TY - JOUR
T1 - Laboratory Observation of Resistive Electron Tearing in a Two-Fluid Reconnecting Current Sheet
AU - Jara-Almonte, Jonathan
AU - Ji, Hantao
AU - Yamada, Masaaki
AU - Yoo, Jongsoo
AU - Fox, William
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Physical Society.
PY - 2016/8/25
Y1 - 2016/8/25
N2 - The spontaneous formation of plasmoids via the resistive electron tearing of a reconnecting current sheet is observed in the laboratory. These experiments are performed during driven, antiparallel reconnection in the two-fluid regime within the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment. It is found that plasmoids are present even at a very low Lundquist number, and the number of plasmoids scales with both the current sheet aspect ratio and the Lundquist number. The reconnection electric field increases when plasmoids are formed, leading to an enhanced reconnection rate.
AB - The spontaneous formation of plasmoids via the resistive electron tearing of a reconnecting current sheet is observed in the laboratory. These experiments are performed during driven, antiparallel reconnection in the two-fluid regime within the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment. It is found that plasmoids are present even at a very low Lundquist number, and the number of plasmoids scales with both the current sheet aspect ratio and the Lundquist number. The reconnection electric field increases when plasmoids are formed, leading to an enhanced reconnection rate.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84988664661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84988664661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.095001
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.095001
M3 - Article
C2 - 27610861
AN - SCOPUS:84988664661
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 117
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 9
M1 - 095001
ER -