TY - JOUR
T1 - Laboratory study of hall reconnection in partially ionized plasmas
AU - Lawrence, Eric E.
AU - Ji, Hantao
AU - Yamada, Masaaki
AU - Yoo, Jongsoo
PY - 2013/1/2
Y1 - 2013/1/2
N2 - The effects of partial ionization (ni/nn1%) on magnetic reconnection in the Hall regime have been studied systematically in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment. It is shown that, when neutrals are added, the Hall quadrupole field pattern and thus electron flow are unchanged while the ion outflow speed is reduced due to ion-neutral drag. However, in contrast to theoretical predictions, the ion diffusion layer width does not change appreciably. Therefore, the total ion outflow flux and the normalized reconnection rate are reduced.
AB - The effects of partial ionization (ni/nn1%) on magnetic reconnection in the Hall regime have been studied systematically in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment. It is shown that, when neutrals are added, the Hall quadrupole field pattern and thus electron flow are unchanged while the ion outflow speed is reduced due to ion-neutral drag. However, in contrast to theoretical predictions, the ion diffusion layer width does not change appreciably. Therefore, the total ion outflow flux and the normalized reconnection rate are reduced.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.015001
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.015001
M3 - Article
C2 - 23383799
AN - SCOPUS:84871762968
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 110
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 1
M1 - 015001
ER -