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Physics of Plasmas / Volume 19 / Issue 1 / ARTICLES / Basic Plasma Phenomena, Waves, Instabilities

Phys. Plasmas 19, 012105 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3672516 (8 pages)

Relation of astrophysical turbulence and magnetic reconnection a

a Paper submitted as part of the Special Topic: Advances in Magnetic Reconnection Research in Space and Laboratory Plasmas (Guest Editors: Ryoji Matsumoto and Hantao Ji).
A. Lazarian1, Gregory L. Eyink2, and E. T. Vishniac3

1Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
2Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada

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(Received 1 July 2011; accepted 18 November 2011; published online 11 January 2012)

Astrophysical fluids are generically turbulent and this must be taken into account for most transport processes. We discuss how the preexisting turbulence modifies magnetic reconnection and how magnetic reconnection affects the MHD turbulent cascade. We show the intrinsic interdependence and interrelation of magnetic turbulence and magnetic reconnection, in particular, that strong magnetic turbulence in 3D requires reconnection and 3D magnetic turbulence entails fast reconnection. We follow the approach in Eyink et al. [Astrophys. J. 743, 51 (2011)] to show that the expressions of fast magnetic reconnection in A. Lazarian and E. T. Vishniac [Astrophys. J. 517, 700 (1999)] can be recovered if Richardson diffusion of turbulent flows is used instead of ordinary Ohmic diffusion. This does not revive, however, the concept of magnetic turbulent diffusion which assumes that magnetic fields can be mixed up in a passive way down to a very small dissipation scales. On the contrary, we are dealing the reconnection of dynamically important magnetic field bundles which strongly resist bending and have well defined mean direction weakly perturbed by turbulence. We argue that in the presence of turbulence the very concept of flux-freezing requires modification. The diffusion that arises from magnetic turbulence can be called reconnection diffusion as it based on reconnection of magnetic field lines. The reconnection diffusion has important implications for the continuous transport processes in magnetized plasmas and for star formation. In addition, fast magnetic reconnection in turbulent media induces the First order Fermi acceleration of energetic particles, can explain solar flares and gamma ray bursts. However, the most dramatic consequence of these developments is the fact that the standard flux freezing concept must be radically modified in the presence of turbulence.

© 2012 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. PURPOSE AND OUTLINE
  2. ASTROPHYSICAL RECONNECTION VERSUS NUMERICAL RECONNECTION
  3. TURBULENCE AND MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
  4. MODEL OF MHD TURBULENCE AND MAGNETIC FIELD WANDERING
  5. RICHARDSON DIFFUSION AND LV99 MODEL
  6. VIOLATION OF FLUX FREEZING AND RECONNECTION DIFFUSION
  7. RELEVANT WORK ON RECONNECTION RATES
  8. ASTROPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS
  9. SUMMARY

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

astrophysical plasma, magnetic reconnection, perturbation theory, plasma magnetohydrodynamics, plasma transport processes, plasma turbulence

PACS

  • 52.35.Ra

    Plasma turbulence

  • 52.35.Vd

    Magnetic reconnection

  • 52.30.Cv

    Magnetohydrodynamics (including electron magnetohydrodynamics)

  • 52.25.Fi

    Transport properties

  • 95.30.Qd

    Magnetohydrodynamics and plasmas

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3672516

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1070-664X (print)  
1089-7674 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.
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    W. H. Matthaeus and S. L. Lamkin, Phys. Fluids 28, 303 (1985)PFLDAS000028000001000303000001.

    W. H. Matthaeus and S. L. Lamkin, Phys. Fluids 29, 2513 (1986)PFLDAS000029000008002513000001.

    G. L. Eyink, J. Math. Phys. 50, 083102 (2009)JMAPAQ000050000008083102000001.

    A. Bhattacharjee, Y.-M. Huang, H. Yang, and B. Rogers, Phys. Plasmas 16, 112102 (2009)PHPAEN000016000011112102000001.

    P. H. Diamond, R. D. Hazeltine, Z. G. An, B. A. Carreras, and H. R. Hicks, Phys. Fluids 27, 1449 (1984)PFLDAS000027000006001449000001.

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