Magnetic reconnection in the solar wind commonly occurs in a quasi‐stationary mode. It produces extensive Petschek‐like exhausts of roughly Alfvénic jetting plasma typically bounded by back‐to‐back rotational discontinuities that bifurcate a reconnecting current sheet. It occurs most frequently at current sheets associated with relatively small (<90°) magnetic field rotations in low (<1) beta plasma. Reconnection exhausts are relatively common (typically 2–3 events/day at 1 AU) in the low‐speed wind and within interplanetary coronal mass ejections, and less common (0.6 events/day) in the Alfvénic turbulence characteristic of the high‐speed wind from coronal holes. Reconnection occurs relatively infrequently at the heliospheric current sheet, HCS, but observations of exhausts at the HCS are particularly revealing of the magnetic field topology changes associated with the reconnection process. Reconnection in the solar wind is not explosive—the magnetic energy release occurs over a long time interval following reconnection as the Alfvénic disturbances initiated by the process propagate into the surrounding solar wind plasma. There is as yet no good evidence to suggest that reconnection in the solar wind ever produces substantial particle acceleration beyond that associated with the bulk acceleration of the plasma.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
25 March 2010
TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL SOLAR WIND CONFERENCE
21–26 June 2009
Saint‐Malo, (France)
Research Article|
March 25 2010
Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Wind: An Update
J. T. Gosling
J. T. Gosling
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303 USA
Search for other works by this author on:
AIP Conf. Proc. 1216, 188–193 (2010)
Citation
J. T. Gosling; Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Wind: An Update. AIP Conf. Proc. 25 March 2010; 1216 (1): 188–193. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3395833
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
The effect of a balanced diet on improving the quality of life in malignant neoplasms
Yu. N. Melikova, A. S. Kuryndina, et al.
Animal intrusion detection system using Mask RCNN
C. Vijayakumaran, Dakshata, et al.
Recognition of cat ras of face and body using convolutional neural networks
Akhmad Wahyu Aji, Esmeralda Contessa Djamal, et al.
Related Content
Electron energization during magnetic island coalescence
Phys. Plasmas (July 2012)
Three-dimensional simulations of the orientation and structure of reconnection X-lines
Phys. Plasmas (November 2010)
3D turbulent reconnection: Theory, tests, and astrophysical implications
Phys. Plasmas (January 2020)
Magnetic reconnection during collisionless, stressed, X-point collapse using particle-in-cell simulation
Phys. Plasmas (November 2007)
Scaling of the magnetic reconnection rate with symmetric shear flow
Phys. Plasmas (July 2011)