Reconnection in turbulent astrophysical fluids

TL;DR

This paper explores how magnetic reconnection in turbulent astrophysical fluids is connected to turbulence models, Richardson diffusion, and flux freezing violation, with implications for solar phenomena and magnetic flares.

Contribution

It links the Lazarian & Vishniac turbulent reconnection model to Richardson diffusion and discusses turbulence development from laminar states in astrophysical environments.

Findings

Turbulent reconnection aligns with solar wind data.

Turbulence can develop from initially laminar magnetic reconnection.

Reconnection can cause magnetic flares in astrophysical media.

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process of magnetic field topology change. We analyze the connection of this process with turbulence which is ubiquitous in astrophysical environments. We show how Lazarian & Vishniac (1999) model of turbulent reconnection is connected to the experimentally proven concept of Richardson diffusion and discuss how turbulence violates the generally accepted notion of magnetic flux freezing. We note that in environments that are laminar initially turbulence can develop as a result of magnetic reconnection and this can result in flares of magnetic reconnection in magnetically dominated media. In particular, magnetic reconnection can initially develop through tearing, but the transition to the turbulent state is expected for astrophysical systems. We show that turbulent reconnection predictions corresponds to the Solar and solar wind data.