Diamagnetic Stabilization of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Marc Swisdak
University of Maryland

In many magnetic reconnection simulations the initial configuration is symmetric across the current sheet. This choice, although useful for investigations of the underlying physics, is probably not typical of actual reconnection events. Our simulations, in which the initial configuration incorporates a density asymmetry, are chosen to resemble the magnetopause-magnetosheath boundary. This gradient produces a diamagnetic drift which both advects the X-line and suppresses the reconnection rate, both potentially observable by in situ spacecraft.