Related papers: Magnetic Braiding and Parallel Electric Fields
Magnetic reconnection may be the fundamental process allowing energy stored in magnetic fields to be released abruptly, solar flares and coronal mass ejection (CME) being archetypal natural plasma examples. Magnetic reconnection is much too…
There is growing evidence that when magnetic reconnection occurs in high Lundquist number plasmas such as in the Solar Corona or the Earth's Magnetosphere it does so within a fragmented, rather than a smooth current layer. Within the extent…
Magnetic reconnection is believed to be the primary mechanism by which non-potential energy stored in coronal magnetic fields is rapidly released during solar eruptive events. Unfortunately, owing to the small spatial scales on which…
The Magnetic cloud boundary layer (BL) is a dynamic region formed by the interaction of the magnetic cloud (MC) and the ambient solar wind. In the present study, we comparatively investigate the proton and electron mean flux variations in…
Particle acceleration consequences from fluctuating electric fields superposed on an X-type magnetic field in collisionless solar plasma are studied. Such a system is chosen to mimic generic features of dynamic reconnection, or the…
It is clear that the solar corona is being heated and that coronal magnetic fields undergo reconnection all the time. Here we attempt to show that these two facts are in fact related - i.e. coronal reconnection generates heat. This attempt…
In the recent years, global coronal models have experienced an ongoing increase in popularity as tools for forecasting solar weather. Within the domain of up to 21.5Rsun, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is used to resolve the coronal structure…
While the exact acceleration mechanism of energetic particles during solar flares is (as yet) unknown, magnetic reconnection plays a key role both in the release of stored magnetic energy of the solar corona and the magnetic restructuring…
Turbulence is a chaotic flow regime filled by irregular flows. The dissipation of turbulence is a fundamental problem in the realm of physics. Theoretically, dissipation cannot be ultimately achieved without collisions, and so how turbulent…
Predicting the final state of turbulent plasma relaxation is an important challenge, both in astrophysical plasmas such as the Sun's corona and in controlled thermonuclear fusion. Recent numerical simulations of plasma relaxation with…
The heating of the solar corona is likely to be due to reconnection of the highly complex magnetic field that threads throughout its volume. We have run a numerical experiment of an elementary interaction between the magnetic field of two…
Context: The strong electric fields associated with magnetic reconnection in solar flares are a plausible mechanism to accelerate populations of high energy, non-thermal particles. One such reconnection scenario occurs at a 3D magnetic null…
We present two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of line-tied asymmetric magnetic reconnection in the context of solar flare and coronal mass ejection current sheets. The reconnection process is made asymmetric along the…
Turbulence in the solar wind is characterized by Alfv\'enic fluctuations that exhibit spherical polarization, a geometric condition resulting in the nearly constant magnitude of the magnetic field. This property persists even during the…
3D picture of the coronal magnetic field remains an outstanding problem in solar physics, particularly, in active regions. Nonlinear force-free field reconstructions that employ routinely available full-disk photospheric vector magnetograms…
Force-free extrapolations are widely used to study the magnetic field in the solar corona based on surface measurements. The extrapolations assume that the ratio of internal energy of the plasma to magnetic energy, the plasma-beta is…
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.…
This is an archival document; the work contains theoretical development to be used in new publications and to stimulate further development. Here, we develop a statistical mechanical treatment of a braid formed of two molecules subject to…
The magnetic fields in the solar corona are generally neither force-free nor axisymmetric and have complex dynamics that are difficult to characterize. Here we simulate the topological evolution of solar coronal magnetic field lines (MFLs)…
The operation of ITER will require reliable simulations in order to avoid major damage to the device from disruptions. Disruptions are the sudden breakup of magnetic surfaces across the plasma volume -- a fast magnetic reconnection. This…