# Transition from ion-coupled to electron-only reconnection: Basic physics and implications for plasma turbulence

## TL;DR

This study uses kinetic PIC simulations to explore how reconnection transitions from ion-coupled to electron-only regimes in plasma, revealing the conditions and scales necessary for each type.

## Contribution

It demonstrates how the size of the reconnection domain influences ion response, providing a detailed transition mechanism from electron-only to ion-coupled reconnection.

## Key findings

- Electron-only reconnection occurs at small scales with high reconnection rates.
- Ion response and coupling depend on the exhaust width, reaching a threshold of several ion inertial lengths.
- Scaling laws for ion outflow velocity match theoretical models during the transition.

## Abstract

Using kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we simulate reconnection conditions appropriate for the magnetosheath and solar wind, i.e., plasma beta (ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure) greater than 1 and low magnetic shear (strong guide field). Changing the simulation domain size, we find that the ion response varies greatly. For reconnecting regions with scales comparable to the ion Larmor radius, the ions do not respond to the reconnection dynamics leading to ''electron-only'' reconnection with very large quasi-steady reconnection rates. The transition to more traditional ''ion-coupled'' reconnection is gradual as the reconnection domain size increases, with the ions becoming frozen-in in the exhaust when the magnetic island width in the normal direction reaches many ion inertial lengths. During this transition, the quasi-steady reconnection rate decreases until the ions are fully coupled, ultimately reaching an asymptotic value. The scaling of the ion outflow velocity with exhaust width during this electron-only to ion-coupled transition is found to be consistent with a theoretical model of a newly reconnected field line. In order to have a fully frozen-in ion exhaust with ion flows comparable to the reconnection Alfv\'en speed, an exhaust width of at least several ion inertial lengths is needed. In turbulent systems with reconnection occurring between magnetic bubbles associated with fluctuations, using geometric arguments we estimate that fully ion-coupled reconnection requires magnetic bubble length scales of at least several tens of ion inertial lengths.