Three-Dimensional Reconnection between Two Colliding Magnetized Plasmas

Abstract

Numerical simulation of a three-dimensional interaction between colliding high-$\beta$ and low-$\beta$ plasmas, notably, the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere, shows that reconnection occurs along a line on the contact surface for $\theta >90\mathrm{}°$ and pointwise for $\theta <90\mathrm{}°$, where $\theta$ is the angle between the colliding field vectors; accordingly, the flux transport is very efficient for $\theta >90\mathrm{}°$. An interesting finding is that reconnection is driven by nonlinearly generated diamagnetic currents for almost all field angles $\theta$.