Steady Reconnection: New Generation of Fast Regimes

TL;DRAbstract

When solving partial differential equations, either analytically or numerically, the form, value, and number of the boundary conditions is of crucial importance. Indeed, often much physics is incorporated in the boundary conditions and, in the setting up of a numerical experiment with nonstandard boundary conditions, it is often the implementation of the boundary conditions that causes the most trouble. Petschek's mechanism, in which the boundary conditions at large distances are implicit, has been generalised in two distinct ways by adopting different boundary conditions to give regimes of almost-uniform reconnection (§5.1) and non-uniform reconnection (§5.2). Whereas Petschek's mechanism may be described as being almost-uniform and potential (§4.3), the first of these new families is in general nonpotential and the second is nonuniform. Also, surprisingly late in the day, a theory of linear reconnection was developed, which occurs when the reconnection rate is extremely slow (§5.3).

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