The dynamic responses of reconnection process to local three-dimensional perturbations in MRX

Magnetic reconnection occurring in nature is fundamentally three dimensional. Compared to the standard 2D reconnection, additional dynamics involving waves, turbulence and transport are enabled in 3D reconnection, which is much less explored. In MRX, as one initial exploration of 3D physics in reconnection, dynamic responses of reconnecting plasmas to local three-dimensional perturbation in magnetic fields imposed by two loop coils were studied. Both the reconnection magnetic configuration and current sheet are altered by these perturbations. For the case which enhances local pull reconnection, magnetic structures consistent with magnetic islands or flux ropes appear within an elongated current sheet. Notably, the plasmoid is ejected downstream at a speed close to the ion outflow velocity. The change of reconnection rate, implied by the change of total reconnection current intensity and electric field, is also consistent with the expectation from the modifications to local boundary conditions due to the imposed perturbations.