The standard conditions considered for magnetic reconnection to occur are usually antiparallel
magnetic field configurations with a shear angle of 180◦ . Reconnection is often observed with an
additional out-of-plane component of the magnetic field (guide field). We performed two sets of
2D fully kinetic simulations using SMILEI code of asymmetric reconnection. The first set was
performed initially by Dargent et al., 2017 with and without cold ions. While the second set with
and without cold ions each conducted in the presence of a moderate guide field. The simulation
domain size is set to (xmax , ymax ) = (320, 128) di , enabling us to study these effects in the electron
diffusion region (EDR) as well as the coupling across different scales, including ion diffusion region
(IDR), outflow jets, and extended separatrices far from diffusion region. When the density gradient
is combined with a guide field component at the magnetopause, it was suggested by Swisdak et
al., 2003 that the electron diamagnetic drift governs the motion of the X-line.
Our simulations reveal the development of an asymmetry in the reconnection plane as expected
and a motion of the X-line in the opposite direction of the electron diamagnetic drift. This finding
challenges the previously proposed explanation. We also report our progress in investigating the
impact of cold ions in reinforcing the electron dynamics and further investigate the impact of
adding a moderate guide field in their presence. These effects are expected to influence the
energization, energy partitioning across scales, and potentially the suppression of reconnection.
| Subject : | : | Abstract |
| Comment | : | Prefer a poster |
| Topics | : | Reconnection studies |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
