Related papers: Physical mechanism of reconnection onset in space …
Magnetic field embedded in a perfectly conducting fluid preserves its topology for all time. Although ionized astrophysical objects, like stars and galactic disks, are almost perfectly conducting, they show indications of changes in…
The magnetosphere of a rotating pulsar naturally develops a current sheet beyond the light cylinder (LC). Magnetic reconnection in this current sheet inevitably dissipates a nontrivial fraction of the pulsar spin-down power within a few LC…
The solar corona is frequently disrupted by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), whose core structure is believed to be a flux rope made of helical magnetic field. This has become a "standard" picture although it remains elusive how the flux rope…
Magnetic reconnection is commonly perceived to drive flow and particle acceleration in flares of solar, stellar, and astrophysical disk coronae but the relative roles of different acceleration mecha- nisms in a given reconnection…
Impulsive solar energetic particle events are widely believed to be due to the prompt escape into the interplanetary medium of flare-accelerated particles produced by solar eruptive events. According to the standard model for such events,…
Magnetic reconnection plays an integral part in nearly all models of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The reconnection heats and accelerates the plasma, produces energetic electrons and ions, and changes the magnetic topology…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that is thought to play a key role in the production of nonthermal particles associated with explosive phenomena in space physics and astrophysics. Experiments at high-energy-density…
It is proposed that reconnection would be a main mechanism governing the plasma processes on auroral time scales in the topside ionosphere/high-latitude magnetosphere transition. It occurs in the downward current region between two narrow…
Tearing instability, also known as plasmoid instability, is an effective mechanism to speed up magnetic reconnection process, working in a wide range of magnetized plasma systems with different spatial scales, ionization degrees, and…
The main subject of my talk is the question: in what kind of astrophysical systems magnetic reconnection is interesting and/or important? To address this question, I first put forward three general criteria for selecting the relevant…
(abridged) Magnetic reconnection is the topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field in a plasma, accompanied by the violent release of energy and particle acceleration. Reconnection is as ubiquitous as plasmas themselves, with solar…
Magnetic reconnection, a plasma process converting magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy, is often invoked to explain magnetic energy releases powering high-energy flares in astrophysical sources including pulsar wind nebulae and black…
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process associated with a rapid dissipation of magnetic energy, is believed to power many disruptive phenomena in laboratory plasma devices, the Earth magnetosphere, and the solar corona.…
Explosive energy release in the solar atmosphere is driven magnetically, but mechanisms triggering the onset of the eruption remain in debate. In the case of flares and CMEs, ideal or non-ideal instabilities usually occur in the corona, but…
Magnetic reconnection is widely believed to be the fundamental process in the solar atmosphere that underlies magnetic energy release and particle acceleration. This process is responsible for the onset of solar flares, coronal mass…
Magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas is a ubiquitous phenomenon spanning the range from laboratory to intergalactic scales, yet it remains poorly understood and relatively little studied. Here, we present results from a…
We examine an external trigger mechanism that gives rise to the intense soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) giant flares. Out of the three giant flares, two showcased the existence of a precursor, which we show to have had initiated the main…
Solar flares are powerful radiations occuring in the Sun's atmosphere. They are powered by magnetic reconnection, a phemonenon that can convert magnetic energy into other forms of energy such as heat and kinetic energy, and it is believed…
Magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence are ubiquitous processes important for laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas. Reconnection has been suggested to play an important role in the energetics and dynamics of turbulence by…
Energy dissipation in collisionless plasmas is one of the most outstanding open questions in plasma physics. Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two phenomena that can produce the conditions for energy dissipation. These two phenomena…