Component Reconnection Versus Component Magnetic Reconfiguration

Abstract:

The majority of the space community believes that the magnetic reconnection, including the component reconnection, plays an important role in the energy and plasma transport in the space plasma. However, the component reconnection implies that, prior to the reconnection, there is a connection of two field lines with a non-zero magnetic field component, which violates the divergence-free condition of the magnetic field. Without the component reconnection, the antiparallel reconnection becomes an event that requires an exceptional condition of the ambient magnetic fields. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a theoretical model to explain the sudden change of the magnetic field configuration. For convenience, we shall call such a transient event the magnetic reconfiguration event. Our results indicate that, if the ambient field configuration can redirect the incoming ions and electrons into opposite directions, charge accumulation will take place and lead to the formation of field-aligned currents. The field-aligned currents can generate magnetic fields normal to the current sheet and lead to the formation of magnetic islands in one region and transient magnetic reconfigurations in the other region. The favorable conditions for the occurrence of the transient magnetic reconfigurations, including component magnetic reconfigurations, will also be discussed.