ELECTRON PARALLEL COMPRESSIBILITY IN THE NONLINEAR DEVELOPMENT OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL COLLISIONLESS MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC RECONNECTION

Abstract

Some topological aspects of the magnetic reconnection phenomenon are summarized and recent numerical results, derived within a two-fluid model, of two-dimensional collisionless magnetic reconnection in presence of a strong guide field are reported. Both the Alfvèn and the whistler frequency range are investigated by including electron parallel compressibility effects that are related respectively to thermal effects and to density fluctuations. The Hamiltonian character of the system is emphasized as it drives the small scale dynamics through the presence of topological invariants. These determine the formation and the shape of small scale current and vorticity layers inside the magnetic island. Secondary fluid instabilities, mainly of the Kelvin–Helmholtz type, can destabilize these layers when a hydrodynamic type regime is achieved. The inclusion of parallel electron compressibility has stabilizing effects. In view of the limitations of the two-fluid modelling, possible developments are briefly discussed such as the inclusion of Larmor-radius corrections, in lieu of a fully kinetic approach.