Existence of Distinct Strong and Weak Shear Regimes of Self-Generated Turbulent Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection can become fast in three-dimensional turbulent layers. However, the parameters and mechanisms that control the fast state are not yet fully clear. Existing guide-field simulations of self-generated turbulent reconnection show locally coherent flux-rope structures embedded in a stochastic layer, motivating a flux-rope-mediated picture, with reconnection rates of order $V_{\rm rec}/V_A \sim 0.01$ in MHD. Here, we test whether and how magnetic shear changes the reconnection regime, using 3D resistive-MHD simulations at $S_L=10^5$. We vary the guide field while keeping the initial reconnecting field strength and rate normalization fixed, comparing a guide-field, weaker-shear configuration with the anti-parallel, strong-shear limit. We find that the strong-shear regime is qualitatively distinct from the flux-rope-mediated guide-field regime. Rather than retaining a narrow layer and locally coherent flux-rope structures, the current layer develops short-wavelength corrugations that broaden it substantially, and the reconnection layer electric field is sustained by fluctuation EMF. The reconnection rate increases to $V_{\rm rec}/V_A \sim 0.03$, about three times the guide-field value. These results indicate that magnetic shear can select the mechanism controlling fast 3D turbulent reconnection, shifting the system from a guide-field regime consistent with flux-rope mediation toward a very fast turbulence-broadened regime. This transition provides a novel explanation for the sudden switch-on of fast reconnection in eruptive solar flares.