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Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. Identifying the structure around the point at which the magnetic field lines break and subsequently reform, known as the magnetic…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in a laboratory, magnetospheric, solar and astrophysical plasma, whereby magnetic energy is converted into heat, bulk kinetic energy and fast particle energy. Its nature in two dimensions is…
Three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulations are carried out to explore magnetic reconnections in the presence of 3D magnetic nulls and quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs). The initial magnetic fields are created by superposing uniform…
The aim of this paper is to investigate the properties of magnetic reconnection at a 3D null point, with respect to their dependence on the symmetry of the magnetic field around the null. In particular we examine the rate of flux transport…
The prominence of nulls in reconnection theory is due to the expected singular current density and the indeterminacy of field-lines at a magnetic null. Electron inertia changes the implications of both features. Magnetic field lines are…
Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic nulls are abundant in the solar atmosphere, as been firmly established through contemporary observations. They are established to be important magnetic structures in, for example, jets and circular ribbon…
Context: The majority of studies on stressed 3D magnetic null points consider magnetic reconnection driven by an external perturbation, but the formation of a genuine current sheet equilibrium remains poorly understood. This problem has…
For 3D magnetic reconnection to occur there must exist a volume within which the electric field component parallel to the magnetic field is non-zero. In numerical experiments, locations of non-zero parallel electric field indicate sites of…
We present a model for separator reconnection due to an isolated reconnection process. Separator reconnection is a process which occurs in the neighbourhood of a distinguished field line (the separator) connecting two null points of a…
While theoretical models and simulations of magnetic reconnection often assume symmetry such that the magnetic null point when present is co-located with a flow stagnation point, the introduction of asymmetry typically leads to non-ideal…
In three-dimensional magnetic configurations for a plasma in which no closed field line or magnetic null exists, no magnetic reconnection can occur, by the strictest definition of reconnection. A finitely long pinch with line-tied boundary…
Three-dimensional magnetic null points are ubiquitous in the solar corona, and in any generic mixed-polarity magnetic field. We consider magnetic reconnection at an isolated coronal null point, whose fan field lines form a dome structure.…
Recent advances in theory and computational experiments have shown the need to refine the previous categorisation of magnetic reconnection at three-dimensional null points -- points at which the magnetic field vanishes. We propose here a…
Models for collisionless magnetic reconnection in near-Earth space are distinctly characterized as 2D or 3D. In 2D kinetic models, the frozen-in law for the electron fluid is usually broken by laminar dynamics involving structures set by…
Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important magnetic energy conversion processes observed in laboratory and space plasmas. It describes the breaking and joining of magnetic field lines, leading to the release of magnetic energy and…
Magnetic separators, which lie on the boundary between four topologically-distinct flux domains, are prime locations in three-dimensional magnetic fields for reconnection, especially in the magnetosphere between the planetary and…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous plasma process in which oppositely directed magnetic field lines break and rejoin, resulting in a change of the magnetic field topology. Reconnection generates magnetic islands: regions enclosed by…
Separators, which are in many ways the three-dimensional equivalent to two-dimensional nulls, are important sites for magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection occurs in strong current layers which have very short length scales. The aim…
The magnetic field in many astrophysical plasmas -- such as the Solar corona and Earth's magnetosphere -- has been shown to have a highly complex, three-dimensional structure. Recent advances in theory and computational simulations have…
Magnetic reconnection processes in the near-Earth magnetotail can be highly 3-dimensional (3D) in geometry and dynamics, even though the magnetotail configuration itself is nearly two dimensional due to the symmetry in the dusk-dawn…