The reduction of magnetic reconnection outflow jets to sub-Alfvenic speeds

The outflow velocity of jets produced by collisionless magnetic reconnection is shown to be reduced by the ion exhaust temperature in fully kinetic particle in cell simulations and in situ satellite observations. We derive a scaling relationship for the outflow velocity based on the upstream Alfven speed and the parallel ion exhaust temperature, which is verified in kinetic simulations and observations. The outflow speed reduction is shown to be due to the firehose instability criterion, and so, for large enough guide fields, this effect is suppressed and the outflow speed reaches the upstream Alfven speed based on the reconnecting component of the magnetic field. Published by AIP Publishing.