Three-species collisionless reconnection: effect of O+ on magnetotail reconnection.
The nature of collisionless reconnection in a three-species plasma composed of a heavy species, protons, and electrons is examined. In addition to the usual two length scales present in two-species reconnection, there are two additional larger length scales in the system: one associated with a "heavy whistler" which produces a large scale quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic field, and one associated with the "heavy Alfvén" wave which can slow the outflow speed and thus the reconnection rate. The consequences for reconnection with O+ present in the magnetotail are discussed.
Shay
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Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. shay@glue.umd.edu
Swisdak
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