Issue |
A&A
Volume 415, Number 3, March I 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 791 - 802 | |
Section | Astrophysical processes | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20031695 | |
Published online | 13 February 2004 |
Plasma-neutral gas simulations of reconnection events in cometary tails
1
Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Munich, Scheinerstr 1, 81679 Munich, Germany
2
Centre of Interdisciplinary Plasma Science, 85748 Garching, Germany
3
Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
Corresponding author: C. Konz, konz@usm.uni-muenchen.de
Received:
21
March
2003
Accepted:
17
October
2003
The formation and dynamical evolution of cometary plasma tails and
magnetic boundary layers is studied by the first numerical plasma-neutral gas
simulations. It is shown that collisional interaction between the
cometary neutral envelope and the solar wind plasma
leads to the formation of a magnetic barrier that separates the
entire cometary body from the solar wind. The overall dynamics, in
particular, of the magnetotail are governed by magnetic reconnection.
Multiple reconnection events are initiated by the localized excitation
of anomalous resistivity modeled by . If the comet encounters
a heliospheric current sheet, strong disconnection events
characterize the cometary plasma tail. But even in the case of
homogeneous solar wind conditions, partial disruption of the tail is
triggered by dayside reconnection.
Key words: comets: general / interplanetary medium
© ESO, 2004
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