Reconnection Mechanism Research Articles

Formation and Initiation of Erupting Flux Rope and Embedded Filament Driven by Photospheric Converging Motion

Abstract In this paper, we study how a flux rope (FR) is formed and evolves into the corresponding structure of a coronal mass ejection (CME) numerically driven by photospheric converging motion. A two-and-a-half-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulation is conducted in a chromosphere-transition-corona setup. The initial arcade-like linear force-free magnetic field is driven by an imposed slow motion converging toward the magnetic inversion line at the bottom boundary. The convergence brings opposite-polarity magnetic flux to the polarity inversion, giving rise to the formation of an FR by magnetic reconnection and eventually to the eruption of a CME. During the FR formation, an embedded prominence gets formed by the levitation of chromospheric material. We confirm that the converging flow is a potential mechanism for the formation of FRs and a possible triggering mechanism for CMEs. We investigate the thermal, dynamical, and magnetic properties of the FR and its embedded prominence by tracking their thermal evolution, analyzing their force balance, and measuring their kinematic quantities. The phase transition from the initiation phase to the acceleration phase of the kinematic evolution of the FR was observed in our simulation. The FR undergoes a series of quasi-static equilibrium states in the initiation phase; while in the acceleration phase the FR is driven by Lorentz force and the impulsive acceleration occurs. The underlying physical reason for the phase transition is the change of the reconnection mechanism from the Sweet–Parker to the unsteady bursty regime of reconnection in the evolving current sheet underneath the FR.

Observational Evidence of Magnetic Reconnection for Brightenings and Transition Region Arcades in IRIS Observations

Abstract By using a new method of forced-field extrapolation, we study the emerging flux region AR11850 observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and Solar Dynamical Observatory. Our results suggest that the bright points (BPs) in this emerging region exhibit responses in lines formed from the upper photosphere to the transition region, which have relatively similar morphologies. They have an oscillation of several minutes according to the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly data at 1600 and 1700 Å. The ratio between the BP intensities measured in 1600 and 1700 Å filtergrams reveals that these BPs are heated differently. Our analysis of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager vector magnetic field and the corresponding topology in AR11850 indicates that the BPs are located at the polarity inversion line and most of them are related to magnetic reconnection or cancelation. The heating of the BPs might be different due to different magnetic topology. We find that the heating due to the magnetic cancelation would be stronger than the case of bald patch reconnection. The plasma density rather than the magnetic field strength could play a dominant role in this process. Based on physical conditions in the lower atmosphere, our forced-field extrapolation shows consistent results between the bright arcades visible in slit-jaw image 1400 Å and the extrapolated field lines that pass through the bald patches. It provides reliable observational evidence for testing the mechanism of magnetic reconnection for the BPs and arcades in the emerging flux region, as proposed in simulation studies.

Powers and Magnetization of Blazar Jets

In this work I review the observational constraints imposed on the energetics and magnetisation of quasar jets, in the context of theoretical expectations. The discussion is focused on issues regarding the jet production efficiency, matter content, and particle acceleration. I show that if the ratio of electron-positron-pairs to protons is of order 15, as is required to achieve agreement between jet powers computed using blazar spectral fits and those computed using radio-lobe calorimetry, the magnetization of blazar jets in flat-spectrum-radio-quasars (FSRQ) must be significant. This result favors the reconnection mechanism for particle acceleration and explains the large Compton-dominance of blazar spectra that is often observed, without the need to postulate very low jet magnetization.

The response time of the magnetopause reconnection location to changes in the solar wind: MMS case study

AbstractReconnection at the Earth's magnetopause is the mechanism by which magnetic fields in different regions change topology to create open magnetic field lines that allow energy, mass, and momentum to flow into the magnetosphere. It is the primary science goal of the recently launched MMS mission to unlock the mechanism of magnetic reconnection with a novel suite of plasma and field instruments. This study investigates several magnetopause crossings in the vicinity of the X‐line on 19 September 2015 and compares the observed X‐line location with predictions from the Maximum Magnetic Shear model. Rotations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) during the magnetopause crossings together with the close proximity of the four MMS satellites are used to determine the response time of the reconnection X‐line location to changes in the IMF. The reconnection location exhibits a continuous motion during slow changes in the IMF but a delayed response to sudden changes in the IMF.

MAGNETIC FIELDS IN EARLY PROTOSTELLAR DISK FORMATION

ABSTRACT We consider formation of accretion disks from a realistically turbulent molecular gas using 3D MHD simulations. In particular, we analyze the effect of the fast turbulent reconnection described by the Lazarian & Vishniac model for the removal of magnetic flux from a disk. With our numerical simulations we demonstrate how the fast reconnection enables protostellar disk formation resolving the so-called “magnetic braking catastrophe.” In particular, we provide a detailed study of the dynamics of a 0.5 M ⊙ protostar and the formation of its disk for up to several thousands years. We measure the evolution of the mass, angular momentum, magnetic field, and turbulence around the star. We consider effects of two processes that strongly affect the magnetic transfer of angular momentum, both of which are based on turbulent reconnection: the first, “reconnection diffusion,” removes the magnetic flux from the disk; the other involves the change of the magnetic field's topology, but does not change the absolute value of the magnetic flux through the disk. We demonstrate that for the first mechanism, turbulence causes a magnetic flux transport outward from the inner disk to the ambient medium, thus decreasing the coupling of the disk to the ambient material. A similar effect is achieved through the change of the magnetic field's topology from a split monopole configuration to a dipole configuration. We explore how both mechanisms prevent the catastrophic loss of disk angular momentum and compare both above turbulent reconnection mechanisms with alternative mechanisms from the literature.

Reconnecting with two good friends

Two observational studies published in Nature Physics provided early evidence for the mechanisms of magnetic reconnection in three dimensions and in a turbulent medium.

IRISSi iv LINE PROFILES: AN INDICATION FOR THE PLASMOID INSTABILITY DURING SMALL-SCALE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON THE SUN

Our understanding of the process of fast reconnection has undergone a dramatic change in the last 10 years driven, in part, by the availability of high-resolution numerical simulations that have consistently demonstrated the break-up of current sheets into magnetic islands, with reconnection rates that become independent of Lundquist number, challenging the belief that fast magnetic reconnection in flares proceeds via the Petschek mechanism that invokes pairs of slow-mode shocks connected to a compact diffusion region. The reconnection sites are too small to be resolved with images but these reconnection mechanisms, Petschek and the plasmoid instability, have reconnection sites with very different density and velocity structures and so can be distinguished by high-resolution line-profiles observations. Using IRIS spectroscopic observations we obtain a survey of typical line profiles produced by small-scale events thought to be reconnection sites on the Sun. Slit-jaw images are used to investigate the plasma heating and re-configuration at the sites. A sample of 15 events from two active regions is presented. The line profiles are complex with bright cores and broad wings extending to over 300 km/s. The profiles can be reproduced with the multiple magnetic islands and acceleration sites that characterise the plasmoid instability but not by bi-directional jets that characterise the Petschek mechanism. This result suggests that if these small-scale events are reconnection sites, then fast reconnection proceeds via the plasmoid instability, rather than the Petschek mechanism during small-scale reconnection on the Sun.

The effect of synaptic plasticity on orientation selectivity in a balanced model of primary visual cortex.

Orientation selectivity is ubiquitous in the primary visual cortex (V1) of mammals. In cats and monkeys, V1 displays spatially ordered maps of orientation preference. Instead, in mice, squirrels, and rats, orientation selective neurons in V1 are not spatially organized, giving rise to a seemingly random pattern usually referred to as a salt-and-pepper layout. The fact that such different organizations can sharpen orientation tuning leads to question the structural role of the intracortical connections; specifically the influence of plasticity and the generation of functional connectivity. In this work, we analyze the effect of plasticity processes on orientation selectivity for both scenarios. We study a computational model of layer 2/3 and a reduced one-dimensional model of orientation selective neurons, both in the balanced state. We analyze two plasticity mechanisms. The first one involves spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP), while the second one considers the reconnection of the interactions according to the preferred orientations of the neurons. We find that under certain conditions STDP can indeed improve selectivity but it works in a somehow unexpected way, that is, effectively decreasing the modulated part of the intracortical connectivity as compared to the non-modulated part of it. For the reconnection mechanism we find that increasing functional connectivity leads, in fact, to a decrease in orientation selectivity if the network is in a stable balanced state. Both counterintuitive results are a consequence of the dynamics of the balanced state. We also find that selectivity can increase due to a reconnection process if the resulting connections give rise to an unstable balanced state. We compare these findings with recent experimental results.

Numerical study of energy conversion mechanism of magnetic reconnection in the presence of high guide field

The first two-dimensional particle in cell simulation of the reconnection region of two merging torus plasmas lead us to quantitative studies on the energy conversion mechanism under a high out-of-plane (guide) magnetic field condition. Even with the existence of the strong guide field, magnetic reconnection causes the efficient conversion of in-plane (poloidal) magnetic field energy. The ratio of the plasma kinetic energy flux of ions to that of electrons is roughly two to one, in agreement with the recent experimental results. Due to the suppression of nonlinear dynamics of ions motions in the vicinity of the reconnection region with guide field, the major energy flux of ions is changed to the flow energy flux. For electrons, a field-aligned acceleration caused by parallel electric field generates the non-thermal electrons through trapping (bouncing) effect, which is exhausted as the anisotropic energy flux of electrons. The inventory of the converted magnetic energy in the case with the guide field is quantitatively revealed.

Relation between cusp ion structures and dayside reconnection for four IMF clock angles: OpenGGCM‐LTPT results

AbstractWhen, where, and which type of reconnection (antiparallel or component) happens on the dayside magnetopause are long‐standing unsolved questions due to insufficient in situ observation of reconnection sites. Previous studies showed that the dispersed ion signatures observed in the magnetospheric cusps depend on the reconnection mechanism, suggesting that cusp ion signatures can be a good tool to investigate the locations and properties of dayside reconnection. We investigate this close relation between cusp signatures and magnetopause reconnection for four different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angles (CA) using the Open Global Geospace Circulation Model (OpenGGCM) and the Liouville Theorem Particle Tracer(LTPT). OpenGGCM produces dayside reconnection under the resistive MHD theory, and LTPT calculates cusp ion signatures caused by the simulated reconnection. Our model results show that for CA = 0∘, antiparallel reconnection at both the northern and southern lobes causes a reverse dispersion in which ion energies increase with increasing latitude. For CA = 60∘, unsteady antiparallel reconnection at both the northern and southern lobes causes double reverse dispersions. For CA = 120∘, component reconnection near the subsolar point produces a dispersionless signature in the low‐latitude cusp, and antiparallel reconnection on the duskside northern magnetopause produces a normal dispersion in the high‐latitude cusp in which ion energies decrease with increasing latitude. For CA = 180∘, antiparallel reconnection near the subsolar point causes a normal dispersion.

Explosive magnetic reconnection caused by an X-shaped current-vortex layer in a collisionless plasma

A mechanism for explosive magnetic reconnection is investigated by analyzing the nonlinear evolution of a collisionless tearing mode in a two-fluid model that includes the effects of electron inertia and temperature. These effects cooperatively enable a fast reconnection by forming an X-shaped current-vortex layer centered at the reconnection point. A high-resolution simulation of this model for an unprecedentedly small electron skin depth de and ion-sound gyroradius ρs, satisfying de=ρs, shows an explosive tendency for nonlinear growth of the tearing mode, where it is newly found that the explosive widening of the X-shaped layer occurs locally around the reconnection point with the length of the X shape being shorter than the domain length and the wavelength of the linear tearing mode. The reason for the onset of this locally enhanced reconnection is explained theoretically by developing a novel nonlinear and nonequilibrium inner solution that models the local X-shaped layer, and then matching it to an outer solution that is approximated by a linear tearing eigenmode with a shorter wavelength than the domain length. This theoretical model proves that the local reconnection can release the magnetic energy more efficiently than the global one and the estimated scaling of the explosive growth rate agrees well with the simulation results.

A Developmental Framework for Graft Formation and Vascular Reconnection in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant grafting is a biologically important phenomenon involving the physical joining of two plants to generate a chimeric organism. It is widely practiced in horticulture and used in science to study the long-distance movement of molecules. Despite its widespread use, the mechanism of graft formation and vascular reconnection is not well understood. Here, we study the dynamics and mechanisms of vascular regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana during graft formation when the vascular strands are severed and reconnected. We demonstrate a temporal separation between tissue attachment, phloem connection, root growth, and xylem connection. By analyzing cell division patterns and hormone responses at the graft junction, we found that tissues initially show an asymmetry in cell division, cell differentiation, and gene expression and, through contact with the opposing tissue, lose this asymmetry and reform the vascular connection. In addition, we identified genes involved in vascular reconnection at the graft junction and demonstrate that these auxin response genes are required below the graft junction. We propose an inter-tissue communication process that occurs at the graft junction and promotes vascular connection by tissue-specific auxin responses involving ABERRANT LATERAL ROOT FORMATION 4 (ALF4). Our study has implications for phenomena where forming vascular connections are important including graft formation, parasitic plant infection, and wound healing.

THE ROLE OF FAST MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON THE RADIO AND GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE NUCLEAR REGIONS OF MICROQUASARS AND LOW LUMINOSITY AGNs

Fast magnetic reconnection events can be a very powerful mechanism operating in the core region of microquasars and AGNs. In earlier work, it has been suggested that the power released by fast reconnection events between the magnetic field lines lifting from the inner accretion disk region and the lines anchored into the central black hole could accelerate relativistic particles and produce the observed radio emission from microquasars and low luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs). Moreover, it has been proposed that the observed correlation between the radio emission and the mass of these sources, spanning $10^{10}$ orders of magnitude in mass, might be related to this process. In the present work, we revisit this model comparing two different fast magnetic reconnection mechanisms, namely, fast reconnection driven by anomalous resistivity (AR) and by turbulence (as described in Lazarian and Vishiniac 1999). We apply the scenario above to a much larger sample of sources (including also blazars, and gamma-ray bursts - GRBs), and find that LLAGNs and microquasars do confirm the trend above. Furthermore, when driven by turbulence, not only their radio but also their gamma-ray emission can be due to magnetic power released by fast reconnection, which may accelerate particles to relativistic velocities in the core region of these sources. Thus the turbulent-driven fast reconnection model is able to reproduce better the observed emission than the AR model. On the other hand, the emission from blazars and GRBs does not follow the same trend as that of the LLAGNs and microquasars, suggesting that the radio and gamma-ray emission in these cases is produced further out along the jet, by another population of relativistic particles, as expected.

SWAP OBSERVATIONS OF POST-FLARE GIANT ARCHES IN THE LONG-DURATION 2014 OCTOBER 14 SOLAR ERUPTION

On 14 October 2014 the Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and Image Processing (SWAP) EUV solar telescope on-board the Project for On-Board Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) spacecraft observed an eruption that led to the formation of perhaps the largest post-eruptive loop system seen in the solar corona in solar cycle 24. The initial eruption occurred at about 18:30 UT on 14 October, behind the East Solar limb, and was observed as a a coronal mass ejection and an M2.2 solar flare. In the 48 hours following the eruption, the associated post-eruptive loops grew to a height of approximately 400000 km (>0.5 solar-radii) at rates between 2-6 km/s. We conclude from our observations of this event that ordinary post-eruptive loops and so-called post-flare giant arches are fundamentally the same and are formed by the same magnetic reconnection mechanism.

RAPID CHANGE OF FIELD LINE CONNECTIVITY AND RECONNECTION IN STOCHASTIC MAGNETIC FIELDS

Magnetic fields without a direction of continuous symmetry have the generic feature that neighboring field lines exponentiate away from each other and become stochastic, hence the ideal constraint of preserving magnetic field line connectivity becomes exponentially sensitive to small deviations from ideal Ohm's law. The idea of breaking field line connectivity by stochasticity as a mechanism for fast reconnection is tested with numerical simulations based on reduced magnetohydrodynamics equations with a strong guide field line-tied to two perfectly conducting end plates. Starting from an ideally stable force-free equilibrium, the system is allowed to undergo resistive relaxation. Two distinct phases are found in the process of resistive relaxation. During the quasi-static phase, rapid change of field line connectivity and strong induced flow are found in regions of high field line exponentiation. However, although the field line connectivity of individual field lines can change rapidly, the overall pattern of field line mapping appears to deform gradually. From this perspective, field line exponentiation appears to cause enhanced diffusion rather than reconnection. In some cases, resistive quasi-static evolution can cause the ideally stable initial equilibrium to cross a stability threshold, leading to formation of intense current filaments and rapid change of field line mapping into a qualitatively different pattern. It is in this onset phase that the change of field line connectivity is more appropriately designated as magnetic reconnection. Our results show that rapid change of field line connectivity appears to be a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for fast reconnection.

Mechanisms of Pulmonary Vein Reconnection After Radiofrequency Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: The Deterministic Role of Contact Force and Interlesion Distance

Pulmonary vein reconnection (PVR) is an important cause of AF recurrence after ablation. With the advent of force sensing catheters, catheter-tissue contact can be determined quantitatively. Since contact force (CF) plays a major role in determining the characteristics of RF lesion, we prospectively assessed the mechanisms of PVR with regard to catheter-contact and lesion distances in patients undergoing AF ablation. Forty symptomatic AF patients underwent wide circumferential PV isolation (PVI) with SmartTouch™ CF catheter. The exact locations of acute PVI and spontaneous or adenosine-provoked PVR were annotated on CARTO. One thousand nine hundred and twenty-six RF lesions isolated 153PVs. PVR occurred in 35 (23%)PVs: 22 (63%) adenosine-provoked and 13 (37%) spontaneous. CF was significantly lower at PVR versus PVI sites for RF lesions within 6mm from these sites: mean CF 5 versus 11g (P< 0.0001) and force-time integral (FTI) 225 versus 415gs (P< 0.0001); 86% of PVR occurred with a mean CF< 10g (FTI< 400gs); and the remaining 14% occurred at ablation sites with a long interlesion distance (≥5mm) despite mean CF≥ 10 g. Eighty percent of PVR sites were located anteriorly. There were no significant differences in regard to arrhythmia freedom between the patients without (69%) versus with PVR (67%; P= 1.0). Acutely durable PVI can be achieved when RF lesions are delivered with a mean CF≥ 10g and an interlesion distance<5mm. The majority of PVR occur anteriorly due to inadequate CF or long interlesion distances.

SLIPPING MAGNETIC RECONNECTION DURING AN X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE OBSERVED BYSDO/AIA

We present SDO/AIA observations of an eruptive X-class flare of July 12, 2012, and compare its evolution with the predictions of a 3D numerical simulation. We focus on the dynamics of flare loops that are seen to undergo slipping reconnection during the flare. In the AIA 131A observations, lower parts of 10 MK flare loops exhibit an apparent motion with velocities of several tens of km/s along the developing flare ribbons. In the early stages of the flare, flare ribbons consist of compact, localized bright transition-region emission from the footpoints of the flare loops. A DEM analysis shows that the flare loops have temperatures up to the formation of Fe XXIV. A series of very long, S-shaped loops erupt, leading to a CME observed by STEREO. The observed dynamics are compared with the evolution of magnetic structures in the "standard solar flare model in 3D". This model matches the observations well, reproducing both the apparently slipping flare loops, S-shaped erupting loops, and the evolution of flare ribbons. All of these processes are explained via 3D reconnection mechanisms resulting from the expansion of a torus-unstable flux rope. The AIA observations and the numerical model are complemented by radio observations showing a noise storm in the metric range. Dm-drifting pulsation structures occurring during the eruption indicate plasmoid ejection and enhancement of reconnection rate. The bursty nature of radio emission shows that the slipping reconnection is still intermittent, although it is observed to persist for more than an hour.

The Wireless TCP Disconnection Management

Disconnection is the real one which influences the transmission of data and media in the wireless environment. Due to the influence on the transmission quality, the disconnections are divided into temporary disconnections and longtime disconnections. To solve the disconnections, Wireless TCP Disconnection Management was propounded, which concludes TCP Fast Reconnection Mechanism for the Temporary Disconnection and User-Defined Times of TFRMTD. First, TFRMTD mechanism in the wireless was discussed in detail, which implements the fast reconnection through giving every client a unique ID and catching the results at the server. Second, UDTT is introduced, which discusses how to judge the failing of TFRMTD on the disconnections and then conclude its a longtime disconnection.

Breakout and Tether-Cutting Eruption Models Are Both Catastrophic (Sometimes)

We present a simplified analytic model of a quadrupolar magnetic field and flux rope to model coronal mass ejections. The model magnetic field is two-dimensional, force-free and has current only on the axis of the flux rope and within two currents sheets. It is a generalization of previous models containing a single current sheet anchored to a bipolar flux distribution. Our new model can undergo quasi-static evolution due either to changes at the boundary or to magnetic reconnection at either current sheet. We find that all three kinds of evolution can lead to a catastrophe known as loss of equilibrium. Some equilibria can be driven to catastrophic instability either through reconnection at the lower current sheet, known as tether cutting, or through reconnection at the upper current sheet, known as breakout. Other equilibria can be destabilized through only one and not the other. Still others undergo no instability, but evolve increasingly rapidly in response to slow steady driving (ideal or reconnective). One key feature of every case is a response to reconnection different from that found in simpler systems. In our two-current sheet model a reconnection electric field in one current sheet causes the current in that sheet to {\em increase} rather than decrease. This suggests the possibility for the microscopic reconnection mechanism to run away.

Magnetopause reconnection and interlinked flux tubes

Abstract. Magnetic reconnection can be a continuous or a transient process. Global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations are important tools to understand the relevant magnetic reconnection mechanisms and the resulting magnetic structures. We have studied magnetopause reconnection using a global 3-D MHD simulation in which the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) has been set to large positive By and large negative Bz components, i.e., a south-duskward direction. Flux tubes have been observed even during these constant solar wind conditions. We have focused on the interlinked flux tubes event resulting from time-dependent, patchy and multiple reconnection. At the event onset, two reconnection modes seem to occur simultaneously: a time-dependent, patchy and multiple reconnection for the subsolar region; and, a steady and large-scale reconnection for the regions far from the subsolar site.