Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Three-species collisionless reconnection: effect of O+ on magnetotail reconnection
1Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. shay@glue.umd.edu
Abstract:
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.
Related Concept Videos
Magnetic Fields
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Magnetic Force Between Two Parallel Currents
The force exerted by the magnetic field due to the first conductor over a finite length of the second conductor is given as the product of the current in the second conductor and the vector product of the length vector along the current element and the field due to the first conductor. According to the...
Maxwell's Equation Of Electromagnetism
Divergence and Curl of Magnetic Field
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions

