Impact of External Driver on Evolution from Electron-only Reconnection to Standard Reconnection

Abstract Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that converts magnetic energy into plasma energy. Recently, a new regime termed electron-only reconnection, characterized by negligible ion outflow and heating, has been observed in various space environments. In Earth’s magnetotail, electron-only reconnection often occurs within thin electron-dominant current sheets formed by external driving compression and subsequently evolves to standard reconnection. To investigate the driver’s role, this study employs two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of magnetotail-like current sheets compressed by boundary electric fields. The simulations show that reconnection undergoes an electron-only stage before evolving to the standard stage. When the time-integrated driving electric field is held constant, the reconnection rate exhibits little dependence on whether the driver is transient or persistent. However, with a fixed driving duration, a stronger driver enhances the transport of inflowing magnetic flux. This enhanced flux transport, in turn, increases the reconnection rate and accelerates the evolution from the electron-only to the standard stage. These results highlight the crucial role of external drivers in influencing magnetic reconnection through magnetic flux transport.