Description
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process at the heart of many dynamic events such as solar flares. Despite reconnection events being dynamic, models of reconnection are often based off steady state solutions such as Sweet-Parker reconnection and Pestchek reconnection. In this study we investigate oscillatory reconnection, a time-dependent form of reconnection, and how it compares to those steady state models. The ShockID algorithm (Snow et al 2021) is used to identify the MHD shocks within the oscillatory reconnection mechanism, resulting in the identification of Petschek-like slow mode shocks at the edges of the current sheets as well as fast-mode termination shocks and slow-mode deflection shocks in the reconnection outflows. An investigation into the energetics of the system is also carried out, focusing on the conversion of energies and the proportion of the total energy conversion within the system that is due to the shocks that are present. Finally, diamond like structures in the reconnection exhausts are reported on for the first time including their similarities with Mach Diamonds found in supersonic gas jets.
