Egedal J, Fox W, Katz N, Porkolab M, Reim K, Zhang E
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Jan 5;98(1):015003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.015003.
Detailed measurements of spontaneous magnetic reconnection are presented. The experimental data, which were obtained in the new closed Versatile Toroidal Facility magnetic configuration, document the profile evolution of the plasma density, magnetic flux function, reconnection rate, and the current density during a spontaneous reconnection event in the presence of a strong guide magnetic field. The reconnection process is at first slow, which allows magnetic stress to build in the system while the current channel becomes increasingly narrow and intense. The onset of a fast reconnection event occurs as the width of the current channel approaches the ion-sound-Larmor radius rho s. During the reconnection event magnetically stored energy is channeled into energetic ion outflows and a rapid increase in the electron temperature.
本文给出了对自发磁重联的详细测量结果。这些实验数据是在新型封闭通用环形装置磁结构中获得的，记录了在强导向磁场存在下自发重联事件期间等离子体密度、磁通量函数、重联率和电流密度的分布演化。重联过程起初较慢，这使得系统中能积累磁应力，同时电流通道变得越来越窄且强度增加。当电流通道宽度接近离子声拉莫尔半径ρs时，快速重联事件开始。在重联事件期间，磁存储能量被引导到高能离子流出和电子温度的快速升高。
