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Ma et al. 1995
Ma, Z.W., Lee, L.C. and Otto, A. (1995). Generation of field-aligned currents and Alfvén waves by 3D magnetic reconnection. Geophysical Research Letters 22: doi: 10.1029/95GL01430. issn: 0094-8276.

We have carried out a three-dimensional compressible MHD simulation to study the generation of field-aligned currents (FAC's) and Alfv¿en waves by magnetic reconnection for locally antiparallel magnetic fields across the current sheet. Reconnection is triggered by a localized resistivity. The results indicate that both FAC's and Alfv¿en waves are generated by the three-dimensional reconnection process. Two pairs of FAC's are generated on each side of current sheet. The polarities of the resulting FAC pair in the leading bulge region are opposite to those of a FAC pair in the trailing quasi-steady region. It is further found that a large portion of the FAC's (~40%) is located in the closed field line region. We examine the Wal¿n relation between FAC and parallel vorticity and find that Alfv¿en waves are generated and propagate away from the reconnection site. We discuss the relevance of our results to the observed Region 1 FAC's at noon. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995

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Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers, Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions, Magnetospheric Physics, Current systems, Space Plasma Physics, Magnetic reconnection
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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