Physical Review Letters -- May 28, 2001 -- Volume 86, Issue 22, pp. 5047-5050

Single-Particle Dynamics in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

J Egedal and A Fasoli
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

The role of single-particle dynamics in driven magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas is investigated experimentally and analytically. The trapping of particle orbits in the magnetic cusp is observed to allow fast reconnection in the absence of a macroscopic current layer, at a rate identical to that of vacuum. The development of an electrostatic potential structure around the magnetic X line during reconnection is predicted theoretically and observed experimentally. ©2001 The American Physical Society