title: Coupling between global geometry and the local hall effect leading to reconnection-layer symmetry breaking.
abstract: The coupling between the global reconnection geometry and the local microphysics, caused by the Hall effect, is studied during counterhelicity plasma merging in the magnetic reconnection experiment. The structure of the reconnection layer is significantly modified by reversing the sign of the toroidal fields, which affects the manifestation of the Hall effect in the collisionless regime. The local two-fluids physics changes the global boundary conditions, and this combination effect consequently provides different reconnection rates, magnetic field structure, and plasma flow patterns for two different counterhelicity merging cases in the collisionless regime.
authors.affiliation: Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08543, USA.
authors.forename: Michiaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inomoto
authors.forename: Stefan P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gerhardt
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hantao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belova
authors.forename: Aleksey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuritsyn
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren