2019/08/26 by R. A. Treumann, W. Baumjohann, Treumann, R. A. +1
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Space Physics (physics.space-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1908.09524
openalex publication_date 2019/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A stationary, two-dimensional, and non-driven antiparallel magnetic field configuration consisting of a central current film, flanked by two non-magnetic domains of electron inertial scale, resembling the Josephson model. Landau-Ginsburg conditions apply at the boundaries to the oppositely directed external magnetic fields, whose sources are located at infinity. On the microscopic level sufficiently large magnetic islands and X points form from exchange of small numbers of elementary magnetic fluxes without reference to any plasma instabilities which on these scales are purely electrostatic. These may serve as seeds to ignite large-scale collisionless reconnection.