Vlasov simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection without background density

DOI10.1016/J.CNSNS.2007.04.003zbMATH Open1129.35473arXivphysics/0612082OpenAlexW2144544319WikidataQ62570053 ScholiaQ62570053MaRDI QIDQ2383088FDOQ2383088

Authors: Yanyan Li 

Publication date: 5 October 2007

Published in: Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: A standard starting point for the simulation of collisionless reconnection is the Harris equilibrium which is made up of a current sheet that separates two regions of opposing magnetic field. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations of collisionless reconnection usually include a homogeneous background density for reasons of numerical stability. While, in some cases, this is a realistic assumption, the background density may introduce new effects both due to the more involved structure of the distribution function or due to the fact that the Alfv`en speed remains finite far away from the current sheet. We present a fully kinetic Vlasov simulation of the perturbed Harris equilibrium using a Vlasov code. Parameters are chosen to match the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Magnetic Reconnection Challenge but excluding the background density. This allows to compare with earlier simulations [Schmitz, Grauer, Phys. Plasmas 13 (2006) 092309] which include the background density. It is found that the absence of a background density causes the reconnection rate to be higher. On the other hand, the time until the onset of reconnection is hardly affected. Again the off diagonal elements of the pressure tensor are found to be important on the X--line but with modified importance for the individual terms.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0612082

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zbMATH Keywords

numerical simulationVlasov equationplasma sheathconservative schemescollisionless reconnectionHarris equilibriumAlfvén speed

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics (76W05) Statistical mechanics of plasmas (82D10)

Cites Work

• Conservative numerical schemes for the Vlasov equation
• On a plasma sheath separating regions of oppositely directed magnetic field
• Darwin--Vlasov simulations of magnetised plasmas

Cited In (3)

• A finite volume formulation of the multi-moment advection scheme for Vlasov simulations of magnetized plasma
• High order moment closure for Vlasov-Maxwell equations
• Coupled Vlasov and two-fluid codes on GPUs

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