Dynamical and thermal evolution of localized reconnecting current sheets under varying guide-fields in the solar corona
Abstract
Although magnetic reconnection in coronal current sheets (CSs) is a fundamental energy release mechanism in the solar corona, the role of guide-fields in governing its formation and self-consistent evolution is not fully understood. Through 2.5D resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we investigate how guide-fields affect the formation and evolution of a localized reconnecting coronal CS. Strong guide-fields prevent oppositely directed field lines from approaching sufficiently to form a CS, delaying and suppressing its subsequent evolution. The reconnection rate exhibits a rising phase resembling a power-law, with exponent δ1 decreasing with rising guide-fields, indicating slower temporal growth of the reconnection rate. The aspect ratio of the CS follows a similar power-law trend with the exponent α1 decreasing with rising guide-fields. A subsequent slower growth phase of the reconnection rate shows a power-law exponent δ2 that increases with rising guide-fields, as does the corresponding aspect-ratio exponent α2. As the CS evolves, the latter phase is achieved due to a sharp decremental transition of the guide-field within the CS after a time when the increasing inflows are inefficiently resisted by the guide-field itself. In the reconnection regime during prior phases, the power-law exponents of the maximum temperature and the outflow velocities also decrease with rising guide-fields demonstrating that stronger guide-fields suppress the growth of these indicators also. This study suggests that a self-consistently formed CS displays phases of efficient and inefficient quenching of the reconnection mechanism, promoted by non-zero guide-fields. We also quantify this behavior for indicators of the reconnection process and discuss their applicability to observations of apparent CSs and probing background coronal conditions.
Related
- Power-Law Injection Spectrum from an Ensemble of Reconnecting Current Sheets
- A Localized Current-Sheet Magnetic-Diffusion and Heating Prescription for Ideal-GRMHD Simulations of M87*-like Accretion Flows
- A Localized Current-sheet Magnetic-diffusion and Heating Prescription for Ideal-GRMHD Simulations of M87*-like Accretion Flows
- Dynamical evolution and surface accretion of DART impact ejecta in the (65803) Didymos system
- Chemical and dynamical evolution of prestellar cores, the dawn of star and planet formation
BibTeX
@misc{pande2026dynamical,
title = {{Dynamical and thermal evolution of localized reconnecting current sheets under varying guide-fields in the solar corona}},
author = {Saksham Pande and Abhishekh Kumar Srivastava and Fabio Bacchini and Sripan Mondal and Akash Bairagi and Balveer Singh and Kartika Sangal and Sudheer K. Mishra and Xinping Zhou and Ding Yuan and R. -Y. Kwon and B. N. Dwivedi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.18111},
eprint = {2610.18111},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18111},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dynamical and thermal evolution of localized reconnecting current sheets under varying guide-fields in the solar corona
AU - Saksham Pande
AU - Abhishekh Kumar Srivastava
AU - Fabio Bacchini
AU - Sripan Mondal
AU - Akash Bairagi
AU - Balveer Singh
AU - Kartika Sangal
AU - Sudheer K. Mishra
AU - Xinping Zhou
AU - Ding Yuan
AU - R. -Y. Kwon
AU - B. N. Dwivedi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.18111
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18111
AB - Although magnetic reconnection in coronal current sheets (CSs) is a fundamental energy release mechanism in the solar corona, the role of guide-fields in governing its formation and self-consistent evolution is not fully understood. Through 2.5D resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we investigate how guide-fields affect the formation and evolution of a localized reconnecting coronal CS. Strong guide-fields prevent oppositely directed field lines from approaching sufficiently to form a CS, delaying and suppressing its subsequent evolution. The reconnection rate exhibits a rising phase resembling a power-law, with exponent δ_1 decreasing with rising guide-fields, indicating slower temporal growth of the reconnection rate. The aspect ratio of the CS follows a similar power-law trend with the exponent α_1 decreasing with rising guide-fields. A subsequent slower growth phase of the reconnection rate shows a power-law exponent δ_2 that increases with rising guide-fields, as does the corresponding aspect-ratio exponent α_2. As the CS evolves, the latter phase is achieved due to a sharp decremental transition of the guide-field within the CS after a time when the increasing inflows are inefficiently resisted by the guide-field itself. In the reconnection regime during prior phases, the power-law exponents of the maximum temperature and the outflow velocities also decrease with rising guide-fields demonstrating that stronger guide-fields suppress the growth of these indicators also. This study suggests that a self-consistently formed CS displays phases of efficient and inefficient quenching of the reconnection mechanism, promoted by non-zero guide-fields. We also quantify this behavior for indicators of the reconnection process and discuss their applicability to observations of apparent CSs and probing background coronal conditions.
ER -