Factors controlling the statistics of magnetic reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

M. B. Khan; M. A. Shay; S. Oughton; W. H. Matthaeus; C. C. Haggerty; S. Adhikari; P. A. Cassak; S. Fordin; D. O'Donnell; Y. Yang; R. Bandyopadhyay; S. Roy

doi:10.1103/yjh7-hy2s

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Factors controlling the statistics of magnetic reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Factors controlling the statistics of magnetic reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

M. B. Khan, M. A. Shay, S. Oughton, W. H. Matthaeus, C. C. Haggerty, S. Adhikari, P. A. Cassak, S. Fordin, D. O'Donnell, Y. Yang, …

Physical review. E, Vol.113(1), p.015207

01/01/2026

DOI: 10.1103/yjh7-hy2s

PMID: 41715778

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Abstract

We study the statistics of dynamical quantities associated with magnetic reconnection events embedded in a sea of strong background magnetohydrodynamic turbulence using direct numerical simulations. We focus on the relationship of the reconnection properties to the statistics of global turbulent fields. We show that the distribution in turbulence of reconnection rates (determined by upstream fields) is strongly correlated with the magnitude of the global turbulent magnetic field at the correlation scale. The average reconnection rates, and associated dissipation rates, during turbulence are thus much larger than predicted by using turbulent magnetic field fluctuation amplitudes at the dissipation or kinetic scales. Magnetic reconnection may, therefore, be playing a major role in energy dissipation in astrophysical and heliospheric turbulence.

Physical Sciences

Physics

Physics, Fluids & Plasmas

Physics, Mathematical

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Factors controlling the statistics of magnetic reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
Creators: M. B. Khan - University of Delaware
M. A. Shay - University of Delaware
S. Oughton - University of Waikato
W. H. Matthaeus - University of Delaware
C. C. Haggerty - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
S. Adhikari - University of Delaware
P. A. Cassak - West Virginia University
S. Fordin - Goddard Space Flight Center
D. O'Donnell - University of Delaware
Y. Yang - University of Delaware
R. Bandyopadhyay - Princeton University
S. Roy - University of Delaware
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Physical review. E, Vol.113(1), p.015207
DOI: 10.1103/yjh7-hy2s
PMID: 41715778
NLM abbreviation: Phys Rev E
ISSN: 2470-0045
eISSN: 2470-0053
Publisher: Amer Physical Soc
Number of pages: 8
Grant note: 80NSSC20K0198; 80NSSC20K1813; 80NSSC24K0559; 80NSSC24K0172; 80NSSC19K0284; 80NSSC25K7757; 80NSSC21K0739; 80NSSC21K1458 / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) DE-AC02-05CH11231 / U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility; United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) Ralph E. Powe Award AGS-2024198; PHY-2108834; PHY-2205991; AGS-1936393; AGS-2338131; PHY-2308669 / NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) University of Delaware General University Research Program
Language: English
Date published: 01/01/2026
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9985224416202771

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