Unraveling the Trigger Mechanism of Explosive Reconnection in Partially Ionized Solar Plasma

TL;DR

This paper uses 2.5D MHD simulations to investigate the trigger mechanism of explosive magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized solar atmosphere, revealing a transition from plasmoid-mediated to Petschek-like reconnection with rapid rate increase.

Contribution

It demonstrates, for the first time, how plasmoid-dominated reconnection transitions to explosive Petschek-like reconnection in partially ionized plasma, with a significant increase in reconnection rate.

Findings

Reconnection rate reaches above 0.06 during explosive phase

Sharp decrease in plasma temperature and density at X-point observed

Transition from slow to fast reconnection mediated by radiative cooling and plasma ejection

Abstract

Plasmoid instability is usually accounted for the onset of fast reconnection events observed in astrophysical plasmas. However, the measured reconnection rate from observations can be one order of magnitude higher than that derived from MHD simulations. In this study, we present the results of magnetic reconnection in the partially ionized low solar atmosphere based on 2.5D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations. The whole reconnection process covers two different fast reconnection phases. In the first phase, the slow Sweet-Parker reconnection transits to the plasmoid-mediated reconnection, and the reconnection rate reaches about 0.02. In the second phase, a faster explosive reconnection appears, with the reconnection rate reaching above 0.06. At the same time, a sharp decrease in plasma temperature and density at the principle X-point is observed which is associated with the strong radiative cooling, the ejection of hot plasma from the local reconnection region or the motion of principle X-point from hot and denser region to cool and less dense one along the narrow current sheet. This causes gas pressure depletion and the increasing of magnetic diffusion at the main X-point, resulting in the local Petschek-like reconnection and a violent and rapid increase in the reconnection rate. This study for the first time reveals a common phenomenon that the plasmoid dominated reconnection transits to an explosive faster reconnection with the rate approaching the order of 0.1 in partially ionized plasma in the MHD scale.