Three-species collisionless reconnection: effect of O+ on magnetotail reconnection

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Oct 22;93(17):175001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.175001. Epub 2004 Oct 18.

Abstract

The nature of collisionless reconnection in a three-species plasma composed of a heavy species, protons, and electrons is examined. In addition to the usual two length scales present in two-species reconnection, there are two additional larger length scales in the system: one associated with a "heavy whistler" which produces a large scale quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic field, and one associated with the "heavy Alfvén" wave which can slow the outflow speed and thus the reconnection rate. The consequences for reconnection with O+ present in the magnetotail are discussed.