dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA Model for Spontaneous Onset of Fast Magnetic Reconnection
| Authors | P. A. Cassak, J. F. Drake, M. A. Shay |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0604001 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0604001 |
| DOI | 10.1086/505690 |
Abstract
We present a model for the spontaneous onset of fast magnetic reconnection in a weakly collisional plasma, such as the solar corona. When a current layer of macroscopic width undergoes collisional (Sweet-Parker) reconnection, a narrow dissipation region forms around the X-line. This dissipation region naturally becomes narrower during the reconnection process as stronger magnetic fields are convected toward the X-line. When the dissipation region becomes thinner than the ion skin depth, resistive magnetohydrodynamics breaks down as the Hall effect becomes important and the Sweet-Parker solution ceases to exist. A transition to collisionless (Hall) reconnection ensues, increasing the reconnection rate by many orders of magnitude in a very short time. Predictions of the model are consistent with constraints set by observations of solar flares.
{
"annotation_id": "c88c5473-3db0-48ee-9382-9b7bcbdfd011",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:07.351000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:07.351000Z",
"file_hash": "2e4b326f2e6d8c7888960683b4d5abb508752412ef7197135456c851635c6448",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "We present a model for the spontaneous onset of fast magnetic reconnection in\na weakly collisional plasma, such as the solar corona. When a current layer of\nmacroscopic width undergoes collisional (Sweet-Parker) reconnection, a narrow\ndissipation region forms around the X-line. This dissipation region naturally\nbecomes narrower during the reconnection process as stronger magnetic fields\nare convected toward the X-line. When the dissipation region becomes thinner\nthan the ion skin depth, resistive magnetohydrodynamics breaks down as the Hall\neffect becomes important and the Sweet-Parker solution ceases to exist. A\ntransition to collisionless (Hall) reconnection ensues, increasing the\nreconnection rate by many orders of magnitude in a very short time. Predictions\nof the model are consistent with constraints set by observations of solar\nflares.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0604001",
"authors": [
"P. A. Cassak",
"J. F. Drake",
"M. A. Shay"
],
"categories": [
"physics.plasm-ph",
"physics.space-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1086/505690",
"title": "A Model for Spontaneous Onset of Fast Magnetic Reconnection",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0604001"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "b8cc9aa1-6af2-43ef-b744-6af405a6ee23",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}