Ten-moment two-fluid plasma model agrees well with PIC/Vlasov in GEM problem

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a ten-moment two-fluid plasma model accurately reproduces key features of magnetic reconnection observed in kinetic simulations, providing a computationally efficient alternative.

Contribution

The study introduces a ten-moment two-fluid model that aligns well with kinetic PIC/Vlasov simulations in the GEM magnetic reconnection problem.

Findings

Good qualitative agreement with electron pressure tensor components

Effective modeling of magnetic reconnection phenomena

Potential for reduced computational cost

Abstract

We simulate magnetic reconnection in the GEM problem using a two-fluid model with 10 moments for the electron fluid as well as the proton fluid. We show that use of 10 moments for electrons gives good qualitative agreement with the the electron pressure tensor components in published kinetic simulations.