title: Experimental Verification of the Role of Electron Pressure in Fast Magnetic Reconnection with a Guide Field.
abstract: We report detailed laboratory observations of the structure of a reconnection current sheet in a two-fluid plasma regime with a guide magnetic field. We observe and quantitatively analyze the quadrupolar electron pressure variation in the ion-diffusion region, as originally predicted by extended magnetohydrodynamics simulations. The projection of the electron pressure gradient parallel to the magnetic field contributes significantly to balancing the parallel electric field, and the resulting cross-field electron jets in the reconnection layer are diamagnetic in origin. These results demonstrate how parallel and perpendicular force balance are coupled in guide field reconnection and confirm basic theoretical models of the importance of electron pressure gradients for obtaining fast magnetic reconnection.
authors.affiliation: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sciortino
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, 17491 Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: V Stechow
authors.affiliation: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jara-Almonte
authors.affiliation: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamada