3D Null Point Reconnection Regimes

TL;DR

This paper refines the classification of 3D magnetic null point reconnection into three regimes based on flow behavior near the null's spine and fan, highlighting differences in flux transfer and current sheet formation.

Contribution

It introduces a new categorization of 3D null point reconnection regimes, including torsional spine, torsional fan, and spine-fan reconnection, with detailed descriptions of their flow and current structures.

Findings

Identified three distinct reconnection regimes at 3D null points.

Described how flux transfer varies across regimes.

Highlighted the prevalence of spine-fan reconnection in practice.

Abstract

Recent advances in theory and computational experiments have shown the need to refine the previous categorisation of magnetic reconnection at three-dimensional null points -- points at which the magnetic field vanishes. We propose here a division into three different types, depending on the nature of the flow near the spine and fan of the null. The spine is an isolated field line which approaches the null (or recedes from it), while the fan is a surface of field lines which recede from it (or approach it). So-called "torsional spine reconnection" occurs when field lines in the vicinity of the fan rotate, with current becoming concentrated along the spine, so that nearby field lines undergo rotational slippage. In "torsional fan reconnection" field lines near the spine rotate and create a current that is concentrated in the fan with a rotational flux mismatch and rotational slippage. In both of these regimes, the spine and fan are perpendicular and there is no flux transfer across spine or fan. The third regime, called "spine-fan reconnection", is the most common in practice and combines elements of the previous spine and fan models. In this case, in response to a generic shearing motion, the null point collapses to form a current sheet that is focused at the null itself, in a sheet that locally spans both the spine and fan. In this regime the spine and fan are no longer perpendicular and there is flux transfer across both of them.