Talk:Magnetic reconnection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, which collaborates on articles related to physics. | |
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the assessment scale. [FAQ] | |
| ??? | This article has not yet received an importance rating within physics. | |
|
Please rate this article, and then leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article. |
||
Okay, I didn't realize how technical this article was going to be until I started writing it. I'll make an effort to fill in some of the empty links, provide a diagram or three, and place links to this article on the relevant pages.
I'm currently conducting an experiment to study magnetic reconnection - if you have questions, post them here or on my talk page... but be warned, I'll be at a conference for the next week, so my response may be slow.SMesser 00:51, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I removed an anonymous edit that claimed magnetic reconnection occurs when the magnetic pressure exceeds the plasma pressure (ie when the plasma β parameter is less than unity). This is not the case! Magnetic reconnection (or the lack thereof) is related to the line-tying effect of high electrical conductivity, not to the magnetic pressure. zowie 22:41, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Topology rather than current sheets
I took the liberty of reducing the discussion of current sheets, which are not directly related to reconnection (they are in some sense a symptom of lack of magnetic reconnection!) and instead introduced separatrix surfaces and separators, the topological terms describing the domain boundaries. (Note that separatrices, and magnetic reconnection, can exist in a vacuum, while current sheets cannot).
The discussion still needs considerable work, some work on the X-point figure (it would be nice to have the seapratrices and separator marked), an perhaps a 3-D figure to visualize domain topology -- but I'm out of borrowed time for today.
Happy new year! zowie 19:02, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
