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Thermodynamic Phase Transition in Magnetic Reconnection

J. Jara-Almonte and H. Ji
Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 055102 – Published 29 July 2021
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Abstract

By examining the entropy production in fully kinetic simulations of collisional plasmas, it is shown that the transition from collisional Sweet-Parker reconnection to collisionless Hall reconnection may be viewed as a thermodynamic phase transition. The phase transition occurs when the reconnection electric field satisfies E=EDme/mi, where me/mi is the electron-to-ion mass ratio and ED is the Dreicer electric field. This condition applies for all mi/me, including mi/me=1, where the Hall regime vanishes and a direct phase transition from the collisional to the kinetic regime occurs. In the limit me/mi0, this condition is equivalent to there being a critical electron temperature TemiΩi2δ2, where Ωi is the ion cyclotron frequency and δ is the current sheet half-thickness. The heat capacity of the current sheet changes discontinuously across the phase transition, and a critical power law is identified in an effective heat capacity. A model for the time-dependent evolution of an isolated current sheet in the collisional regime is derived.

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  • Received 1 March 2021
  • Revised 30 April 2021
  • Accepted 17 June 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.055102

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. Jara-Almonte and H. Ji

  • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA

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Issue

Vol. 127, Iss. 5 — 30 July 2021

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