results of our group. QMRT is mediated by LHDI and its time scale is comparable to the saturation time scale of LHDI. Depending on the initial current sheet thickness, two types of QMRT, so-called Type-I and Type-II QMRT, are demonstrated.

Effects of guide field on quick magnetic reconnection triggering

Influence of the guide field on quick magnetic reconnection triggering (QMRT) is investigated by three‐dimensional (3‐D) full‐particle simulations with the mass ratio of 400. Here two runs with different current sheet thickness (D = 0.35 and 0.5, D: the current sheet half thickness normalized by the ion inertial length) are performed with a constant guide field of B0y = 0.75B0x (B0x: asymptotic magnitude of reconnecting component). QMRT has been found in a null guide‐field case of D = 0.5 ∼ 0.875 and is quick because reconnection onset is directly coupled to the most quickly growing mode in the system, the lower‐hybrid drift instability (LHDI) ( I. Shinohara and M. Fujimoto, Quick triggering of magnetic reconnection in an ion‐scale current sheet, submitted to PhysicalReviewLetters, 2004, hereinafter referred to as Shinohara and Fujimoto, submitted manuscript, 2004). In contrast D = 0.5 with B0y = 0.75B0x is too thick to be subject to QMRT. Recovery of QMRT is found at D = 0.35, accompanying a single X‐line formation with slight delay from the LHDI saturation.