Computer simulation of flux transfer event: effect of solar wind flow Original Research Article

Flux transfer events (FTEs) observed at the dayside magnetopause is studied on the basis of the spontaneous fast reconnection model. If an X neutral point is not located at the sub-solar point, the flux transfer event may be significantly influenced by solar wind. With this in mind, we investigate the effects of solar wind on the flux transfer event by 2-dimensional MHD simulations. Unlike the previous simulations with the locally fixed resistivity model, the present study assumes an anomalous resistivity to be self-consistently determined by the reconnection flow, so that the resulting X point is allowed to move freely. It is demonstrated that at the early stage a single X point appears and moves in the direction of solar wind. Then, a new X point suddenly appears because of the secondary tearing, and a rather small magnetic island appears. The reconnection rate at the new X point is weaker than that at the original X point, so that the magnetic island moves in the direction of the solar-wind upstream.