Transition from antiparallel to component magnetic reconnection

Abstract

[1] We study the transition between antiparallel and component collisionless magnetic reconnection with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The primary finding is that a guide field ≈0.1 times as strong as the asymptotic reconnecting field (roughly the field strength at which the electron Larmor radius is comparable to the width of the electron current layer) is sufficient to magnetize the electrons in the vicinity of the X line, thus causing significant changes to the structure of the electron dissipation region. This implies that great care should be exercised before concluding that magnetospheric reconnection is antiparallel. We also find that even for such weak guide fields, strong inward flowing electron beams form in the vicinity of the magnetic separatrices and Buneman unstable distribution functions arise at the X line itself. As in the calculations of Hesse et al. (2002) and Yin and Winske (2003) the nongyrotropic elements of the electron pressure tensor play the dominant role in decoupling the electrons from the magnetic field at the X line, regardless of the magnitude of the guide field and the associated strong variations in the pressure tensor's spatial structure. Despite these changes, and consistent with previous work, the reconnection rate does not vary appreciably with the strength of the guide field as it changes between 0 and a value equal to the asymptotic reversed field. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.