Guide field influence in collisionless magnetic reconnection studies on the Terrestrial Reconnection Experiment

Particle in cell simulations for magnetic reconnection have shown that the development and size of current sheets is dependent on the ratio of the magnetic guide field and the reconnecting magnetic field [1]. A peculiar finding of these simulations was a regime that results in elongated current sheets previously detected in Cluster spacecraft data [2]. This is explored in the Terrestrial Reconnection Experiment (TREX) which is the first laboratory that has the necessary parameters to investigate these regimes. Guide fields similar to reconnection fields will be added either by toroidal field coils or plasma guns that draw current across the device. The plasma is characterized with a new and upgraded diagnostic suite designed to have a fine spatial resolution and high-resolution sampling rate. Additionally, reconnection drive coils are able to be tilted relative to the background axial field to study 3D null reconnection, where the global magnetic topology is expected to determine the reconnection dynamics.

[1] Le, Ari, et al. PRL, 110. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.135004

[2] Phan. T.D et al. PRL 99. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.255002