Strongly compressible current sheets under gravitation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in highly compressible and gravitational media, magnetic reconnection can occur rapidly enough to explain energetic astrophysical events, highlighting the importance of compressibility and gravity in magnetic energy release.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that strong compressibility and gravity significantly accelerate magnetic reconnection, providing new insights into astrophysical stormy phenomena.

Findings

Reconnection is fast in highly compressible, gravitational media.

Compressibility enhances magnetic energy release rates.

Gravitational effects are crucial for rapid reconnection.

Abstract

Many stormy events in astrophysics occur due to the sudden magnetic energy release. This is possible if a magnetic configuration abruptly changes its topology, an event usually referred to as magnetic reconnection. It is known that pure Ohmic decay is inefficient, occurring during cosmological times (due to the huge characteristic scales $L$). It is recognized that the presence of current sheets speeds up the process, but still insufficiently$^{1,2,3,4,5}$. We show that, in highly compressible and substantially gravitational media, the reconnection is fast enough to account for stormy events. Thus, highly compressible situations offer exiting opportunities in explanations of violent events, although full-scale compressible and gravitational simulations proved to be quite challenging.