The nature of collisionless reconnection in a three-species plasma
composed of a heavy species, protons, and electrons is
examined. Besides 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.
Authors: M. A. Shay and M. Swisdak
Projects:
Publication Status: Submitted to Physical Review Letters, arXiv:physics/0406063
Last Modified: 2004-07-09 12:02