Articles | Volume 28, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-28-1935-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
26 Oct 2010
Collisionless reconnection: mechanism of self-ignition in thin plane homogeneous current sheets
Abstract. The spontaneous onset of magnetic reconnection in thin plane collisionless current sheets is shown to result from a thermal-anisotropy driven non-relativistic magnetic electron Weibel-mode, generating seed-magnetic field X-points in the centre of the current layer. The proposed mechanism is of larger generality. It also works in the presence of magnetic guide fields.
