Kinetic Vlasov simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection

• DOI: 10.1063/1.2347101
• Publication Date: 2006-09-28T22:20:07Z
• Authors: H. Schmitz; R. Grauer
• Keywords: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph); FOS: Physical sciences; Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph); Physics - Computational Physics; 01 natural sciences; Physics - Plasma Physics; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

A fully kinetic Vlasov simulation of the Geospace Environment Modeling Magnetic Reconnection Challenge is presented. Good agreement is found with previous kinetic simulations using particle in cell (PIC) codes, confirming both the PIC and the Vlasov code. In the latter the complete distribution functions fk (k=i,e) are discretized on a numerical grid in phase space. In contrast to PIC simulations, the Vlasov code does not suffer from numerical noise and allows a more detailed investigation of the distribution functions. The role of the different contributions of Ohm’s law are compared by calculating each of the terms from the moments of the fk. The important role of the off-diagonal elements of the electron pressure tensor could be confirmed. The inductive electric field at the X line is found to be dominated by the nongyrotropic electron pressure, while the bulk electron inertia is of minor importance. Detailed analysis of the electron distribution function within the diffusion region reveals the kinetic origin of the nongyrotropic terms.