Numerical investigation of a compressible gyrofluid model for collisionless magnetic reconnection

Luca Comisso (1) , Daniela Grasso (1) , Emanuele Tassi (2, 3) , F. Waelbroeck (4)

1 Dipartimento di Energetica
2 CPT - Centre de Physique Théorique - UMR 7332
3 CPT - Ex E8 Dynamique non linéaire
4 IFS - Institute for Fusion Studies

Ion Larmor radius effects on guide field collisionless magnetic reconnection are investigated by means of numerical simulations based on a gyrofluid model for compressible plasmas. Compressibility along the magnetic field is seen to favour the distribution of ion guiding center density along the neutral line, rather than along the separatrices, unlike the electron density. On the other hand, increasing ion temperature reduces the intensity of ion guiding flow that develop in the direction parallel to the magnetic guide field. Numerical simulations suggest that the width of these bar-shaped layers scale linearly with the ion Larmor radius. The increase of ion temperature radius causes also a reduction of the electron parallel velocity. As a consequence, it is found that the cusp-like profiles distinctive of non-dissipative reconnection are strongly attenuated. The field structures are interpreted in terms of the behavior of the four topological invariants of the system. Two of these are seen to behave similarly to invariants of simpler models that do not account for parallel ion flow. The other two exhibit different structures, partly as a consequence of the small electron/ion mass ratio. The origin of these invariants at the gyrokinetic level is also discussed. The investigation of the field structures is complemented by an analysis of the energetics of the system.

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Luca Comisso, Daniela Grasso, Emanuele Tassi, F. Waelbroeck. Numerical investigation of a compressible gyrofluid model for collisionless magnetic reconnection. Physics of Plasmas, 2012, 19, pp.042103. ⟨10.1063/1.3697860⟩. ⟨hal-00698960⟩