Quantitative study of guide-field effects on Hall reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Oct 19;109(16):165002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.165002. Epub 2012 Oct 18.

Abstract

The effect of guide field on magnetic reconnection is quantitatively studied by systematically varying an applied guide field in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). The quadrupole field, a signature of two-fluid reconnection at zero guide field, is altered by a finite guide field. It is shown that the reconnection rate is significantly reduced with increasing guide field, and this dependence is explained by a combination of local and global physics: locally, the in-plane Hall currents are reduced, while globally guide field compression produces an increased pressure both within and downstream of the reconnection region.