How common is reconnection in a turbulent plasma? G. Stenberg, M. André, A. Vaivads, Yu. V. Khotyaintsev (IRF, Uppsala) Retinò (Austrian Academy of Sceince, Graz) E. Lucek, (Imperial College, London)
Magnetic reconnection (large-scale structures) Magnetosphere (e.g. Paschmann, Nature, 1979) Solar wind (e.g. Phan, Nature, 2006)
Magnetic reconnection (small-scale structures, in turbulence) Turbulence (in the magnetosheath) (Retinò et al. Nature Phys., 2007) (Sundkvist et al., PRL, 2007)
Statistics Reconnection in turbulence (in the magnetosheath)
Details Current sheet in turbulence (Stenberg, subm. to Phys. Rev. Lett.)
70 current sheets Reconnection No reconnection Reconnection No reconnection ~58% Average: to W/m 3
Reconnection Simulation MHD turbulence (Servidio et al. Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009)
Conclusions Reconnection is common in turbulence (58% of 70 current sheets) Reconnection rate is high, 0.3 (consistent with simulations) Dissipation in current sheet W/m 3 giving on average to W/m 3