Session KP01 - Poster Session III.
POSTER session, Tuesday afternoon, March 23
Exhibit Hall, GWCC
Fundamental properties of magnetic reconnection in merging co- and counter-helicity spheromaks are investigated using an implicit parallel resistive MHD code. Variable mesh spacing together with an implicit time-stepping algorithm allows resolution of both the global solution and reconnection layer in a single simulation. We present results of scaling studies of the dependence of the reconnection rate, the height and width of the current sheet, and the magnitude of the outflow velocity over a wide range of plasma resistivity and viscosity. The nature of the boundary layer and separatrix regions observed in the simulations are compared with recent theoretical models[1]. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the plasma pressure equation, the background toroidal field strength, and the associated plasma compressibility on the shape of the separatrix surface near reconnection layer. This work supported by DoE Contract DE-AC02-76CH03073.
[1] D. Uzdensky, R. Kulsrud, , Phys. Plasmas 4 (1997) pp. 3960-3973