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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Kinetic Alfvén Wave Turbulence and Transport through a Reconnection Diffusion Region
C C Chaston1, J R Johnson, M Wilber
1Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrate from observations that kinetic Alfvén waves may play an important role in facilitating magnetic reconnection. These waves radiate outwards from the diffusion region oblique to the magnetic field in a conelike pattern delimited by the X line separatrices with outward energy fluxes equivalent to that contained in the outstreaming ions. It is shown that the wave vectors reverse across the X and symmetry lines and have a large out of plane component. We estimate that these waves drive significant transport through the diffusion region.
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