Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection via Alfven Eigenmodes

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytic model of collisionless magnetic reconnection based on Alfven eigenmodes, showing good agreement with measurements and providing insights into the reconnection process.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analytic framework modeling reconnection as Alfven eigenmodes' generation and dissipation, with predictions matching in situ observations.

Findings

Eigenmode confinement by the current sheet analogous to quantum waves

Reconnection timescale determined by eigenvalue propagation velocity

Model predictions align with in situ Hall field measurements

Abstract

We propose an analytic approach to the problem of collisionless magnetic reconnection formulated as a process of Alfven eigenmodes' generation and dissipation. Alfven eigenmodes are confined by the current sheet in the same way that quantum mechanical waves are confined by the tanh^2 potential. The dynamical time scale of reconnection is the system scale divided by the eigenvalue propagation velocity of the n=1 mode. The prediction of the n=1 mode shows good agreement with the in situ measurement of the reconnection-associated Hall fields.